Body hair
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Body hair, or more precisely androgenic hair, is a common term for the terminal hair on the human body developing during and after puberty in contrast to the head hair and the less visible vellus hair. The medical term androgenic hair refers to the fact that its growth depends on the level of androgens (male hormones) in the individual human organism. Due to a normally higher level of androgens men tend to have more androgenic hair than women so that this type of hair can be seen as a sign for sexual dimorphism and therefore a secondary sex characteristic.
From childhood onward, vellus hair covers the entire human body regardless of sex or race except in the following locations: the lips, the backs of the ears, the palms of hands, the soles of feet, certain external genital areas, the navel and scar tissue. The density of the hairs (in hair follicles per square centimeter) varies from one person to another.
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