Design Essentials

Science of Hair

Human hair is an appendage which grows from follicles, tube like sacs in the scalp or skin containing the hair root.  The hair that we cut, relax, color and style is a non-living fiber comprised of keratinized protein.   Within the hair follicle cells are produced.  These cells mature in an upward moving process through the follicle.  This maturing process is known as keratinization.  During keratinization cells absorb keratin, a fibrous protein.  As the cells continue to move upward they lose their nucleus and die off, producing the non-living keratinized cells (appendage) that emerge from the scalp.