pod 6 option 3

Option 3:

Answer these questions in a new entry:

1. Can the body area of which the hair originated be determined?
2. Can racial origin be determined from the hair?
3. Can age or sex (gender) be determined?
4. Can it be determined if the hair was removed by force?
5. What effect has the evolution of Mitochondrial DNA testing had on hair analysis?

Yes the area can be determined as to which part of the body it came from, whether it is scalp, body, or pubic. Some parts of the body have shorter, darker hair, other parts have thinner, hair, and still others have medium type hair.

Racial origin can be determined. here are two examples of racial origin:
1)  African descent
          - kinky with dense uneven pigment
          -flat to oval in shape
2) European/Caucasian
          - straight or wavy fairly evenly distributed pigment
          - oval to round shape

Age can be determined by the fact that some people dye their hair, it turns white and/ or gray. And sex can be definitively determined  accomplished through the staining of sex chromatin in the cells found in the follicular tissue.


Presence of follicular tissue on root indicative of forcible removal. to determine also if hair was forced out or fell out, Naturally shed hairs, such as a head hair dislodged through combing, display undamaged, club-shaped roots. A hair forcibly removed from the scalp will exhibit stretching and damage to the root area or may have tissue attached.


Recent major breakthroughs in DNA profiling have extended this technology to the individualization of human hair.  The probability of detecting DNA in hair roots is more likely for hair being examined in its anagenor early growth phase as opposed to its catagen (middle) or telogen (final) phases. Often, when hair is forcibly removed a follicular tag, a translucent piece of tissue surrounding the hair’s shaft near the root may be present. This has proven to be a rich source of nuclear DNA associated with hair.


Mitochondrial DNA can be extracted from the hair shaft. Mitochondrial DNA is found in cellular material located outside of the nucleus and it is transmitted only from the mother to child.  As a rule, all positive microscopic hair comparisons must be confirmed by DNA analysis.

(helped from http://chemistry.armstrong.edu/nivens/Forensics/CHEM%204600/CHEM%204600%20Hair,%20Fiber%20Paint%20Chapters%2011,12,13,%2014.pdf)