ABSTRACT
In contrast with other sections dedicated to scalp hair, this section also contains much information on human hair from other body sites and on animal hair. Indeed, there has been much to learn from scientists working in other fields such as animal biology, the wool industry and even cosmetic sciences. They have generated important information that applies in some cases to human scalp hair. Hair has no vital function in humans, yet its psychological importance is immeasurable. If the inevitability of scalp baldness makes it tolerable to genetically disposed men, in women, loss of hair from the scalp is no less distressing than growth of body or facial hair in excess of the culturally acceptable amount; subtle loss in women may be a much greater clinical problem than the overt loss in men. Sudden changes of hair appearance, even though reversible, as in chemotherapyassociated hair loss or scalp shaving before brain surgery, are clearly the first psychological obstacles that the patient has to accept before proceeding with the proposed treatment.
