UNIVERSITY OF CAGAYAN VALLEY

New Site Campus Tuguegarao City, Cagayan

SCHOOL OF CRIMINOLOGY
FORENSIC CHEMISTRY AND TOXIOLOGY

CHAPTER 5
HAIR AND TEXTILE FIBER

Hair examination is one of the oldest forms of physical evidence. Its use
is older than fingerprints. It is valuable because the hair of each kind of animal
is different and distinct for all others. Like fiber it is mostly likely to be involved
in contact between the victim and the suspect. Most crimes cause contact
between one person and another and there may be transfer of fibers and hairs
from the victim to the criminal and vice-versa. The successful investigation of
crimes of violence such as rape, murder, assault, kidnapping, hit and run, etc.
are frequently materially assisted by the result of the examination of the hairs
and fibers. Hairs are very resistant to decomposition and putrefaction thus
they often remain as a means of identification long after others such as facial
and fingerprints have been destroyed.
The work of Glaister Hussman and others has made relatively simple and
quite positive the identification of hair as to species. In the negative sense
human hair may often be definitely shown not have come from a particular
individual. The obvious difference in color, length and texture can distinguish
one hair from another and served to eliminate a suspect. The use of hair as a
means of positive
identification is more uncertain and indeed no expert in his right mind/senses
will venture to give a definite statement as to individual origin of hair.

COLLECTION, PACKING, PRESERVATION AND TRANSPORTATION OF

HAIR
1. All of the hair in the questioned specimens should be submitted but
do not mix hairs at different places.
2. In vicious assault and murder cases, obtain the clothing of the victim
from the hospital or morgue to avoid the lost of evidence by careless
handling and to prevent the clothing from being destroyed.
3. Representative samples of hair from the victim as well as the suspect
should be obtained if possible. To be a representative head hair
samples from a particular individual it should consist of at least a
dozen hairs from different areas of the scalp and preferably full-length
hair.
4. Don't mix known samples of hair from different parts of the body.
5. The hairs should be placed in a folded paper or in a white mailing
envelope, but the corners of the envelope should be sealed with scotch
tape.
 6. Do not secure the hair samples to a piece of paper with scotch tape
because this will damage the hair.
7. All foreign fibrous debris should be removed from the submitted
specimen.
8. Fragmentary hairs or underdeveloped hairs are not suitable for
examination.
9. Areas on an object containing hairs should be protected with
cellophane or paper taped over the area before wrapping the object
from transmittal to laboratory.

Hair – is a specialized ephitilial outgrowth of the skin which occur everywhere

on the human body except on the palm of the hands and the sole of the feet. It
is an appendage of the skin. Hair is not completely round but may be oval or
flattened. Its width is not always the same along its length. It starts out pointed
and narrow and then strays more or less the same.

Two Kinds of Hair (among mammals including human being)

1. Real Hair – generally long and stiff
2. Fuzz Hair – generally short, fine at times curly and wooly

Parts of the Hair

Anatomically hair is consists of three (3) parts namely:
1. Root – portion embedded in the skin
2. Shaft – portion above the surface of the skin. It is the most distinctive
part of the hair.
3. Tip – sometimes termed point. The distal end of an uncut hair shaft.

THE HUMAN HAIR

Parts Of the Shaft:

 1. Cuticle – outermost covering of the hair. It is consists of one layer of
non- nucleated polygonal cells which overlaps like the scales on fish.
2. Cortex – the intermediate and the thickest layer of the shaft and is
composed of elongated, spindle shaped fibrils which cohere. They
contain pigment granules in varying proportion depending on the type
of the hair.
3. Medulla or Core – is the central canal of the hair that may be empty
or may contain various sorts of cells more or less pigmented and
begins more or less near the root.

Certain hair has medulla. Therefore, hair can be classified into two categories
namely:
1. Hair without medulla
2. Hair with medulla

Medulla can be interpreted, continuous or fragmented.

MICROSCOPIC EXAMINATION OF HUMAN HAIR

Before performing the examination take note of any foreign material on
the hair and should be identified if present in sufficient quantity. Hair should
be cleaned with a mixture of equal parts of alcohol and ether.

1. Color – a. with naked eye b. under the microscope

Melanin – the brownish-black pigment in the hair, skin,etc. It is the
chemical responsible for the color of the hair. Black and brown hair
differs only on the amount of melanin. Red hair is thought to be due to
iron.
2. Length by Actual Measurement
3. Character of the hair-whether stiff, wiry or soft
4. Width Breath
5. Character of the Hair Tip If Present – tip of the hair may show whether
a hair has been cut. Tips of body hairs become rounded from rubbing
against the cloths. Hair of human usually shows a fine tip. Men's hair tip
is apt to be cutoff square.
8. Character of Cuticle
The size, the general shape and the irregularity of the scales are
observed.
9. Character of Cortex
Structural features are studied under the microscope. Cortex is
embedded with the pigment granules that impart hair with color. It is the
color, shape and distribution of these granules that provides the
criminalist with important points of comparison between the hairs of the
different individuals.
10. Presence of Dye in Hair
Dyed hair can be distinguished from natural hair. Under the
microscope dyed hair has a dull appearance and the color tone is
constant, whereas natural is not and the individual pigment granules
stand more shapely. If there has been subsequent growth of the hair
since dyeing, the undyed root end portion will stand out markedly.
Bleached hairs have a rough appearance, are more uniform in shade and
contain less pigment depending on the amount of bleaching. Dye
 absorption and chemical tests have been developed for the detection of
bleached hair.

11. Determination of Whether Naturally or Artificially Curled

12. Character of Medulla

MEDULLA
The medulla and cortex are the most characteristic portion of the hair.
Have more distinguishing quantities, thus cortex and medulla yields the most
reliable criteria in the diagnosis of hair.

Medulla or core or the central canal of the hair can be continuous or

interrupted. It is continuous in large number of animals, very often interrupted
in human monkey, horses.
Medulla's diameter can be absolutely constant. At times alternately
narrow
and broader. The diameter of the medulla is of very little importance but the
relationship between the diameter of the medulla and the diameter of the whole
hair is the great importance.

Medullary Index (M.I.) – is the relationship between the diameter of the

medulla and the diameter of the whole hair. Usually expressed in fraction. Its
determination is performed under a microscope provided with micrometer
eyepiece.
1. Hair with narrow medulla (less than 0.5) belongs to human and
certain monkey hair.
2. Hair with medium medulla (approximately 0.5) belongs to hair of cow,
horse and others.