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When we add s at the end of a word, it refers to more units of the thing. For example, a car vs cars.

Why is it that when we refer to hair, it is kind of the other way around?

1) Your hair looks great (comment on all your hair)

2) You dyed some of your hairs (comment on some of your hair)

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    Note that it would actually be more typical to phrase 2) as "you dyed some of your hair" (no "s"), because the hair you dyed is still an undifferentiated mass (though, as a mass, it is differentiated from the remaining mass of undyed hair). You'd only really use "hairs" (with the s) when you literally want to count them ("I found 5 hairs on my pillow this morning! Maybe I'm going bald."), or want to focus on the individual strands themselves to emphasize their discreteness, or at least small number ("I plucked some hairs that were growing between my eyebrows").
    – Dan Bron
    Commented Aug 7, 2014 at 20:42
  • So it depends on if it is used in a countable or uncountable situation as Jasper stated
    – user3919509
    Commented Aug 7, 2014 at 20:44
  • Yes, but given the nature of your question, I thought you might be unfamiliar with the terms "count noun" and "mass noun", so I was trying to illustrate the idea more concretely.
    – Dan Bron
    Commented Aug 7, 2014 at 20:45
  • Thanks Dan, I am not familiar with these 2 terms hence I didn't pay attention. Also it looks like it's a duplicated question.
    – user3919509
    Commented Aug 7, 2014 at 21:06

1 Answer 1

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Hair can be used as an uncountable noun:

You have too much hair

or a countable noun in which case its plural is hairs:

There are three hairs here.

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