The African hair is generally curly or frizzy, and grows almost parallel to the scalp. It has the slowest growth rate of 0.9 centimeters per month due to its spiral structure which causes it to twist on itself as it grows.
The story of human migration and evolution is written in hair DNA. In sub-Saharan Africa, genes favour tight, curly hair. But in east Asia, mutations have led to straighter, thicker hair. In Europe, other mutations brought wavy and straw-coloured hair.
Individuals of African ancestry, for example, are more likely to have curly hair due to the oval shape of their hair follicles. Additionally, the Keratin Associated Protein (KAP) cluster genes, responsible for the structure of keratin fibers, have been found to have variations in many African populations.
Most Egyptian women have naturally curly hair. It's a dominant feature.
Evolutionary trait
It is known that 45% of European people have straight hair, 40% have wavy hair and 15% have curly hair. They had previously established the heritability of curly hair, finding there was as much as a 90% chance of it being an inherited trait.
Many Asians have naturally straight hair, but there is a significant group of us who do have naturally curly or wavy hair! However, because it's the norm to see straight and sleek hair, curly haired boys and girls tend to think that their hair is some kind of unruly straight hair that isn't behaving.
Human hair comes with all sorts of colors, textures and shapes. Notably, African hair is more coiled and dry; Asian hair is straighter and thicker; and Caucasian hair is somewhere in between with around 45% having straight hair, 40% having wavy hair, and 15% having curly hair.
Less than 20% of people have naturally curly hair. The percentage gets even smaller when you consider the scores of guys out there who don't embrace their curls.
Yes, East Asians can have naturally curly hair.
We believe one of the reasons is that super-straight hair — also known as type 1a hair — is so rare. In fact, it's the rarest hair type. Only 2% of the world's population has 1a hair. It's mostly found in people of Asian descent.
Researchers suggest that the evolution of curly hair in early humans was a crucial adaptive trait in equatorial Africa, offering effective protection from the sun's heat and minimizing the need for sweating. This passive cooling mechanism likely allowed for brain growth by conserving water and reducing heat.
For example, variation in the TCHH gene is often responsible for curly vs straight hair in people with European ancestry, while variation in the EDAR gene is often responsible for straight hair in people with Asian ancestry.
From genotyping results, European hair shape varies mostly between wavy (46.6%) and straight (40.7%), with some curly hair (12.7%) (n = 2138) [10]. The same study showed that Asian (East and West) hair shape is also mostly straight (46.7%) or wavy (41.3%), with some curly hair (12%) (n = 92).
People of European descent have 45% straight hair, 40% wavy, and 15% naturally curly hair.
An estimated 65 percent of the U.S. population has curly, coily or wavy hair, with a growing percentage of textured-hair women embracing their natural hair .
There are plenty of blue-eyed Asians. This probably happens when the traditional blue-eyed allele comes into a family from a (possibly very distant) European ancestor. Blue eyes then resurface in a child generations later if they inherit the allele from both parents.
Japan, as a country, isn't really geared toward those with curly hair. The majority of the Japanese population has naturally straight hair and many who do have some form of curly hair have it chemically straightened in order to fit in.
In fact, many Korean people have curly or wavy hair textures — but this is often a well-kept secret as most Koreans opt for the widely popular Korean Magic.
Lots of traits are statistically rare: Left-handedness (just 10 percent of the population!), curly hair (11 percent!), and blond hair (4 percent!), to name a few.
Since curly hair is a dominant gene, there is a good likelihood that one or two curly-haired parents will produce a curly-haired cutie. But genetics are tricky, and there's a chance that two parents with curls could carry the straight hair recessive gene, and pass that onto their offspring.
In fact, more people prefer curly hair to straight hair. Though beauty is seen differently by everyone, one thing is for sure; curly hair is getting a lot of love lately. In fact, in a survey conducted by StyleCaster, a surprising 58% of guys thought curly hair was sexier than other hair textures.
The average diameter, or thickness, of Asian hair is from 80 to 120 µm, compared to 65 µm in Caucasian hair and 55 µm in Black hair. The average diameter of Hispanic/Latino hair tends to fall between that of Asian and Caucasian. Caucasians have the highest hair density among the ethnicities studied.
Type 2: Wavy Hair – This hair type is common among people of mixed-race and some Europeans. Wavy hair has a slight S-shaped wave pattern and is thicker than straight hair. Type 3: Curly Hair – This hair type is common among people of African descent, but can also be found in other ethnic groups.
Caucasian hair can be smooth, wavy or curly. Its colorimetry can vary from blond to dark brown. It grows obliquely, and grows about 1.2 centimeters per month.