Black hair is the darkest and most common of all human hair colors globally. It is a dominant genetic trait, and it is found in people of all backgrounds and ethnicities. It has large amounts of eumelanin and is less dense than other hair colors. Black hair is known to be the shiniest of all hair colors. Black hair can be slightly rufous, soft black, or blue-black. Sometimes black hair can appear to shine silver-blue in the sun.[1] In English, black hair is sometimes described as "jet-black" or "raven black". The range of skin colors associated with black hair is vast, ranging from the palest of skin tones to an olive complexion to dark skin. Black-haired humans can have dark or light eyes.
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The majority of humans have black hair.[2] This is likely the original hair color of Homo sapiens, and is found in its greatest distribution in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the pre-Columbian Americas. Among European peoples (White people, Caucasoids), black hair may appear, although most people turn out to have dark brown hair (often mistaken for black) especially among peoples of France and Southern Europe. In West Asia, and North Africa, regardless of ethnolinguistic affiliation, black hair is again very common although other colors may appear. Here it is accompanied by dark brown eyes and olive skin. It is seen also in parts of Western Europe and Eastern Europe.[3] Black hair is very scarce in the Baltic littoral, where true blondism is believed to have originated.
Black hair comes in a variety of textures. Straight black hair is very common in Europeans, Asians and Native Americans. Curly, wavy, straight, fine, medium, and coarse hair textures are common among all racialized groups. Within African populations, hair textures vary greatly. Many people of African descent have diverse hair textures ranging from Afro-textured hair (the most common), to straight or wavy.
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