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In medieval Europe and early colonial America, moles were considered a sign of demonic possession (along with everything else). However, the ancient Greeks and Chinese used these markings to try to understand personality traits or predict destinies. In modern pop culture, figures like Marilyn Monroe, Goldie Hawn, Cindy Crawford, and Madonna have transformed moles into beauty marks that are admired and even imitated. Yet, for those with moles, there’s something uniquely curious about them: they tend to grow hair more quickly than the surrounding skin, and the hair often appears darker and thicker.
What causes this? Why do hairs grow so rapidly from moles compared to regular skin? The truth is, science doesn’t have an answer.
“The simple answer is that we don’t fully understand why the hair in moles is coarser or why it appears to grow more rapidly,” says dermatologist Lauren Ploch from Augusta, Georgia, in an interview with mental_floss. “The formation of moles remains a dermatological puzzle, just as the regulation of hair growth does.”
When observed under a microscope, nevus cells— a type of melanocyte found in moles— do not infiltrate the structure of hair follicles and seem to have no impact on hair appearance or growth, according to Ploch.
Researchers do understand that the skin of moles is distinct from regular skin and forms as a result of multiple factors, such as genetics, environment, hormones, and signaling proteins. Many of these factors (particularly hormones and signaling proteins) are also involved in hair growth, says Ploch. Therefore, the presence of the mole and the underlying causes behind it could influence the usual bodily processes that regulate hair growth.
“I believe that while the mole itself may not directly cause darker, coarser hair, the local environment of signaling molecules and hormones in the skin that created the mole results in darker, coarser hair within the lesion,” she explains.
She notes that moles often appear during puberty due to androgen, the same steroid hormone responsible for facial and pubic hair growth, indicating that moles and hair share a common trigger.
Although science has not yet fully decoded the behavior of moles, we do understand more about them now than we did in the Middle Ages.
