But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty: from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. And when he polled his head [cut his hair], (for it was at every year's end that he polled it: because the hair was heavy on him, therefore he polled it:) he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels after the king's weight. 2 Samuel 14:25-26
Absalom was the best looking guy in all of Israel -- with one hell of a head of hair. He'd let it grow all year and then cut it, which he had to do each year because it got so darned heavy. One year's growth weighed 200 skekels.
And how heavy is 200 shekels? Well, one shekel weighed about 11 grams. So Absalom's haircut trimmings weighed in at 2.2 kilograms.
How does this compare with normal human hair?
An average head hair has a diameter of about 0.007 cm (70 micrometers) and grows 15 cm per year. And an average head has about 100,000 hair follicles on it. Since human hair has a density of 1.32 g/cm3, we can estimate the weight of an average person's yearly hair production.
weight = pi * (.0035 cm)2 * 15 cm * 100,000 hairs * 1.32 g/cm3 = 76 g
So an average person produces about 0.076 kilogram of hair annually -- about than 1/30th that of Absalom.
Of course Absalom wasn't an average person. He was, after all, the best looking guy in Israel. So maybe his hair was 30 times as thick or 20 times as dense as normal human hair. Or maybe the Bible was just making stuff up.
Source for human hair values: Robbins, C.R., Chemical and Physical Behavior of Human Hair, Fourth Edition, Springer (2002)
9 comments:
Hi,
Thank you for your (sometimes) thoughtful (sometimes not so much) interaction with religious texts. I confess a limited experience with the Qur'an and Book of Mormon, but more extensive experience with the Bible.
You challenge us all greatly, and I appreciate your honesty. May I challenge you in return? My "New Year's" challenge would be that you read the Gospel of John in either the NIV or ESV a few verses a day for the rest of January. Then, at the end, simply pray, "If there is a God out there who shows himself in this book, prove it."
I would love to see some posts on your experience on this.
Thank you again for taking the time to read this post.
Sincerely,
Alxsteele
Apparently the custom of royalty at this point in history was to use fragrant oils, gold dust and jewels in the hair, and pile the hair high on the head (even for males) to give the appearance of a crown by the way the hair was worn.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/395403/a_really_bad_hair_daythe_story_of_absalom_pg2.html?cat=38
Your thoughts?
Simple combinatorics show that 16 times the average isn't unreasonable at all. Consider this: you have 4 variables, each of which you took (more or less) an average value for. If you double the value of these 4 variables, which is a reasonable possibility since they are all statistical measurements that fit a standard normal distribution (a "bell curve") then you will get a final number that is 32 times bigger than your average estimate. So a person with hair weight growth that is 16 times the average would certainly be noteworthy (that's how he got the mention in the Jewish historical records), but definetely not unreasonable; probably not even a world record. Do a bit more analysis before sneering at a perfectly reasonable historical record.
Scotty,
Simple combinatorics show that 16 times the average isn't unreasonable at all.
Sure, that makes sense, Scotty. Thanks for sharing.
Does simple combinatorics also show that a guy that is 16 times the average (100 feet tall or so) isn't unreasonable at all?
This guy has over 20 pounds of hair. http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/tran-van-hay-the-man-with-the-worlds-longest-hair-dies-at-79.html
For Absalom to have 5 pounds of hair is not so hard to believe.
"Does simple combinatorics also show that a guy that is 16 times the average (100 feet tall or so) isn't unreasonable at all?"
Scotty mentioned that there were 4 variables. A deviation of four variables twice the mean is much different than a deviation of one variable 16 times from the mean on a standard normal distribution. Add in the weight of the oil and dust to the mix, and it doesn't seem quite so unreasonable as you make it out to be.
Why is it that everything we believe is measured by our experiences. God who made the world can grow as much hair on any person's head as he wants. We see men walk on the moon but doubt God can grow an enormous amount of hair on a man's head. The bible doesn't make up stuff it's men who refuse to believe it.
I cut my hair once a year. It grows from shoulder length to touching my butt in that time period. Out of curiosity, because it always feels like an immense weight has been lost, and because at least 50 people have asked me if I had ever done it, I weighed myself (naked, at home) both just before and just after my yearly haircut last June. I miraculously lost over 3 lbs. in the three hours I was gone. If I had shaved off the other 12 inches of it...well, I am guessing my hair rivals Absolom's in weight at present. Also, as a 40 year old with a high stress level, I have had my mother grasp my French braid, pick it up and exclaim, "You're losing hair!" --because the thickness of it, we estimate, is only about half what it was when I was a teenager or child. I say this to let you have a little perspective on the reality here. My youngest daughter got my hair as well and when I brush it into a ponytail it is so thick I almost cannot hold it all together with one hand. I would love to submit a picture of our hair for you all so you could see for yourselves that yes indeed, God can make some pretty thick, heavy hair...and it is very strong as well -- very thick, coarse strands. I do not doubt that you could hang me by my braid, though it would most assuredly hurt!
Take discomfort in this Mr dwindling, you will not disprove the Bible
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