Curly Hair Follicle Shape

The hair follicle acts as an anchor holding the hair in place.

Curly hair follicle shape. The shape of your hair follicle determines if you have straight wavy or curly hair genes can turn on and off while we know genes influence hair texture scientists still don t know all of the genes that contribute to hair texture or what exactly those genes do. Circular follicles produce straight hair while oval follicles produce curlier hair. People with curly hair appear to have a hooked rather than a straight follicle shape.

It is the shape of the follicle which contributes to determining whether your hair is straight or curly. Straight hair emerges from a round follicle while oval and twisted oval follicles create wavy and curly hair. The follicle just like the hair fiber can be different shapes and sizes.

Curly hair may be difficult to style on humid days. Newsletter written by yella hewings martin ph d. There are several sizes of ellipticals each of which gives rise to wavy curly or frizzy hair shown below.

The influence of follicle shape. Follicles of straight hair tunnel vertically down from the skin s surface into the dermis. When a follicle is asymmetrical the hair that it produces is oval in shape and tends to curl.

An increase in androgens in females can actually change the shape of the hair follicle from round to flat and this can instigate a change in texture from straight to curly. When it s symmetrical the strand that emerges grows round and straight. Hairs grow out of tiny tube like cavities in the skin known as follicles.

The follicle of curly hair adopts an oval shape. Another contributing factor to a hair s curl is the way the follicle tunnels into the scalp. The flatter the oval is the curlier the hair will be.