Today’s Wonder of the Day was inspired by WonderTeam. WonderTeam Wonders, “Why don't you have to trim your eyelashes?” Thanks for WONDERing with us, WonderTeam!
We humans have some issues we have to deal with on a regular basis. For example, as mammals, our bodies are covered in hair. Of course, some of us have more hair than others. But we all have it!
We have hair on our heads, arms, legs, and all over. It’s everywhere! There are even hairs on our tongues and inside our noses and ears. Some of these hairs we rarely ever think about, though.
You probably spend time every day taking care of the hair on your head. You wash it. You condition it. You brush it and style it. When it gets too long, you cut it.
But what about the other hair on your face? We all have eyebrows and eyelashes, for example. Do you give them much thought? Have you ever stopped to WONDER about your eyelashes? What would happen if they grew like the hair on your head?
Would it be a pain to have to wash, condition, and style your eyelashes every day? What if they grew too long? Would you be able to see?
Since we usually don’t give our eyelashes too much thought, you might be tempted to think that they don’t grow. After all, you don’t need to cut them like you do the hair on your head, do you?
Eyelashes do indeed grow, though. They help protect your eyes by keeping dust and other debris away. When your eyelashes sense foreign matter that might harm your eyes, they trigger a reflex that makes you blink and close your eyes. This defense mechanism is an important way your eyes stay protected.
Because of this important job they play, it’s a good thing your eyelashes do grow and replace themselves. Hair on your body grows and rests in an ongoing cycle that repeats over and over again as hairs are lost and replaced. Compared to the hair on your head, the growth phase of eyelashes is very short. In fact, it only lasts about 30-45 days.
In addition, the resting (dormant) cycle is much longer. While the hair on your head rests for a while before it falls out and is replaced, your eyelashes rest for a much longer time and aren’t always immediately replaced when they fall out.
This explains why eyelashes seem like they’re not growing at all. When they do grow, they grow for just a short period of time and then they rest for an extended period of time. Compared to the hairs on your head, this makes them seem like they’re not growing at all!
Standards: CCRA.L.3, CCRA.L.6, CCRA.R.1, CCRA.R.2, CCRA.R.4, CCRA.R.10, CCRA.SL.1, CCRA.W.2, CCRA.L.1, CCRA.L.2