ABSTRACT
Hair is undoubtedly one of the most important personal features of people in all cultures. For the past several centuries hair has played an important role. Style, length, and color changes are influenced by fashion trends. Hair often allows for feelings of health and beauty, and thus its influence is of great importance. Therefore hair has been studied greatly as cited in numerous publications. Three major types of hair are known: African, Asian, and Caucasian. The differences between these hair types are related to diameter, geometry, and other physical parameters [1,2]. Closely related to these parameters are biophysical factors, tensile strength, and combing forces, which might be influenced by cosmetic formulations that are applied to hair. Caucasian hair is also called European hair and African hair is also called Negroid hair. The names only summarize the complexity of hair types, e.g., Asian hair is the sum term for Japanese, Chinese, and other Asian ethnic groups. And furthermore, even in such ethnic subgroups we do not really see a single hair quality. Therefore, taking Asian, Caucasian, or African hair is an overall example for the corresponding hair types of these regions. Table 1 shows an overview about the most important hair fiber characteristics [3,4].
