Black hair

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2009)

Black hair is the darkest and most common of all human hair colors internationally. It is a dominant genetic trait, and it is found in people of all backgrounds and ethnicities. It has large amounts of eumelanin and is less dense than other hair colors. Black hair is known to be the shiniest out of all hair colors. Sometimes very dark brown (blackish-brown) hair is also called black because the potency of eumelanin in the hair gives it the lustrous properties of black hair, adding to that the rationale that "brown" does not do the darkness of the shade justice. Black hair can therefore be slightly rufous, soft black, or blue-black. Sometimes black hair can appear to shine silver-blue in the sun.^[1] In English, black hair is usually described as "jet-black" or "raven black".

Outside of Europe, many humans have black or dark brown hair.^[2] This is likely the original hair color of Homo sapiens, and is found in its greatest distribution in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and the pre-Columbian Americas. Among West Eurasians (White people, Caucasoids), black hair is particularly common in people of Southern European, Celtic peoples, West Asian, and North African ancestry, regardless of ethnolinguistic affiliation. They are also found in the British Isles where the western Irish are particularly noted for their curly jet-black hair combined with clear blue eyes. It is also seen occasionally in parts of Central Europe ^[3]. Black hair is least common in the Baltic littoral, where true blondism is believed to have originated.

Black hair comes in a variety of textures. Straight black hair is very common in Asians and Native Americans. Curly, wavy, straight, soft and coarse hair textures are common among all racialized groups. Within African populations, hair textures vary greatly. Many people of African descent have diverse hair textures ranging from afro-textured hair (the most common), to straight, curly or wavy. This is due to the fact that individuals of African descent have the most ancient alleles (genes responsible for specific physical traits) and the greatest genetic diversity.^[4]

[edit] Gallery

Chinese girl with black hair	Greek girl with black hair	Korean male with black hair	Indian female with black hair
Khoisan female with black hair

[edit] See also

• Hair color
• Hair dye
• Brown hair

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Black hair