NATURAL
AFRO
HAIR
W
ooly - Kinky - Nappy
-Spiralled these are some
of the adjectives used
to describe the natural
afro-textured hair. Af-
ro-textured hair is the natural hair texture
of certain population in Africa, African
diaspora, Oceania and some part of South
and Southeastern Asia. Different ethnic
groups have observable differences in the
structure, density, and growth rate of hair.
With regards to structure, all human hair
has the same basic chemical composition in
terms of keratin protein content. Classical
afro-textured hair has been found to be not
as densely concentrated on the scalp as other
follical types. Specifically, the average density
of afro-textured hair was found to be approx-
imately 190 hairs per square centimeter. This
was significantly lower than that of Cauca-
sian hair, which, on average, has approxi-
mately 227 hairs per square centimeter.
An individual hair’s shape is never complete-
ly circular. The cross-section of a hair is an
ellipse, which can tend towards a circle or be
distinctly flattened. Asiatic heads of straight
hair are formed from almost-round hairs,
and Caucasian hair’s cross sections form oval
shapes. Afro-textured hair has a flattened
cross-section and is finer, and its ringlets can
form tight circles with diameters of only
a few millimeters. In humans worldwide,
Asiatic hair is the most common, whereas
afro-textured hair is the least common. This
68 | Colossium . December 2018
is because the former hair
texture
is typical of the
large populations
inhabiting East
Asia as well
as the indig-
enous peo-
ples of the
Americas.
Afro-textured
hair strands
can possess “tor-
sion twists”, where
the
hair strand turns around itself. These torsion
twists may prevent the hair strands from
coiling into tight curls, instead separating
them and allowing the hair as a whole to
have a fluffier, more undefined look. Histor-
ically, many cultures in continental Africa
developed hairstyles that defined status, or
identity, in regards to age, ethnicity, wealth,
social rank, marital status, religion, fertility,
adulthood, and death. Hair was carefully
groomed by those who understood the aes-
thetic standard, as the social implications of
hair grooming were a
significant part
of community
life. Dense,
thick,