LS3 ETHNIC HAIR
Grimalt R
Department of Dermatology, University of Barcelona, Spain

The range of different types of hair is enormous, ranging from tight wiry curls to ruler-straight. The color and shape of hair vary too in different populations around the world. Most types of hair show an inherited character rather than an influence from the environment although some special cultures develop extremely sophisticated methods to decorate their own hair that can really modify the hair aspect in a permanent way. Anyhow, the type of hair we have, depends on the race, or on the mixture of races from which we came. For teaching purposes we can divide the hair in 3 main types, originally three basic racial groups before mixing, namely mongoloid, caucasoid and negroid hair. Most people nowadays show no pure types but different mixtures of them. Mongoloid hair is typical from oriental populations the hair is usually straight and black eumelanin rich and at the transversal section the shaft shows a circular aspect. Caucasoid hair is the typical hair of fair-skinned people. It might be wavy or straight, and the diameter varies widely too. The color ranges from black to a pale blond and shows a mixture of pheomelanin and eumelanin. At the transversal section the hair shaft is oval. Negroid hair is from people originated in Africa. This hair is black and curled. It tends to be woolly and dry is more easily damaged by heat and chemicals, is eumelanin reach and shows a flat aspect at the transversal section. The different ways of taking care of our hair also vary enormously from different cultures and during this lecture we will review some of the most striking ones.