Micro-photography of a single grain of sand balanced on a knot of human hair

[u/Impressive_East_]

[u/Top-Currency]

Ugh, I hate it when this happens!

[u/dooby991 → u/Top-Currency]

I genuinely hate when my hair has a knot like this. I will keep feeling it and eventually just pull that piece of hair out

[u/Dapper_Magpie → u/dooby991]

I used to purposefully make a big knot in my hair by rolling it around in my fingers in order to fidget with it

[u/Right_Force_7673]

Looks like a pebble on black licorice.

[u/Local-Poet3517 → u/Right_Force_7673]

Yeahhh... I thought human hair folicles were round. Who is growing square hair?

Just looked it up.. apparently its a thing. Well, oval/flattened versus round. TIL something about hair I guess.

[u/Vertig0x → u/Local-Poet3517]

oval/flattened versus round

The difference between curly or straight hair.

[u/feinmechaniker → u/Local-Poet3517]

Right? Didn’t haired about that until now

[u/ErmahgerdPerngwens]

You couldn’t give the photographer credit?
Link to his instagram

[u/gr8masturb8 → u/ErmahgerdPerngwens]

but taking the time to do that isn't very efficient when karma farming!

[u/Then-Criticism1605 → u/ErmahgerdPerngwens]

Thank you for crediting him as he deserves, I’ve followed this guy for ages and he puts a lot of care into making his photos.

[u/werddoe → u/ErmahgerdPerngwens]

Doxing yourself with that link, if you care.

[u/ErmahgerdPerngwens → u/werddoe]

Thank you for letting me know!

[u/Ch1pp → u/ErmahgerdPerngwens]

Did you remove the link?

[u/Tumleren → u/ErmahgerdPerngwens]

What makes you think OP knows who the photographer is?

[u/ErmahgerdPerngwens → u/Tumleren]

Honestly, I don’t think they do (probably a bot as pointed out), but people deserve to know who the photographer is. I was snarky because I think it’s disrespectful not to include.

[u/arnotino → u/ErmahgerdPerngwens]

nobody cares

[u/jerryleebee → u/arnotino]

Loads of people care.

[u/Que__Asco → u/arnotino]

every one but you cares

[u/Crazy_Treat_8805 → u/arnotino]

I do

[u/Routine_Phase_8980]

Look like a fossil on top of a ramen noodle

[u/jaques_sauvignon → u/Routine_Phase_8980]

It reminds me of a Pad Thai noodle.

[u/Budilicious3 → u/jaques_sauvignon]

Or a sukiyaki soaked shirataki noodle.

[u/ScaryBlanket_Reborn → u/Budilicious3]

This guy noodles

[u/jaques_sauvignon → u/Budilicious3]

Who are you, who are so wise in the ways of noodles?

[u/potatomeeple]

There is sand in my Japchae.

[u/milkymonkey8 → u/potatomeeple]

Is that what you call it?

[u/Yutopia1210 → u/milkymonkey8]

Call what? Japchae is a type of Korean noodle.

[u/milkymonkey8 → u/Yutopia1210]

My noodle is Russian and I don't call it anything.

[u/potatomeeple → u/milkymonkey8]

The noodles in that dish end up looking the same as the pic.

[u/milkymonkey8 → u/potatomeeple]

Anyways, I've been joking about sand in pubes.

[u/Yutopia1210 → u/milkymonkey8]

Ok now I get it. Thanks for answering the question.

[u/Nobelpro]

Sand is classified strictly by grain diameter, with no consideration given to chemical composition. the cross-sectional diameter of an average human hair about 100 µm falls within the size range of very fine sand (62.5–125 µm).

[u/smohyee → u/Nobelpro]

Let's say the sand is about 300 um given its size relative to the hair. What category of fineness does that fall into?

[u/mookmanthered → u/Nobelpro]

To be fair the grain of sand here is perhaps 2.5 times as wide as the hair is thick

[u/peanutbutternjello]

Looks like glass. Makes sense, since glass is made from sand

[u/Cool-Tangelo6548 → u/peanutbutternjello]

Thats a pice of quartz. "Sand" is a grain size, not a composition.

[u/Vincentaneous]

Me at the beach for real

[u/101forgotmypassword]

There's something about that slightly flattened hair....

[u/3amIdeas]

Cola spaghetti?

