EDAR controls hair thickness
A few weeks ago I speculated that the EDAR gene was responsible for variation in hair form in regards to curly vs. straight. I based this on the distribution of polymorphisms and the variation of the phenotype geographically. I was wrong. Rather, it is responsible for variation in thickness of the hair follicle. A Thick Head of Hair Is in the Genes:
…Geneticists at the University of Tokyo and several other institutions in Japan, Thailand, and Indonesia have now used the HapMap to explore why Japanese and Chinese people have thick hair: The cross-sectional area of East Asian hair fibers averages about 30% larger than that of Africans and 50% larger than that of Europeans.The researchers started with 170 candidate genes known to be involved in hair development based on mouse studies and rare inherited human diseases…A variant in a gene called EDAR was present in 88% of the Japanese and Chinese but not at all in the two other groups. To see how this gene affected hair thickness, the researchers examined hair fiber dimensions and DNA from 186 individuals from two ethnic groups in Southeast Asia who have a variety of hair types. Hair fibers were thickest in people who have two copies of the East Asian version of EDAR.
The researchers specifically rejected the correspondence of a particular genotype on this locus to phenotypic curliness or straightness. Don’t pay attention to the adaptive explanations, the literature in this area offers cold climate as the explanation for nearly all derived East Asian features. EDAR is a major nexus for a lot of developmental action. It seems that wearing a fur cap of some sort would be better insulation than thicker hair! What we do know is according to haplotter the whole region around EDAR has been slammed by selection, SLC5A7, LOC402097, SULT1C1, SULT1C2, GCC2, LIMS1, RANBP2, FLJ32745 and finally, EDAR (just type EDAR into the “gene name” text box).
Labels: Genetics
Interesting. Europeans have the thinnest hair.
Europeans have the thinnest hair.
On Average.
FYI, this is why Hair Club for Men and similar hair companies uses (East) Asian hair in their product.
No, I am not a client – my hair stylist used to work for them as a sales lady.
Interesting. Asians have the thickest hair.
Hair is just a social construct! *lol*
yeah,but whose the model ?
for people wanting to know where i get images. google images. just type queries like “japanese actress” (keep image safe search on to avoid tub girl and what not).
Wearing heavy fur hats gives you really bad hat hair.
The girl in the picture has thin hair for an Asian. How do I know? The bangs are very wispy. Girls with thick hair have thick bangs. That’s not the cut – it’s her hair. Thin.
That must be why Asian guys with short hair look like hedgehogs — if you stick a rubber cylinder through a window pretty far, it won’t bend down that much if its cross-sectional area is large, but if it were small, it would bend right down.
If you want to see girls with great hair look at pantene.com. The main model is Caucasion with spectacular brown mane and brown eyes – appeals to a cross-section of the world economy. Africa only continent not on Pantene’s list.
and what of the gingers
Yes, my hair stylist also says that think hair makes some hair styles difficult for Asian men as the hair does “stick out”. I also experience this to some degree as I have pretty thick hair myself.
Fine hair is easier to control, especially when it is short.
Presumably maximum hair length is related to thickness, with thicker hair tending to be darker. Thus, when you see a picture of a blonde model with waist length hair, she’s probably wearing extensions.
The model is Fukada Ky?ko, a Japanese actress.
And by the way, anyone who hadn’t noticed that Asians and Africans have thicker hair than Europeans must be a certifiable idiot. Europeans’ tend to have silky hair, while Africans have wiry hair, and Asians’ hair is even more wiry.
A seller of human hair wigs told me that the only people with truly black hair are Asians. African blacks have black-brown hair. African (negroid) hair is also not “coarse” strand-wise, but very fragile and brittle, breaking easily. The strongest hair is Asian. I would guess American Indian hair is similar to Asian.
the wig-seller also said African hair is not really thick, but of course, has a look of volume because it grows upward, European hair grows downward. He confirmed that Asian hair is thickest. Wig sellers have their areas of expertise.
