hair follicle
nounDefinition of hair follicle
: the tubular epithelial sheath that surrounds the lower part of the hair shaft and encloses at the bottom a vascular papilla supplying the growing basal part of the hair with nourishment — see hair illustration
Examples of hair follicle in a Sentence
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Alopecia is thought to be an autoimmune condition in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks the hair follicles, and research suggests that both genetics and environmental factors play a role in developing it. — Sarah Jacoby, SELF, "7 People Describe What It's Really Like to Have Alopecia," 14 May 2018 No matter the formaldehyde content, on a basic level, keratin treatments dive into the hair follicle and inject porous areas with keratin, an essential hair protein. — Ashley Weatherford, The Cut, "The Everything Guide to Keratin Treatments," 15 May 2018 Burn and blast victims who require skin reconstruction often do not develop hair follicles or sweat glands on their new skin, which can have a physiological as well as cosmetic impact. — Shari Rudavsky, Indianapolis Star, "IU research may lead to solution to hairy problem for patients with burn injuries," 8 Jan. 2018 One principle behind it is to kill fast-growing cells, which include tumor cells but also the healthy tissue lining the gut and mouth and hair follicle. — Maggie Fox /, NBC News, "Is chemo obsolete? Not by a long shot, cancer experts say," 24 June 2018 First, Jessie B preps her pubes with a trim, followed by a soak in the bath to soften up the hair follicles. — Leah Prinzivalli, Allure, "Beauty Vlogger Jessie B Uses Olive Oil to Shave Her Bikini Line, But Is It Safe?," 12 June 2018 The condition causes painful abscesses and boils to occur near hair follicles, such as the underarms and groin. — Allyson Byers, SELF, "I Have a Rare, Chronic Skin Condition, and I Went to Questionable Lengths Looking for a Cure," 1 June 2018 And even though 147 million people worldwide have the condition (which occurs when your immune system mistakenly attacks your hair follicles), there isn’t much alopecia visibility out there. — Giorgina Paiella, Allure, "Six Women Open Up About How Having Alopecia Changed Their Outlooks on Beauty," 17 May 2018 Bobby the leopard gecko can store water and food in his tail, while Chilly the chinchilla has up to 80 hairs in each hair follicle. — Sara Cardine, latimes.com, "Preschoolers see – and hear – critters up close during wildlife visit," 17 May 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hair follicle.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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