Hair Study | A comparison of African- American hair against Caucasian hair

I read an interesting article this week about black hair and its comparison to Caucasian hair. Though the results of the research most people are aware of, it was just interest to read. I have only gone into details for on the ones that surprised me.  The research looked at:

1.       Hair diameter

2.       Break stress test

3.       Resistance to combing

4.       Comparison of static charge properties

5.       Level of moisture

I have only looked at point 1, 4 and 5, 2 and 3 I thought were as expected. Now I did not look into the detail of the samples hairs, I believe it was mostly natural hair.

Results:

Hair diameters

The research found that African American hair has an irregular diameter along the length of the hair.

The ellipticity index averages

African- American hair: 1.8297 ± 0.1456

Caucasian hair: 1.2887 ± 0.1182

My thoughts: This might result in our hair being more fragile as the strand strength is not consistent, thinner areas can break off. Note to self really be careful when handling hair.

Static charge when combed

African- American hair has a high static charge when combed than Caucasian hair. As a result having more fly away hairs

African-American hair: (-25.4 kv/m)

Caucasian hair: (+6.6 kv/m)

 African-American hair (chemically straightened): (+25.9 kv/m)

The research noted that with high charged hair, you tended to have a balloon effect with the hair, and some strands just do not lay down

Level of moisture

African-America hair has less moisture by weight compared to Caucasian hair.

African-American hair: 17.69%

Caucasian hair: 18.66%

Holding 5% less moisture

My thoughts: I know our hair does not hold the moisture as well, but I was expecting more than 5% less, I mean how dry does our NG get!? My overall thoughts on this is that the struggle of moisture is a struggle with all hair types

See the article for yourself at: (http://www.dralisyed.com/2008/05/study-on-physical-properties-o.html)

Happy Hair Journey’s Ladies! :o)

‘Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom’ – Marcel Proust