Frontal Hairline with Soft Shorter Hair

Young girl with shoulder length hair — Photo: Reinhold Leitner/Shutterstock

Q: I have a daughter who is five years old. Her frontal hairline begins with a shorter softer hair growth for about approximately 10 millimeters or ½ inch underneath her fringe. Her fringe is approx 2 inches long.

My question is: is this a common hair growth pattern and will these shorter under-hairs thicken and catch up with the rest of her fringe as she gets older?

A: The perimeter zone you describe is usually thought of as a transition zone because it shows the transition from the vellus hair on the face to the terminal hair on the scalp. Such zones are not uncommon, and may or may not “go away” as the child grows. The existence of these zones is a matter of genetics responding to normal development.

Perhaps you can talk to grandparents and aunts or uncles to find out if other family members had these zones and how they developed as the individual grew older. If other family members had these transition zones, but then they went away as the child matured, you have the likelihood of your daughter’s situation resolving itself.

Even if it is a permanent situation, it IS one that is easily addressed through cosmetic means. Since the hair in these zones tends to be very nearly transparent (like the shorter vellus hair on the face) you can use a trimmer to cut the hair in these areas very short so that they blend better with the vellus hair of the face.

Don’t shave the hair to the skin, since this will only make sure that the shaved zone stands out against both the hair on the scalp and the hair on the face. The object is to blend the look.

This trimming technique will also help to keep the transition zone from causing the fringe to stick out further than it needs to, allowing the fringe to lie closer to the face.

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See also:

Hairline and vellus hairs

How to get rid of baby hairs in front of the hairline

What can I do about the little hairs sticking out when I put my hair up?