Hey folks

Does anybody else get ribbon-flat hair strands? For the most part, my strands are round at the crosscut. A large and surprising number of my hairs, though, are of a flat ribbonlike sort. They tend to twist along the ways of party ceiling crepe decorations; becoming the root of what frizz and kinks I have. Could this be:
  (a) a common hair anomaly??
  (b) some kind of vitamin deficiency
  (c) having some physical cause, e.g. scratching the scalp or something else I can't think of at the moment?

Help! they drive me nuts!
Peace, Love, Empathy.
Anais

It sounds rather normal to me. I understand "Asian" hair is a bit like this. I have strange hair strands too. Most people have a hair shaft and cuticle that are similar in shape, but mine is caucasion straight in the cuticle and African like kinky in the shaft. Weird combo, causing a kind of white-blond afro thing and when I was kid my dermatologist thought it was odd, but it might be that you have some kind of combination like that.

I was afraid someone would say that... Just kidding. Great to see you back, Noelkara. Anyway, I guess my hair is my hair and I'll have to take the downsides as well. Thanks a bunch

I have to confess, this thread's title cracked me up. It sounded like a Twilight Zone episode in the making.  ;)

Have you always had these strange strands? I have my own weird ones, but they're not flat. I have fine hair but sometimes I'll find a mega-hair which has a diameter about 5 times that of my normal hairs. It's probably the pod-person in us trying to get out.

/Kate

(sorry if none of this made sense, it's late)

Are the hairs that are bigger in diameter also a different color? I find that too sometimes. It's really strange. I have light blonde super fine hair and my whole life I have occasionally found these gigantic thick BLACK hairs!
Maybe my hair is having an identity problem.

I think the lighter the hair, the more different colors and textures of hair you can have.  My hair is primarily dark blonde, but I have white, blonde, brown and black hairs mingled in.  I have some very soft, straight hairs.  Some are much thicker and have waves in them.  The white/gray strands are much thicker and curlier than most of my hair.

Haha... Kate made a great observation; maybe I'll submit my "title" to the X-files if their episodes are still running;)
The ribbon flat ones are normally jet black, while the normally shaped ones have their other weirdnesses. My natural hair color is a very dark brown, but sometimes I'll get a fiery red Tori Amos strand. Perhaps in a past life I was an Irish lady??? lol

Anais

Yep Anais Satin, it's your inner Celt clamoring to get out.

I have different colored hairs on my head, from platinum blonde to black, and in general the darker the hair, the crinklier and thicker it is. But the mega-hairs are always either black or red for me.

Speaking of weird hairs, do any of you ever get them on your body? About twice a year I'll find a long, clear hair growing on my left side, somewhere between shoulder and hip. And it hurts like crazy when I pull it out! Our poor old polluted bodies (mine at least), it's no wonder they hiccup from time to time.  ::)

/Kate

On some days I feel twenty years older, but I don't get weird hair off my head though. Do you find that your mutant hairs "repair" themselves? Sometimes left to itself, mine will start growing normally again.

Human hair is just so fun to study at a small level... I feel like Agent Scully.

Anais

No I always pull the suckers out, because when I find them they're several inches long! But they never grow back in the same place, so I suppose it's just the equivalent of the follicle pulling the occasional all-nighter.

Wouldn't it be fun to examine all your strange strands under a microscope? :-)

/Kate

Stange strands... I love the title.

My hair is baby fine but tons of it... and until pregnancy was a medium ash brown... My pregnancy hair growth was PHENOMENAL - 8.5 INCHES in 12 months  :o - and an amazing thing happened - my hair started mutating: whereas I'd always had rather straight hair, with soft curls all around the hairline (where the hair is shorter - the hair at my nape has never grown more than 6 inches, and I've always worn bangs) Those hormonal changes brought out the amazing amazon hairs...

I now have a large percent of thick (5xlarger) kinky-curly hairs that grow at a much greater rate, are deep black or deep auburn -  and have much larger follicles!  I thought it was a passing thing (mom's got similar auburn hair, but I was never blessed with her hair - got dad's instead) Because of their more rapid growth and growing numbers - I've a warm chestnut glow to my hair now (once quite 'flat' in appearance) and it has a significant wave throughtout the length.  Pregnancy was 16.5 years ago - but this unexpected change has continued.  I love it!  My hair is more resiliant and has more character.  

The only down side - as I live less than a mile from the ocean - the high humidity tends to "encourage' the curling hairs to curl more tightly - and when my hair is in a loose up-do, I tend to get a 'halo' or bumpy effect with springy little curls popping or bulging up here and there - - It took my perfectionistic nature a while to accept and adapt (my first instinct was to slather the sides with hairspray to tame the little springs) - now I like the 'softer' look they give - and when my hair is down, I now have much more character to the hair - I love it!   ;D

wow thats great! i wish my hair would get thicker....though not through pregnancy...lets save that for about 10years in the future!

my hair has a few strange strands...my hair is light golden brown (both brown and blonde basically) but every now and then i stumble across these BRIGHT red hairs! theyre more ginger than my friends hair and shes a pure red head! tis madness i say!

Yeah... I've concluded that instead of going grey, I'm gonna end up going red!

ya - my hair is like a very dark blond or very light brown - and sometimes i'll find black hairs that are thicker than the rest of my hair - i also can find about any other shade in my hair if i look - it's quite amusing