Abstract
I HAVE had, within the past few days, my first opportunity of examining closely the living head and hair of the African Negro, on several “Kru boys” from the West Coast. Their hair, which was cut moderately short, presented the usual appearance of a congeries of tufts arranged in a more or less linear manner, but when closely investigated it was found to be uniformly distributed over the scalp—each cork-screw tuft, resulting from the separate hairs on small adjacent areas, intertwisting together and forming a silky compressed curl. In New Guinea I investigated the manner of growth of the hair on a large number of natives from widely distant regions, on many of whom the body was also covered with, to all appearance, little distinct spirals. On close scrutiny, and with a little trouble, these “cork-screws,” both on head and body, could be perfectly uncurled and separated out into individual hairs growing from roots as nearly as possible equidistant from a central hair, round which the others coiled themselves, each hair being in fact a twining-plant-like structure, laying hold of a neighbouring hair as a supporting stake. Both on body and head the hair follicles were evenly distributed. These facts, as regards the African, are already quite well known from the investigations of Prof. Virchow and others; but it may not be without interest if I record, after this opportunity of comparing the Melanesian with the Negro, that the growth of their hair in both races is identical.
Article PDF
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
FORBES, H. Tufted Hair. Nature 54, 151 (1896). https://doi.org/10.1038/054151b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/054151b0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.