Plural of Hair

The Quick Answer

Hair is singular when it refers to an entire head of hair (e.g., brown hair, blonde hair, curly hair).
When describing individual strands of hair, the plural is hairs.

The Plural of Hair

When describing an entire head covered with individual hairs, hair is treated as a single object or group, which is why it is referred to in a singular form.

I washed my hair this morning.

hair

mass noun

I found three gray hairs this morning.

hairs

countable

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The Standard Rules for Forming the Plurals

The table below shows the standard rules for forming the plurals of nouns in English.

Type	Example of Type	Forming the Plural	Plural
Most Nouns	hair scythe	add s	hairs scythes
Noun Ending s, sh, ch, x or z	bus dress	add es	buses dresses
Nouns ending [consonant] o	mango zero tomato	add either s or es (There are no rules for this - you have to know.)	mangoes or mangos zeros tomatoes
Nouns ending [vowel] o	patio ratio	add s	patios ratios
Nouns ending [consonant] y	story penny	change the y to an i and add es	stories pennies
Nouns ending [vowel] y	monkey donkey	add s	monkeys donkeys
Mass nouns	hair rice	some nouns do not have a plural form	hair rice
Nouns ending f or fe	dwarf knife	ves and/or s (There are no rules - you have to know.)	dwarfs knives
Exceptions	goose louse	some nouns undergo a vowel or letters change	geese lice
More exceptions	salmon sheep	some nouns have their own rules	salmon sheep

Why Is There Confusion over the Plural of hair?

Confusion arises because hair is typically a mass noun. A mass noun is a noun without a plural form. Mass nouns refer to things that can't be counted (e.g., rice, milk, chalk).

When refering to strands of hair, hair can be countable. The plural is hairs.

Another Interactive Exercise

Here are three randomly selected questions from another exercise on plurals, which can be edited, printed to create an exercise worksheet, or sent via email to friends or students.

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