Black hair

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Black hair is common in people of Mediterranean descent

Straight black hair is an archetypal East Asian trait

Black hair is a hair color characterized by being completely jet black in East Asians and Native Americans, or at least closer to black in pigmentation than to darkest brown as in Africans, Melanesians and Southern Europeans. It's the most common hair color in the world with vast majority of people in Africa, India and Asia possessing black hair. Many people with black hair are actually extremely dark brunette, it is to say shades of technically dark brown hair that are so extremely dark that simply calling them "dark brown" would do them an injustice. Most Eastern Asians however have the darkest shades of black hair. It is not dark brown but purely jet black. Such shades might as well be black, as that is how they are most commonly perceived. Indeed, this distinction walks a fine line, but is socially sound, even if biologically debatable. However this is true of all borderline hair colors.

Black hair is the opposite of the blonde hair color in terms of color, especially platinum blonde, as it has a large quantity of the dark pigment melanin. Most human beings outside of northern Europe (and northeastern Europe especially, where the blondism mutation took root) are black-haired. Black or extremely dark brown is likely the original hair color of Homo Sapiens, and it is found in its greatest distribution in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Pacific Isles, pre-colonial Australia, and pre-Columbian America. Among Caucasoids, black hair is particularly common in people of Mediterranean, West Asian, North African, and South Asian descent, and much less so in people from Nordic countries. Black hair is ancient in these lands, probably dating to the Paleolithic, and its presence is certainly not due to Phoenician colonists or Spaniards from the Spanish Armada. Geneticists have revealed vast genetic similarities between the Basques of northern Spain and south-western France & people living in Ireland and the Western parts of Britain[1][2]. Black hair can be observed in Germany and Scandinavia, but is certainly in the minority, and the amount of black-haired people is perhaps equal to that of the amount of blond-haired people in southern Europe. Native Americans are believed to be genetically related to people of East Asian descent and thus have straight, jet black hair.

Black hair comes in a variety of textures. For example, many people of African or Melanesian origin have afro textured hair, while straight black hair is common in Asians and indigenous peoples of the Americas. Ethiopians, although Africans have wavy or straight hair. The northeastern Indian are of Mongoloid origin and have hair identical to those of Southeast and Northeast Asians. Curly or wavy black hair is common among raven-headed Caucasoids, though so is straight. Black hair can be found in humans and certain breeds of dogs and cats, among other mammalian species.

People with black hair fit into the brunet(te) category, since the term refers to dark-hair. However, people with black hair appear to be more often referred to as black or dark-haired rather than brunet(te).

See also

• Hair colour
• Afro textured hair
• Black Irish
• Hair dye