‘Hair and Hairs’ is perhaps the most confusing and very commonly misused pair in the English language. The correct usage of plural form ‘hairs’ has troubled me a lot. Grammar junkies would cringe when I said, “Hey, your hairs are beautiful!” So, I would say, “Hey, your hair are beautiful!’ and they would still grit their teeth. But, here’s the solution!
The noun ‘hair’ is used to refer to an entire surface of hair (our head, cat’s fur, etc.) ‘Hair’ can be used as a singular, plural, or collective noun based on the context, mostly without an article. The plural ‘hairs’ is used to talk about a single or multiple (countable) strands of hair.
So, the word ‘hairs’ isn’t incorrect but it isn’t always used to signify the plural form of ‘hair’. This always confused me as much so that I avoided sentences with ‘hairs’ altogether. But, finally, I did some research on this seemingly easy topic and decided to share that information with you.
Hair v/s hairs: Difference and usage explained in a way that you’ll never forget it! 🙂
| CONTENTS: Difference between ‘Hair’ and ‘Hairs’ Correct Usage of the Word ‘Hair’ As a Plural Form Correct Usage of the Word ‘Hair’ As a Singular Form Correct Usage of the Word ‘Hairs’ As a Plural Form Comparative Examples of Correct Usage of Hair and Hairs Some Quotes that demonstrate the correct usage of ‘Hair’ and ‘Hairs’: Conclusion |
Difference between ‘Hair’ and ‘Hairs’
To understand the difference between the usage of ‘Hair and Hairs’, we will first have to understand each of them individually. ‘Hair’ and ‘Hairs’ both are plural forms of ‘Hair’. But their meanings are different.
As per the American Speech Vol. 16, No. 3 (Oct. 1941), pp. 170-175 (6 pages) Published By: Duke University Press,
‘a great many words may in one connexion stand for something countable and in another for something uncountable.’
‘Hair’ is a mass noun that can be countable and uncountable. ‘Hair’ indicates either the entire mass of uncountable hair strands on the human head or the skin of an animal. Whereas, ‘hairs’ can be counted and are used to indicate strands.
So,
If you found them on the carpet – they are ‘hairs’
If you found them on your dog’s skin – they are ‘hair’.
If you found ‘some’ or ‘a few’ different colored ones on your friend’s head – they are ‘hairs’ among ‘ hair’
Let’s look at this quick chart to know how this difference works:
| Hair v/s Hairs | Usage | Conjugation of ‘to be’ | Articles | Example |
| Hair (Singular Noun) | used to refer to a single strand of hair | is | – | There is hair in my food. |
| Hair (Collective noun) | used as a singular form to refer to a mass of hair (uncountable) (on one’s head or on a cat’s fur) | is | – | She has beautiful hair. Her hair is beautiful. |
| Hairs | used to emphasize more than one strand (mostly countable) of hair loose somewhere. | are | the / some / few | She has probably started getting some gray hairs. |
Let’s put it in even simpler words:
| If someone says | That means | Grammar |
|---|---|---|
| “Hey, don’t drink that water as there is hair in the glass”. | There is one strand in the water | This is correct. They are using the singular form of ‘hair’ |
| “Hey, don’t drink that water as there are hairs in the glass”. | There are multiple strands of hair (yet countable) in the water | This is correct. They are using the plural form of ‘hair’ to denote |
| “Hey, don’t drink that water as there are hair in the glass”. | Nothing. This just means that the person doesn’t understand the correct usage of Hair and Hairs | ‘Hair’ is a single entity – an umbrella term – that consists of uncountable strands. You have to treat it as singular and use ‘is’. |
Correct Usage of the Word ‘Hair’ As a Plural Form
Collective nouns are expressed likewise in both singular and plural forms. For example, the word ‘people’ is a collective noun that refers to a group of individual humans. But, when we refer to a number of people, we would say “4 people”, “some people” and so on. Understand, it’s never “4 peoples”. The word People and Peoples behave quite the same way as ‘Hair’ and ‘Hairs’, actually. But that’s for another time.
When you are referring to all the hairs on someone’s head, the word ‘hair’ will be used without an article in the singular number.
Example – “Sanya has long and brown hair.”
