Hair chemistry?

[Foxknot]

Okay, I need some help here. We have six and a half days left of school, and I need some help with chemistry. We've already taken our final(a week)early, so all that we have left is a powerpoint project...that I can't find any information on. >.> The project is supposed to be kind off strange and fun, but the question list was kind of obscure.

the question that was assigned to me was "Besides color, what are some differences between red, blond, and brunette hair?" It seems like a really interesting question, and I'm actually excited about it. But, I can't find anything...most of my searches only turn up the chemical compositions of hair dyes.

I'm kind of at a loss here, and I don't want to change questions...does anyone know anything about different hair colors chemistry-wise? XD

[May]

Here's a link to a ton of information on the chemistry of hair colour ;) I think you'll find, at the very least, a starting point. Good luck.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_hair_color

[fairytalegirl]

Blondes have the thinnest strands of hair. Redheads have the thickest individual strands of hair. Blondes have the most hair per square inch on their heads and Redheads the least. Due to the coarseness though, most people think redheads have more hair and blondes less. Just stuff I learned in nursing school. Maybe it will help :)

[GRU]

I don't know where on earth you would find documentation, and I don't think anyone has ever figured out WHY this is so, but redheads are more likely to need extra anesthesia for surgery... not because they are wussies, but because they are harder to knock out and keep knocked out. See, even when unconscious, we're stubborn PITAs!!!

To get away from all the hair dye links, try adding "melanin" and/or "melanocytes" to your search. I searched using hair color melanin and came up with these that you might find helpful:

http://www.ishrs.org/articles/hair-color.htm

http://www.hair-science.com/_int/_en/topic/topic_sousrub.aspx?tc=root-hair-science^amazingly-natural^color-palette&cur=color-palette
(http://www.hair-science.com/_int/_en/topic/topic_sousrub.aspx?tc=root-hair-science^amazingly-natural^color-palette&cur=color-palette)

(there were others, too, but I figure you need to do some of your own searching!)

Good luck! Maybe your info could be written up and submitted as a LHC article when you're done!

[Igor]

One of the “hair truths” seems to be that blondes has 120 thousand hairs on their heads on average, brunettes 100 and redheads 80 but now that I think about it, I have never seen documentation on it :shrug:
Same with “coarse hair has an extra layer”
Hmm?

[Foxknot]

Thank you guys! ^^ This really helped me out. :3 ♥