ABSTRACT
Early studies show similarities in black and white skin. For example, Thomson77 and Freeman et al.27 conclude that the stratum corneum (SC) is of equal thickness in blacks and whites. However, in 1974, Weigand et al.85 demonstrated a difference in black and white skin with regard to a variable other than color. They demonstrated that the SC of black
skin contains more cell layers and black skin requires more cellophane tape strips to remove the SC than white skin. Greater variability in the number of tape strips used within the black subject pool was also found, compared with the white subject pool, but this variability was not correlated with degree of skin pigmentation. The mechanisms behind greater intercellular adhesion among black individuals may involve lipids,10 because the lipid content of the SC ranges from 8.5 to 18.4%, with higher values in blacks.61 Since SC thickness is believed to be equal,87 the data refl ected greater intercellular adhesion among the black individuals.85 Recently developed quantitative techniques for determining SC mass are yet to be utilized for this purpose.24