“Your hair is looking beautiful today!”, in this sentence, we are referring to whole hair, not just a single strand. But, the usage of the words makes the difference. In the sentence, I have been experiencing hair fall, while combing I could see many strands of hair falling. Thus, we would require to express it in the form of strands to refer to some number. So, adding ‘s’ to the word ‘hair’ to make it plural or countable is not correct.
Correct Usage of the Word ‘Hair’ As a Singular Form
The word ‘hair’ is also used as the singular form to signify a single strand of hair.
There is cat hair on my couch. – It means there is a single strand of cat’s hair on that couch.
Correct Usage of the Word ‘Hairs’ As a Plural Form
The plural form ‘Hairs’ is used to denote more than one hair (countable), without an article and a plural verb.
Like – “George has a few grey hairs on his head.”
Similarly, the word sugar is always used in its base form whether you would like to have a spoon of sugar or 2 spoons of sugar.
Comparative Examples of Correct Usage of Hair and Hairs
Some relatable examples will give you a better understanding of the difference between hair and hairs.
| Example | Correct/Incorrect | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Lilly has beautiful and shiny hair. | Correct | Referring to all the hair on her head in general |
| Lilly’s hair is beautiful and shiny. | Correct | Referring to all the hair on her head in general(less commonly but still correct – talking about a single strand of her hair found somewhere) |
| Lilly’s hair are beautiful and shiny. | Incorrect | The whole mass of hair on her head should be treated as one single entity. |
| Lilly’s hairs are beautiful and shiny. | Correct | talking about a few strands of her hair (that entity on her head) found somewhere |
| I found a hair on the kitchen floor. | Correct | Single strand of someone’s hair |
| The hairs that I found on the kitchen floor were red. | Correct | Some countable strands of someone’s hair (that entity on the head) lying there on the floor Notice the article ‘The’ |
| I found some red hairs on the kitchen floor. | Correct | Some countable strands of someone’s hair (that entity on the head) lying there on the floor Notice the article ‘Some’ |
| I found some red hair on the kitchen floor. | Correct | ‘Hair’ can be used as a singular, plural, or collective noun based on the context |
| One of your hair has turned gray. | Correct | Talking about that specific one out of the entity |
| Due to cancer, she lost a lot of her hair. | Correct | A lot of hairs of the whole mass |
| Due to cancer, she lost a lot of her hairs. | Incorrect | A lot of hairs of the whole mass Can we lose ‘a lot’ from some hairs? |
| Do you wash your hair daily? | Correct | You wash your entire head and not just a few strands, right? |
| Do you wash your hairs daily? | Incorrect | You wash your entire head and not just a few strands, right? |
| I had found three hairs in my coffee. | Correct | Three is countable. |
| Did you cut your hairs? | Incorrect | Did you select a few countable strands and cut them? Or, did you trim all hair strands on your head? |
Some Quotes that demonstrate the correct usage of ‘Hair’ and ‘Hairs’:
“They love their hair because they’re not smart enough to love something more interesting.” — John Green (Looking for Alaska)
“Black hair and blue eyes are my favorite combination.” — Cassandra Clare (Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices, #1))
“And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair” — Kahlil Gibran (The Prophet)
“I want my kids to have the things in life that I never had when I was growing up. Things like beards and chest hair.” — Jarod Kintz (I Want)
“A woman who cuts her hair is about to change her life.” — Coco Chanel
“Gray hairs seem to my fancy like the soft light of the moon, silvering over the evening of life.” — Jean-Paul
The person who doesn’t scatter the morning dew will not comb gray hairs. — Hunter S. Thompson
Conclusion
Although it looks confusing, the difference between Hair and Hairs is pretty straightforward. Even though they are both plural forms, we can’t replace them with each other. Till now it’s quite clear that ‘hairs’ is used to refer to the number i.e. as a countable noun. For instance, While brushing my hair, I noticed three hairs fell onto the desk. In this, the first ‘hair’ is uncountable, as it refers to the mass of hair, whereas the second ‘hairs’ refers to individual hairs.
Hope this helped! 🙂
You might also enjoy reading STILL, ALREADY, YET, JUST? Learn Adverb Usage
Stay Tuned. Stay Reading!
