How do hair follicle receptors respond when a hair moves?

Hair follicle receptors are a type of mechanoreceptor located in human skin that mediate the sense of touch. These receptors consist of sensory nerve terminals situated around the base of a hair.12

When a hair is moved, even very slightly, these nerve terminals are activated. However, hair follicle receptors are characterized by their rapid adaptation to stimulation; they stop firing if the movement is sustained, meaning they respond primarily to the initial change rather than a constant state. Because of this sensitivity to superficial light touch, they play a key role in detecting movement across the surface of the skin.21