Subequatorial African Hair

  Subequatorial African Hair

Subequatorial African hair shafts are flattened and prone to tight curling. Many people classified by the US census department as African American have this type of hair; many such citizens by now have antecedents from continents other than directly from Africa, again a reflection of the easing of social barriers. 

 

 

The distribution of the African and African-like phenotype is strongly oriented toward the equator. Research indicates that although sub-saharan Africans are the most genetically diverse group on Earth, there is a strong selective pressure to produce this curly hair phenotype.

 

 

This does not seem to support sexual selection as the sole or principal cause of the distribution. Further, peoples with no recent African lineage also express this phenotype at the equator, possibly supporting a thermoregulatory function. Individuals with African hair were forcibly transported to both the Americas in the 1800s and immigrated into Europe from post-colonial Africa in the twentieth century. Of all the hair types, African hair suffers most from grooming issues due to its dense curl, and from breakage due to its shape. Many African women and women of African descent use heat or chemicals to straighten their hair for both practical and aesthetic reasons. This may result in damage.