Basically, is it exactly the area where the hair directions can change on the head? If it is a small, uneven area what are the hair lines created instead?
What to call the area where the hair directions on the head all change? In Russian there is the word u043cаu043aуu043aа and looking for translation I find it to be top.
Why does hair change on your head? Is it normal for people to have these areas on top of
their head?
I’ve always heard barbers refer to it as the crown, not matter where on the head it could lie.
I know this as a crown, and some people also have double crowns. Wikipedia suggest the term hair whorl and also mentions the terms swirls, trichoglyphs, and cowlicks.
Oddly enough, this pessimistic phenomenon shows up in mathematics.
The ‘Hairy Ball Theorem’ is quoted here by Jarvis & Tanton, i. It is impossible for
a ball to have the opposite tail shape, i. it is tangent to the surface of the ball, and ii) there are no hairy edges and the edges are uneven within of the ball. It is impossible to comb all the hairs so that each hair lies tangent to the surface of the ball, i. it is impossible to comb the tail in
Mathematically sound terminology can be’singular point’ but cowlick is the term commonly used for the non-technical sounding statements of the theorem.
I have 7 cowlicks, so I can speak with some authority on this particular topic! Should “Double Crown” be used by hairdressers as they refer to the condition mentioned by the original poster? ‘His bald pate was ringed by a crown of thin, nicotine polluted grey hair”
At least within the North East of the United States, the cowlick is the most common and generally understood term, and i hear mine cursed every time I visit a barber.