Strands of African hair are still obviously thicker than strands of European hair on average. The difference is visible even to the naked eye. The difference between European and Asian hair is even more obvious. It is extremely rare for an Asian person (especially a person from China or Korea) to have the sort of soft, silky hair that is so common among Europeans. The overwhelming majority of East Asians have thick, wiry hair that is often painful to the touch, depending on how it is cut. :)
By the way, that black-brown color of African hair is also quite common among Japanese, although it does not occur among continental East Asians. This is one of the visible characteristics that can be used to distinguish Japanese from continental East Asians. The ones from the continent, even as far south as Malaysia, almost all have the same, stereotypical raven-black hair. Some Cambodians and “montaignards” in Vietnam do have softer, silkier, European-like “dirty blond” hair, though, especially as children.
“soft, luxurious, silky European hair” Come on, what is this blog really about? The findings found that Asian hair is on average the thickest, and European hair is on average the thinnest. Nothing as reverent as “silky”. And it’s only a 50% difference – with something as fine as hair, we’re not talking about the difference between a telephone pole and a twig. Stop trying so hard to turn every difference into a argument for white supremacy.
I wouldn’t have thought razib would have argued for white supremacy, given his obvious Brown Pride.
But I’m a member of a privileged group, who am I to counter a repressed individual such as yourself?
What does a single word of what you said have to do with what I said?
chill guys. i do find the talk about silky white hair kind of funny, a rice king i knew always used the same adjective for the hair of the east asian honeys he was dating.
a rice king i knew always used the same adjective for the hair of the east asian honeys he was dating.
Hair is the only really Japanese trait I have (maybe Tetris skills too). The only person to make any comment about it was a Brown girl (a friend) who said it was “very pet-able.”
I’m more of an “eye man” when it comes to girls, but are there “hair men” out there who are attracted to East Asians because of their hair?
drsnacks, you’re hair sensitive. I’d say people on gnxp actually have a leaning towards Asian, if any race. Hair is one odd commodity. I realized that while doing business reports on toy companies–strangely it’s how I met the wig-dealer. The companies make all colors of dolls, but every black doll, no matter how realistic the color and features, has “silky” ringlets or arrow straight hair. In every ad that features a non-white family, I see what looks like the same little mulatto (sorry if that word isn’t pc, but I come from a line of mulattos way back) chick with the same unlikely long, blond curls, but she is always accompanied by two reasonably typical looking AA parents.
I’d say people on gnxp actually have a leaning towards Asian, if any race.
Only as a foil, like Ashkenazis.
And I know exactly what girl you’re talking about. I see her all the time. Ha.
And you’re hair sensitive.
drsnacks, you’re hair sensitive
The only insecurity I have about my hair is that I’m losing it, and even then it’s not that big of a deal. I can’t point out a glaring hypocrisy of this supposedly scientific and disinterested community without having a personal reason for doing so? The Euro-gushing of JCA was noticeably over-the-top. It didn’t hurt my feelings, it just made me roll my eyes and think “get over yourself”.
“I’d say people on gnxp actually have a leaning towards Asian, if any race.
Only as a foil, like Ashkenazis.”
Foil schmoil. It about genes. Heredity. People gush about personal preferences on occasion, but stopping that is like putting your finger in a dike.
“You’re hair sensitive”
moi? i hadn’t noticed! I was too busy filing my 3 inch nails.
Being actually someone who has touched “Afro hair”, I can tell you that though it may look hard and fuzzy, it’s the softest, thinnest of all hair types, for good reason (heat dissipation).
I sincerely believe the paper or razib made the typo and what it meant to say was that African hair was 50% thinner and European hair was 30% thinner than Asian hair.
The old anthropological works seem to bare that out.
Hi guys;
lopeciaandbaldness.com
According to my theory, thickest hair is more protected from common hair loss because the hair is in physical contact among them in order to avoid problems in sebum flow. The same with dense and longer hair.
Have a nice day
Armando
http://www.againsta