Hair Structure And Hair Types - A Discussion
Hair Biology
Hair Anatomy And Hair Types
Hair is one of the most important parts of the body when it comes to looking good and head hair is right on top of the importance hierarchy. That’s why when a person starts going bald; it is accompanied by acute psychological stress, especially in women. Besides in their desire to get back the lost glory one resorts to different types of treatments for hair loss. Before we start on the causes and treatments of baldness or baldness whether of men or of women, which will be covered by other articles on the site, we need to know what exactly the process of hair growth is.
Hairs take birth in a stocking-like structure called a hair follicle. It is the factory which produces hair throughout one's life. A hair grows for typically 2 to 6 years from a follicle, then it is shed with a new hair taking its place. This cycle of growing and shedding goes on through out one's life. The average human head has about 100,000 hair follicles. These follicles, unless affected by certain factors such as genetics, hormones, medicine etc. keep one's head full of hair.
The hair fiber that grows out of the skin consists of three layers each entrusted with different jobs:
- An innermost layer or medulla which is found only in thick hairs.
- The cortex also known as middle layer. It is the source of the strength, color and the texture of hair.
- The cuticle or the outermost layer. It has no color and is quite thin. The primary job of this layer is protection for the cortex.
The hair root
As mentioned earlier, the structure of the follicle is stocking-like in shape and is located in the skin. The base of a hair follicle consists of a hair root. The most important part of hair root is a projection termed the dermal papilla. This part nourish the hair through capillaries, or tiny blood vessels, in the papilla.Moreover, the dermal papilla acts as a regulator for hair growth by its interaction with male hormones and androgens. If a person's genetic coding is such that it encourages the baldness, it is this part which is affected first. Androgenetic alopecia occurs because genetically induced baldness involves these male hormones.
Hair types
There are three major ethnic hair types, African, Asian and Caucasian. They are different because they have:
- Different hair shaft shapes
- Different shape of the hair follicle
- Difference in the fiber characteristic
Let’s detail these different types of hair:
Asian hair
Asian hairs are thick, straight, and coarse. Because it is quite strong and straight it can be quite difficult to manage and get it to hold a style. People having this kind of hair also have lower numbers of hair follicles per unit area of skin. The number hovers between 90,000 scalp follicles and 100,000 scalp follicles. African hair
African hairs are oval to ribbon shaped in the cross section. The cross section has, more often than not, an elliptical image and sometimes an almost flat and ribbon-like image. This type of hair has:
- More strength and rigidity across the thick part of the cross section.
- More pliability across the narrow section.
The result of this shape is that the hair tends to curl in one direction (like a ribbon). People of African ancestry also have a somewhat lower number of hair follicles than Caucasians at around 90,000 – 100,000 hair follicles.
Caucasoid or caucasian hair
The cross-section of Caucasoid hair has an oval or circular image. This makes hairs fairly straight, but these hairs are of flexible length or have loose curl. The Caucasian hairs in characteristics are in between the other two i.e. Asian and African hair. The number of hair follicles on the scalp and vary quite significantly. As a rough guide, people with red hair usually have a somewhat lower number of scalp follicles, dark haired Caucasians have around 100,000 scalp follicles, while blonde haired people can have 110,000 - 120,000 scalp follicles. However blonde haired people also tend to have the finest hair while red haired and dark haired people have thicker hair fibers.
Now that you know what kind of hair you have, you can decide what are the causes behind the baldness or hair loss and what would be the best treatment for it in consultation with a qualified medical professional.