In humans, terminal hair is a variant of hair that is thick and long such as that growing on the scalp, as compared with
vellus hair, colloquially known as peach fuzz, growing elsewhere.[1][2] During
puberty, the increase in androgenic hormone levels causes vellus hair to be replaced with terminal hair in certain parts of the human body.[3] These parts will have different levels of sensitivity to androgens, primarily of the testosterone family.[4]
The
pubic area is particularly sensitive to such hormones, as are the armpits which will develop
axillary hair.[5] Pubic and axillary hair will develop on both men and women, to the extent that such hair qualifies as a
secondary sex characteristic,[6] although males will generally develop terminal hair in more areas. This includes
facial hair,
chest hair,
abdominal hair,
leg and
arm hair, and
foot hair.[7] Human females on the other hand generally retain more of the vellus hair.[8]
These hairs are present in the large apes but not in the small apes like gibbons and represent an evolutionary divergence.[9]: 193 [better source needed]
^Randall, Valerie A.; Nigel A. Hibberts, M. Julie Thornton, Kazuto Hamada, Alison E. Merrick, Shoji Kato, Tracey J. Jenner, Isobel De Oliveira, Andrew G. Messenger. "The Hair Follicle: A Paradoxical Androgen Target Organ", Hormone Research, Vol. 54, No. 5–6, 2000.
^Heffner, Linda J. Human Reproduction at a Glance. Blackwell Publishing, 2001, p. 33.
^Neal, Matthew; Lauren M. Sompayrac. How the Endocrine System Works. Blackwell Publishing, 2001, pp. 70, 75.
^Kane, Jonathan; Willoughby, Emily; Michael Keesey, T. (2016-12-31). God's Word or Human Reason?: An Inside Perspective on Creationism. Inkwater Press.
ISBN9781629013725.