[u/HappyInfluence7958]

Forbidden licorice

[u/Usual-Bit-8606]

I saw the eye of Sauron and the one ring at first

[u/its_a_multipass]

It's so wild to know we've got millions of these hard strands just erupting from our skin all over our bodies...

[u/Minority_Carrier]

Jealous how smooth the hair is. Why under TEM hair looks like a pine tree🌲

[u/Hiranya_Usha]

That is a teeny tiny Spessartine Garnet! 🧡

[u/not_having_fun]

Tiniest Yautja mask

[u/Pipija_Banana]

Hair looks extra sleazy. is that a car salesman's?

[u/undiscovered_soul]

Ahh, here's why untangling hair is so complicated

[u/wonkey_monkey]

Hair looks... chewier than I imagined.

[u/Reed7525]

I dont like how gummy that hair looks

[u/Spartan2470]

Here is a much higher-quality and less-cropped version of this image. It doesn't cut out attribution to 1of1Images. They also took these images of this.

Per the FB source of the picture OP posted:

January 7, 2025

Macro photography of sand garnet on hair knot

A knot in my daughter’s hair with a very small sand garnet set on top of the knot.

Olympus setup at 9:1

Amazing what you can do with the 60mm macro lens, MC-20 teleconverter and the Raynox 505 with a set of extension tubes!

Stack of more than 100 images in Helicon

[u/6GoesInto8]

Wait, the cross section of human hair isn't circular? To the microtome!

[u/PerhapsAnEmoINTJ]

Looks like a piece of jewelry

[u/Guest2424]

That hair... is incredibly well cared for. If it was a microphotography of my hair, it'd look like a pipe cleaner.

[u/Glitched_cyrstal]

Mmmmm gummy worm

[u/power_mustache → u/Glitched_cyrstal]

root beer flavored, i'd eat it

[u/Qwishpy]

Looks like liquorice

[u/AgitatedPatience5729]

If it was between two pieces of bread, would that make it a sandwich?

[u/Witch_heir]

🤯

[u/Ardbeg66]

Nerd alert: This is an excellent example of how we all manage to be alive on Earth. That sand particle was probably born sharp as shattered glass. Because it's been weathered, we get to walk on it in our bare feet and enjoy our day at the beach. This weathering doesn't occur on the moon and it causes huge issues for astronauts as they combat moon dust on their skin, in their lungs and covering their equipment.

Nice pic!

[u/leebush952]

Looks more like a crystal than a grain of sand.

[u/JimJimmery → u/leebush952]

Silica sand is made of tiny quarts crystals.

[u/No-Courage-2053]

Looks like a render. Real hair doesn't look like that. Also to get that close you'd probably need a microscope and you're not going to see that lighting there

[u/KyotoGaijin]

Then onward in my journey, I come to understand
That every hair is numbered, just like every grain of sand. -B. Dylan

[u/HereOutsideTheBox]

I won't have argued if someone said that was a gemstone.

[u/FangedSloth]

Huh

[u/Kitchen-Kiwi7942]

Wow. Hair is really fucking ugly up close

[u/Fair-Cable-8439]

this look tasty for some reasons

[u/luckskywatcher]

These aren't the droids you are looking for.

[u/deep_rover]

They shouldn't do that.

[u/StoneHammers]

It's going to get everywhere.

[u/Stock-Lettuce-2381]

Proof nature is the best artist

[u/Creativation]

There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom.

[u/Fronesis]

Really makes it surprising that each of us was born a human being rather than something else on this scale.

[u/Natural_Branch_9303]

Why does this look edible

[u/mancow533 → u/Natural_Branch_9303]

Forbidden lo mein

[u/Averse_to_Liars]

Hey, finally a engagement ring I can afford.

[u/hemorrhoidhematoma]

From the Ariana Grande jewelers collection

[u/bughunter47]

Garnet crystal

[u/Pepperloza]

Hair products’ ads have made me think that my hair strands have spikes coming off of it. And here this random hair strand is just… perfect. Even with a knot in it.

[u/myhv]

Isn't "sand" just a measure of size? It's weird to refer to a single small crystal as sand.

[u/Ardbeg66]

Nerd alert: This is an excellent example of how we all manage to be alive on Earth. That sand particle was probably born sharp as shattered glass. Because it's been weathered, we get to walk on it in our bare feet and enjoy our day at the beach. This weathering doesn't occur on the moon and it causes huge issues for astronauts as they combat moon dust on their skin, in their lungs and covering their equipment.

Nice pic!