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Afro Textured Hair:
The type of
hair found among most people of sub-saharan African descent. This
type of hair is tightly coiled, with a thick appearance and feel.
This type of hair is typically found in people of sub-saharan African
descent. Many of the populations of North East Africa have looser
hair that is not as tightly coiled as that of most other Africans.
While some have some foreign ancestry, it is debatable regarding
whether they achieved this through Middle Eastern admixture or significant
Middle Eastern ancestry; this type of hair is also found among the
Fulani and Tuareg of Western Africa. People of African descent with
tightly coiled hair are found in large numbers throughout the United
States of America, the Caribbean, and Latin America, and in smaller
numbers throughout parts of the Middle East and South Asia as a result
of a lesser known Eastern African slave trade. A subsequent migration
has brought significant numbers of black people to Canada, Europe,
and Australia as well. Some other groups of people also have tightly
coiled hair, including Khoisan of southern Africa, the Negrito of
the Andaman Islands and south-east Asia and the Melanesian populations
of the Pacific. An afro, sometimes called a "natural" or
shortened to "fro", is a hairstyle in which the hair extends
out from the head like a halo , cloud or ball. This may or may not
include wearing such afros long, to several times the diameter of
the head. An afro requires curly hair and often, but not always,
Afro textured hair, which typically people of indigenous African
descent naturally have. The ancient Africans known to us as the ancient
Egyptians were known at times to wear their wooly hair in this style.
Anyone of any ethnic background is capable of acquiring an afro if
they have curly hair especially if they have some African ancestry.
With naturally kinky hair, the spiraling, tightly coiled curls can
be straightened out somewhat, giving the hair added volume and length,
by first braiding the hair, then separating the coils using an wide-toothed
comb.
Hair Dimensions: People describe their hair as being thick or thin,
coarse or fine. What they are usually talking about is the amount
of coverage their hair gives to the head. This coverage depends on
two things: how many hairs there are, and the thickness (diameter)
of each hair shaft. People vary a lot in how many hairs they have,
and also in how closely together they grow. The 'average' person
has around 100,000 hairs, but people with very dense hair may have
as many as 150,000. The diameter of the hair shaft varies too. It
is usually around 57-90 µm in Europeans. This is much less
than in Asians, in whom it can be 120 µm. (These are general
figures, representing a wide range of values.) Hair that is both
dense and thick looks completely different from that of someone who
has fewer and finer hairs. Fine hair is not only at risk for breakage
and absorption of chemicals, it is also more likely to be wooly
or frizzy.
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