• Question: Why is some people's hair curly and not others?

    Asked by niamhcarr to Amy, Sarah, Will on 21 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by ciaralydon.
    • Photo: Sarah Martin

      Sarah Martin answered on 21 Jun 2012:

      Hi niamhcarr,

      This is actually a really interesting question! 🙂
      It has to do with the shape of hair that the follicle produces, and that shape is genetic. If you look at a straight and a curly hair under the microscope, you’ll spot the difference yourself! Straight hair is completely round, and will hang straight from the root. But curly hair us actually slightly flattened – so oval when you look at its cross-section – and that makes it twist, as the tension isn’t the same across all parts of it when it’s built! In African people and people with really curly hair, a hair is almost flat, and you can feel it when you roll one forwards and backwards between your finger and tumb!
      Check out curly and straight hair under a microscope at school some time and let me know how it goes!
      🙂 Sarah

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