The growths and declines of facial hair on Londoners

Not being a barber, and not having had an adulthood that spanned 130 years, Dwight E Robinson was in no position to report firsthand the frequency of changes in relative prevalence of sideburns, moustaches and beards in London during the years 1842-1972. He used an indirect source: issues of the Illustrated London News published during that time. […]

Happy New Year from the luxuriant-haired Prof. Kumar

Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS) member Arunachalam Kumar sent us a New Year’s greeting in the form of this YouTube video: The video comes with the caption “Ambidextrous anatomist Prof. Arunachalam Kumar of Nitte University, Mangalore India, lecturing to medical students.” Dr. Kumar is a colorful character. Among his many innovations: the “Black Toe” for […]

‘And his hair turned white overnight’ – or did it?

In a study called Sudden Whitening Of The Hair: An Historical Fiction?Anne-Marie Skellett, George Millington and Nick Levell, at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, try to chop off a myth at its roots. People’s hair, they believe, does not all of a sudden turn white. It just doesn’t. Goodbye, ye hoary tales of Queen Marie Antoinette […]

Improbable Research