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Does ethnicity have anything to do with your hair? Of course it does! Each person has a unique genetic makeup resulting in their own individual rate of hair growth, hair size, texture, and shape. There are, however, some hair generalities related to different racial groups.
Scalp Follicle Density
Asian scalp hair density may be as low as 90,000 follicles and rarely exceeds 120,000 follicles per scalp. They average about 150 hairs per square centimetre.
Hair follicle densities of Caucasians range from 100,000 to 150,000 follicles per scalp and have an average of 200 hairs per square centimetre. Density is generally correlated to hair color; redheads typically have the fewest follicles per scalp, whereas blonds have the most, brown-haired people have a follicle-hair density somewhere in the middle.
Africans have a scalp density of about 60,000 follicles. They average about 130 hairs per square centimetre.
Hair Type
Asians have the thickest and coarsest hair which makes it appear as though they have more hairs on their head. Asian hair is almost always straight. Visually, it doesn't cover the head as well as the curly or wavy hair of Caucasians and so when it comes to hair loss, the problem of see through hair is compounded.
Caucasians appear to have the least amount of hair even though they have the most number of hairs on their head. It's because they have hair fibers that are generally very thin. However, their hair can also appear thick because it's more difficult to see through to the scalp than on Asians and Africans. Caucasian hair is quite variable in its appearance, with straight, wavy, or curly hair all being rather common.
Africans have the thinnest and finest hair, but because they mat together more than Asian or Caucasian hair, it appears thicker. Also, some Africans have kinkier, tightly coiled or spiral hair which adds to the effect. Africans generally have a dark skin which obscures the lower densities because of the low contrast between hair and skin colour.
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a non-surgical hair replacement provider in Atlanta, in business for more than 32 years. No matter what the person's ethnicity is, it is important to choose a hair system that has a natural frontal hairline that matches how the hairline looked before. It's the first thing people notice when you walk in the door. A lot of the customisation to the person's formal style or ethnicity will happen at the final cutting, designing and styling of the hair system while the client is wearing it. Across ethnicities, a commonality is that it's easier to create hair systems for men than for women. In creating the hair system, the four most important factors to take into account are the frontal hairline, the hair texture, the cap tone itself and the hair density. Usually, a woman's hair system would also require more diligent care. "Until recently, black hair never really looked natural on a wig or on a hair system: It was too wavy and had a hard shine on it, which looks unnatural. Once we were able to get the right process on the hair, hair replacement systems for African-American women became a great option," says Turner-Primus. "For Asians we're able to match their hair texture exactly by using 100 percent human Asian hair, and for Caucasian women we use medium 100 percent human Indian hair for its natural wave variation, shine and volume while not being overly dense." Hair density definitely differs among ethnicities. While we can match the hair texture by using different types of hair to begin with, we are careful to match the density the person used to wear, as well. The main thing is that it shouldn't look like a wig, which is often too thick and dense. When it comes to base tones, while most Caucasian and Asian women use the same basic neutral base tones, African-American women come in many different skin tones and hues, which must be customised and personalised at the base for a natural-looking scalp, as if the growing right out of it and it perfectly matches the client's skin tone. |
Reference Materials
Rassman, William R, M.D. and Bernstein, Robert M, M.D. "Hair Loss & Replacement for Dummies" USA : Wiley Publishing, Inc, 2009.
http://www.lucyandlolita.com/how-hair-grows-ethnicity
