Learn English – Plural or singular for ‘hair’

grammatical-numbersingular-vs-plural

Check the sentence below

My hair is rather short but I usually plait it/or them?

I'm confused about whether I should use the singular or plural pronoun.

Best Answer

Hair is both countable and uncountable Noun, but it is usually singular when it refers to all the hairs on one's head.

Example:

George has brown hair.

But if it refers to more than one hair, a few hairs, then it takes the plural form and needs a plural verb.

Example:

George has brown hair, but I found a hair on the sofa and suspect he's getting some gray hairs.

When you are talking about specific strands of hair, use the plural form.


Simply put:

Hair can be singular (one hair)

Example:

I found a strand of hair on your sofa. or I found a hair on your sofa

Non-countable singular (when it refers to all the hairs on one's head)

Example:

Shawn has black hair.

Or plural (three hairs, some hairs)

Example:

I Found not one, but three hairs on your sofa.


As Maulik.V said,"To make 'hair' singular, you need to quantify it. So, 'I found a strand of hair on the sofa.'"

  • A strand of hair = One single hair
  • Strands of hair = two or more, it does not specify

Note that we do not say "Strands of Hairs."


Thanks Maulik.V and Snailboat.

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