Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Hair Shaft
Hair Shaft
Cortex:
Middle layer made up of long thin cells firmly
attached to each other and arranged lengthwise.
Generally it is made up of Keratin. Nature creates
natural hair coloring, a substance called melanin.
Contains air sacs called cortical fusi. Provides hair
with strength, elasticity and determines the texture
and quality of hair.
Medulla:
Central core of the hair.
Composed of soft keratin.
The Cuticle
1. Gives hair resistance to chemical breakdown and retains its structural
features.
2. The cuticle is the outermost layer of hair which is covered with
overlapping scales and translucent in nature.
3. The scales point toward the tip of the hair.
4. Study of scale by SEM or embedding into soft medium.
5. Scales differ among species of animals and are name is based on their
appearance.
1. The three basic patterns are:
– Coronal
– Spinous
– Imbricate
Variations in the Cuticle
1. Imbricate Cuticle:
Indicates that hair sample is
human.