Abstract:
Purpose: To provide data for forensic use and provoke ideas to preserve shaft integrity, we
studied microstructural alterations of female scalp hair subjected to Ghanaian cultural styling
methods. Hence, topographical features of female hairs styled by braiding/weaving, and
chemical relaxation sampled from five different scalp regions were assessed and compared
with natural (Afro) hair.
Subjects and methods: Ninety-six indigenous Ghanaian females volunteered 480 hairs, which
were analyzed by light microscopy.Hairs were plucked using a pair of cosmetologist’s tweezers from
frontal, left temporal, right temporal, vertex, and occipital regions of the scalp. Hairs were categorized
by their grooming styles as Afro (natural-unstyled), natural-styled (weaved/braided), and
chemically relaxed. These were studied according to shaft/medulla dimensions and conventional
cuticular scale features, and comparisons were made between styling procedures and scalp regions.
Results: Chemically styled hair had the widest shaft diameter, but the lowest incidence of
continuous medullation. Medullary diameter and index increased from chemically relaxed,
natural-styled, to Afro hair. A positive but modest correlation between shaft and medullary
diameters existed for Afro (r = 0.320, p = 0.011) and natural-styled hairs (r = 0.235, p =
0.022) but not chemically relaxed hair (r = 0.122, p = 0.2). Scale margins were predominantly
smooth in Afro hair, crenate in natural-styled hair, and rippled in chemically relaxed
hair. With respect to scalp regions, hair shaft diameter was widest in vertex hair and smallest
in right temporal hair in all styling methods.
Conclusion: Medulla was thickest in Afro hair, which also exhibited a correlation with shaft
diameter in conformity with the published data. Chemically relaxed hairs did not exhibit
these characteristics, which affirm altered morphology. Research on how chemicals affect
these changes should help find antidote. The dimensional variations of hairs from different
scalp regions are instructive for both cosmetic and forensic examination of hairs.
