Hair Color

 Common hair colors

Natural hair color is generally black, brown, blond, or red, depending on the ethnic origins of the person in question. Black hair is the most common. Hair color is genetically associated with certain skin tones and eye colors. Blond and red hair are sometimes associated with disorders such as skin cancer or albinism.

 Black hair
 
Naturally black hair.Main article: Black hair
Black hair is most commonly found in people of non-European heritage, but occurs in people of all backgrounds and ethnicities. It has large amounts of eumelanin and is less dense than other hair colors. It can be almost completely black or very deep black with different hair texture depending on the person and the ethnicity. For example, most people of East Asian descent have straight black hair, while people of sub-Saharan African descent generally have thick, coarse hair. The many black-haired Caucasoids of the Mediterranean, Middle East, North Africa and South Asia exhibit practically all hair forms but wooly.

 Brown hair
 
Naturally brown hair.Main article: Brown hair
Brown hair is also found all over the world. Brown hair has more eumelanin than blond hair but also has much less than black. Brown-haired people have medium-thick strands of hair. A brown-haired male is a brunet; a female is a brunette.

 Blond hair
 
Naturally blond hair.Main article: Blond
Blond hair is a relatively rare human phenotype due to its association with recessive genes, occurring in approximately 2% of the world population with the majority of natural blonds being white. Blond hair ranges from nearly white (platinum blond, tow-haired) to a dark golden blond. Strawberry blond (found predominantly in the British Isles) is an especially rare type: a mixture of blond and red hair. Blond hair can have almost any proportions of pheomelanin and eumelanin, but both only in small amounts. More pheomelanin creates a more golden blond color, and more eumelanin creates a "dishwater" or ash blond. Natural blonds have the thinnest strand of hair. Males with this hair color are blond; females are blonde.

 Red hair
 
Naturally red hair.Red hair is the least common hair color. It ranges from vivid strawberry shades to deep auburn and burgundy.

Red hair is caused by a mutation of the Mc1r gene and is believed to be recessive. Red hair has the highest amounts of pheomelanin and usually low levels of eumelanin. Natural redheads have the thickest strands of hair.