h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

.......would it be a whisker under 5mph?

The rate of growth for fingernails is supposed to be about the same as the average speed of tectonic places, about 3-4 cm/year. I´d imagine that beard grows faster than that though.

These big boys knew the importance of a shaggy face.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5167/5318448707_8dc83890b0.jpg

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how is edward the bonobo these days???

Was that a serious question?

I am growing my hair at the moment. I think it has been about a year since I last had it cut. At the moment it is about halfway down my back. I know my hair grows fast, so I wonder how long it will get before it stops growing? I've never thought about this before.




Do people have slower growing hair follicles depending on race or hair colour?


Thanks bob and all high heaven that I am not blessed with a beard.

Extract from one of today's BBC pages "According to a story dating back to the 14th Century, Saint Wilgefortis took a vow of virginity when she was promised in marriage by her father. Following her prayers for help, she grew a beard and moustache."

That´s the problem I have with it. People from India for example, seems to have thicker hair strands and are able to grow longer hair. That doesn´t square with the idea that hair just stops growing and falls out instead of being worn out.

It is probably to do with the speed at which the hair grows. I'd guess that each hair lives a set length of time, but the ones that grow longer grow faster.

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Now see, I wonder if that is a true story and if it was did she grow the beard and moustache before the vow of virginity or after?

'Do you Sir, take young Wilgefortis with her abundant facial hair as your legally wedded spouse or will you consign her to life in a convent...?'

>>Following her prayers for help, she grew a beard and moustache.

I didn't know superglue had been invented in the 14th Century.

I think she just bought it so she could go to a stoning.

Lord Byron once said that women have it easy. All they have to do is give birth a few times in their lives, not put up with the daily torture of shaving their faces.

He wasn't really what you'd call a feminist, was our Geordie.

I think the moral of the story was 'don't name your daughter Wilgefortis'

One theory about the bearded woman saint is that when people in Northern Europe first saw statues of Christ crucified on the cross, complete with long flowing robes and beard, they assumed it must be a woman, because any decent man would be wearing trousers. They then started inventing stories about woman growing beards.

Weren't there plenty of skirt-like tunics, kilts and so on for men known in Northern Europe too, though?

There does seem to be some women in the Middle East that sport some fine moustaches.
I shall shave tommorow, and then try to measure how fast it grows back out over the next few days. Why don´t we all do that?

It's 30 years since I shaved, so I think I've probably forgotten how.

So now we know what Gnomon looks like:

http://www.coolest-homemade-costumes.com/images/coolest-cousin-it-from-the-addams-family-costume-21305637.jpg

cousin it!

he's a blond. Hair of gold, eyes of black...

Would that be easier or more difficult to clean than my dinner tie?