Related words 髪 is the everyday native Japanese word for head hair, while ヘア is a trendier loanword mostly used in beauty and fashion contexts like ヘアスタイル .
毛 is a general term for hair or fur anywhere on the body, whereas ヘア specifically refers to human head hair (or, euphemistically, pubic hair) in loanword contexts.
Counted with Hair is typically counted with 本 when referring to individual hairs or strands.
Used for a bundle or bunch of hair, not for individual strands.
Word family· 35 hairstyle
hair salon
short hair
crosshair; crosshairs
gray hair; grey hair
Show 8 more Show fewer hair oil
haircut; hairdo
hair dye; hair coloring
hairnet
headband; hair band
hairpiece
hairbrush
hair and makeup
See all 35 in Explore →
Written forms ヘア Usage 84%
Most common katakana spelling for the English loanword 'hair'.
ヘアー Usage 15%
Variant spelling with long vowel mark; less common but still seen.
ヘヤ Usage 1%
Rare variant spelling; may be encountered in older or less standardized usage.
ヘヤー Usage 1%
Rare variant spelling with long vowel mark.
Etymology Borrowed from English 'hair'. The variant spellings reflect different attempts to represent the long vowel in katakana.
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