Afro hair is dry and brittle – Among black people, the sebaceous gland is smaller and therefore produce less keratin and sebum which makes the hair dry. Under a hot, humid, sebaceous glands, stimulated by the sun produce more sebum.
African hair is seen to be much thicker and more dense meaning that the hair follicles are larger. Density represents the amount of hairs that grow from the head, with denser hair resulting from more hairs growing closer together from the scalp. An individual with high-density hair creates a fuller appearance of curls.
So, why is Afro-textured hair so fragile? With its tight curls and twists, is more prone to breakage for several reasons. Its shape increases tangling and makes combing harder. The shape also creates internal stresses when the hair is unbent, untwisted or stretched that lead to fracturing.
The African hair is generally curly or frizzy, and grows almost parallel to the scalp. It has the slowest growth rate of 0.9 centimeters per month due to its spiral structure which causes it to twist on itself as it grows. African hair has a flattened shape.
The average diameter, or thickness, of Asian hair is from 80 to 120 µm, compared to 65 µm in Caucasian hair and 55 µm in Black hair. The average diameter of Hispanic/Latino hair tends to fall between that of Asian and Caucasian. Caucasians have the highest hair density among the ethnicities studied.
Afro hair produces plenty of protective oils called sebum, but the oil struggles to spread evenly along the hair fibre due to the curly nature of afro hair. Without lubrication, the fibres become very dry which causes the hair to become frizzy and brittle.
African Americans have the lowest hair density, averaging around 130 hairs per square centimeter and about 60,000 hair follicles on an adult scalp. Hair growth.
Certain races have higher rates of hair loss compared to others. Caucasians have the highest rates out of all the ethnic groups. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Native American Indians, Inuits, and Chinese have the lowest rates.
The structure of hair
Depending on your hair's natural porosity, you may find your cuticle is raised, tightly bound, or in between. If your hair is highly porous, it loses moisture easily and is likely to have less sheen, as uneven surfaces refract rather than reflect line.
Robbins (2012) suggests that afro-textured hair may have initially evolved because of an adaptive need amongst humans' early hominid ancestors for protection against the intense UV radiation of the sun in Africa.
Moisture and protein need to be balanced, and too much protein tends to make your hair feel dry and stiff. If stiff, hard, and dry hair sounds familiar, you probably have too much protein in your daily/weekly regimen.
Why is your hair dry and stiff? On a scientific level, it's because of damage to the cuticle. The cuticle is the outermost layer of your hair, and it's made up of many different small scales. When these scales separate from the rest of the hair shaft, the hair looks dry and stiff.
Most Africans have high levels of melanin that results in yellow eyes. Melanin determines the color of your skin, sclera and eyes. When this concentration increases, the eye color becomes light yellow or muddy brown.
Being less protected with the natural oil, the cuticle loses moisture, becomes fragile, and tends to get damaged at a touch. Black puffy hair is the toughest scenario because of the coiled pattern common in people of African ancestry.
Hair Growth Rate
Asian hair shows the fastest growth rate in comparison to the other two hair types. African hair has the lowest growth rate.
While the numbers are different according to different surveys, it appears that either Greece, Macedonia, or the Czech Republic has the highest rate of baldness in the world. These nations each have over 40% of men with acute hair loss.
Black hair follicles have an elliptical shape that grow in a spiral and results in the slowest growth rate, at only about a third of an inch per month. It is also more fragile and prone to breakage. Asian hair follicles are round, usually very straight, and strong.
Asian hair the most dominant hair type in the world out speeds the rest with a growth rate of 1.3cm per month, and despite an estimated 80,000 to 140,000 scalp hairs, it usually has the least density.
Asian and black skin has thicker and more compact dermis than white skin, with the thickness being proportional to the degree of pigmentation. This likely contributes to the lower incidence of facial rhytides in Asians and blacks.
There are two reasons why we believe African hair texture is genetic. Firstly, the texture is universal in Africans, while nearly absent from other ethnic groups. Secondly, it is consistently passed down to the children in each new generation.
Individuals of African ancestry, for example, are more likely to have curly hair due to the oval shape of their hair follicles. Additionally, the Keratin Associated Protein (KAP) cluster genes, responsible for the structure of keratin fibers, have been found to have variations in many African populations.
According to the survey, the majority of men (42%) found blonde hair to be the most attractive. This was followed by brunette (36%), red (16%), black (5%), and gray (1%).
Human hair comes with all sorts of colors, textures and shapes. Notably, African hair is more coiled and dry; Asian hair is straighter and thicker; and Caucasian hair is somewhere in between with around 45% having straight hair, 40% having wavy hair, and 15% having curly hair.
There are some Black women that may have naturally straight hair due to genetics. However, the majority of the time, if you see a Black woman with straight hair, she either has relaxed hair or is natural but uses heat styling tools like a flat iron or blow dryer to straighten her locks.