Why do we have cowlicks? Why can’t all of our hair just grow in the same? Also, where did the name come from?
In: 51
There’s a lot more to cowlicks (hair whorls) than hair just having to meet at some point.
The direction of a cowlick correlates to handedness. Your cowlick whorls clockwise, generally you are right handed. This has to do with the same laterality that makes people have a heart on the left. In horses and cows, they found that the animals that are right footed have hair whorls that are clockwise (to the right) In animals, cows specifically, the location of the cowlick correlates with the temperament of the animal. So what’s the connection? The skin and the nervous system develop from the same tissue, the same layer of cells in the embryo.
There may even be a connection between atypical hair whorls and atypical brain laterality and mental health issues like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are byproducts of developmental biology, that’s their connection to cowlicks. Babies born with structural abnormalities to the brain often have unusual hair whorls at birth. Children with developmental delays often have multiple parietal whorls. It’s like the cowlicks are giving you a peek at what the brain development of a baby may have resulted in. This isn’t to say that someone with a bunch of cowlicks definitely has abnormal structural development or developmental delays, it’s just linked because they came from the same tissue.
https://modernfarmer.com/2014/09/complexity-cow-lick/
https://clinicalgate.com/hair-disorders/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7362971/ This article talks about now even neurofibromatosis is linked with atypical hair whorls.
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