Original paper
Variations of scalp, pubic and axillary hair
Mistry, Sanchita; Chatterjee, Madhumati; Ghosh, Jyoti Ratan; Chakrabarti, Nirmal Kanti; Bandyopadhyay, Arup Ratan
Anthropologischer Anzeiger Volume 69 No. 1 (2012), p. 117 - 125
published: Mar 1, 2012
DOI: 10.1127/0003-5548/2011/0119
ArtNo. ESP140006901008, Price: 29.00 €
Abstract
Hair examinations and comparisons conducted by forensic scientists often provide investigative and associative information. Apart from its length and its natural color, hair displays a morphologic diversity both macroscopically and microscopically. Pseudogenization of ϕhHaA type I hair keratin gene inactivation highlights dramatic differences and is thought to be one of the strongest reasons for localization of hair in human. Therefore, humans have several different types of hair that can be classified depending on their body position and form. Size, angle of penetrance through the skin, embryological time of first appearance, and structural variations in the hair follicles are all taken into account when classifying hair types. However, the classification of differential types of hair quantitative traits in human is yet to be undertaken. An attempt has been made in the present study to understand the variation by using the histomorphological and quantitative variables of 540 hair strands (180 each scalp, axillary and pubic hair) of 18 adult Bengalee Hindu caste females. Apart from variation in histomorphological variables, quantitative variables regarding shaft and medulla diameter demonstrated variation in terms of being significantly higher (p < 0.05) in pubic hair compared to that of axillary and scalp hair. Therefore, the present study envisaged that variability in histomorphological and quantitative traits in different areas of human could be one of the important criteria for personal identification in forensic research.
Keywords
bengalee population • scalp hair • pubic hair • axillary hair • quantitative traits