Black hair

Distribution

Black hair is most commonly found in Asia and Africa. The characteristic can also be seen throughout Europe as well, though it is considerably less common. Black hair in Europe is concentrated highest in the Southern half of the continent, with Greece, Southern Italy, Portugal, Southern and Western Spain, Cyprus, Malta, East Bulgaria, East Romania and South-West Albania being the regions with the highest frequencies of the trait. Black hair also has a presence in Northern Europe where it is most noticeable in the British Isles and is especially prominent amongst people from Wales, Welsh border regions of England, Cornwall, South-West Ireland and a portion of South-East Ireland. The high occurrence of dark hair in these regions led to theories about admixture from the Mediterranean, most famously that of the "Black Irish". However, modern genetic studies find little evidence to support that hypothesis.

Varieties of black hair

• Jet black hair raven black Naturally, hair has reflective properties, which is the reason why most black hair types do not appear fully dark in light. However, the darkest shade of black hair, raven-black, does not behave as other hair would in the light. The name of the color comes from a raven’s wing due to similarities in behavior. Appearing as being almost blue in some conditions, this hair color is mostly found with people from Africa, South and Southeast Asia, East Asia, Central Asia and Latin America.

True black hair is similar to a black cat's fur.

• deepest brunette deepest brunette: the darkest brown, which can be a very dark chestnut; sometimes appears to be off-black at a distance, and is often considered to be black.

Genetics

Native Americans, East Asian, Southeast Asian, Far East Russian, South Asian, Central Asian and Himalayan black-haired people have thicker hair due to the derived EDAR gene allele that is linked to thicker and potentially straighter hair in some parts of Asia, and shovel-shaped incisors. The derived EDAR gene arose approximately 30,000 years ago in China. One study shows that Paleo-Indians had both variants of the EDAR gene, the derived G-allele and the ancestral A-allele. When they tested ancient DNA remains found in the Americas of the individuals named USR1, Anzick-1 and Laranjal-6700 the results showed that they carried the ancestral A-allele.

11,000-year-old remains of Cuncaicha and Lauricocha individuals from South America share alleles at the highest rate with present-day Amerindians, indicating that the derived G-allele increased in frequency in parallel with the ancestral A-allele.

One of the most studied genes that produce brown hair is MC1R, which helps the body to produce the melanocortin protein. This protein in turn helps the body's hair follicles to produce the type of melanin called eumelanin. To have black hair, one must have genetically inherited this gene from both of their parents, and brown hair is achieved when it is inherited from one parent. This gene is demographically common, as 90% of the total world population carries this gene. Black hair, along with brown hair, comes to turn grey in old age as the hair follicles can no longer produce the pigmentation, but the cause of this inability has yet to be determined.

Gallery

File:Xavi_13981129001173637176666027076571.jpg|Xavi Hernández, former professional footballer of Catalan origin File:Chinese American girl.jpg|Han Chinese girl with black hair File:Indigenous Woman from Peru.png|Native American with black hair from South America File:Amerindian woman in her traditional clothes.png|Native American with black hair from North America File:Man with long black hair from behind (cropped).jpg|Chinese-Indonesian man with black hair from behind File:Cosplay World 2024 - Cosplay of Snow White.jpg|Woman with black hair and light skin cosplaying as Snow White at Disneyland File:Mariam Aladji Boni Diallo August 10, 2012.jpg|Mariam Boni Diallo, Beninese politician with an Afro hairstyle File:2025 Colin Farrell - 2 (cropped).jpg|Colin Farrell, actor of Irish origin

References

References

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2. Goodley, Alvin. (2019-10-18). "4 Rarest Hair Colors in the World".
3. The Distribution of Anthropological Traits in Europe, [[Bertil Lundman]]: ''The Races and Peoples of Europe'' (New York 1977)
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5. "carleton s coon, ethnographic maps of europe".
6. Gibbons, Ann. (30 November 2025). "Busting myths of origin". [[Science.org]].
7. (23 July 2019). "How Many People in The World Have Black Hair?".
8. "Hair Color Chart". wiggoddess.com.
9. (23 April 2018). "Native Americans and Asians carry a version of the EDAR gene that is linked to thicker hair shafts".
10. (2013-02-14). "Modeling recent human evolution in mice by expression of a selected EDAR variant". Cell.
11. (2018-05-08). "Environmental selection during the last ice age on the mother-to-infant transmission of vitamin D and fatty acids through breast milk". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
12. (2018). "Reconstructing the Deep Population History of Central and South America". Cell.
13. "Is hair color determined by genetics?: MedlinePlus Genetics".