Name: What If We Swallowed A Hair? | Hairs In Our Stomach | The Dr Binocs Show | Peekaboo Kidz
Uploaded: 2025-06-19T05:25:54.000Z
Duration: 5 min 15 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Or else, that amount of hair can cause a massive problem for anyone, especially humans.

Well, that's an excellent idea, Little Kitty.      Excellent question.

Hey friends, so in today's episode, let us address this gross situation, by answering the question, What if you accidentally swallow hair?

So, imagine your parent made your favorite super healthy pizza.

You feel super excited, grab a piece and take a huge bite.

As the soft cheese stretches out of the crust.

But to your horror, you notice a strand of hair dangling along.

But in most cases, we can just pick out the hair, throw it away and continue to enjoy the meal.

But then, the vital question is, What if you would have accidentally swallowed the hair too?

Well, in that case, as long as it's a single strand of hair, you need not worry, as it won't cause much harm to your internal body.

However, you won't be able to digest it naturally.

Yes, that's because your hair is made up of proteins called Keratin.

Which also makes up our fingernails, the lining of internal organs and the outer layer of the skin.

Keratin has a highly organized structure and cannot be broken down via digestive juices.

So, when you swallow a single hair accidentally, they just end up passing out of the body with other undigested food.

And you'll continue to live your life exactly the way you were before swallowing it.

But, things can take a dramatic turn, if someone has a habit of consuming a large amount of hair over a period of time.

Because in that case, it will cause a major problem, as the lump of hair will get stuck in your stomach as it happens with cats.

Yes, you must have observed them licking their fur many times, which causes the hair to enter their stomach.

And as even cats can't digest the hair, the strands start to build up inside their stomach and turn into a dense hair ball called Trichobezoar.

Fortunately for cats, their body mechanism helps them vomit out this lump without causing any harm.

But the same can't be said for humans, as observed in people suffering from a condition called Trichophagia, in which a person can feel the need to eat their own hair.

And when that happens, instead of vomiting out the hair, the hair ball just gets stuck in the stomach causing a hindrance in the digestive process.

And if it gets unnoticed in extreme situations, the tail of the hair ball can reach down the small intestine, in a condition called Rapunzel Syndrome.

And when that happens, the only way to get rid of it is through a major surgery, where the doctors have to open up the digestive tract and remove the hair from the patient's stomach.

So, in conclusion, even though it is okay to swallow hair accidentally, it is not okay to eat huge amounts of them.

And if you ever find yourself or anyone you know chewing on their hair, please make an appointment with the doctor ASAP.

Did you know, humans have the same amount of hair follicles per square inch, as a chimpanzee?

Also, the color of hair depends on how much melanin each strand has.

To know more about hair, please check out our video, How Your Hair Grows.

Until next time, it's me Dr. Binocs, Zooming out!

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What If We Swallowed A Hair? | Hairs In Our Stomach | The Dr Binocs Show | Peekaboo Kidz

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