Men are the only primates to have such fine, long, and colorful hair. It is not by chance: their presence attests to certain benefits acquired during development.

So, melanin pigments, contained in the hair and responsible for its color, are able to neutralize toxins and heavy metals, which has been particularly beneficial for humans who eat a lot of fish (species that accumulate toxic waste during their life )1.

In addition, dark hair, which concerns 90% of the world’s population, protects against sunburn and its melanin helps to establish an adequate hydrosaline balance (i.e. good regulation of water and salt in the body. organization).

What does this color depend on?

To understand where the color of our hair comes from, we must take a close look at the place where the hair emerges: the hair bulb.

This is made up of two very important different cells: the keratinocytes and the melanocytes.

The first will constitute the axis of the hair after having manufactured their raw material, keratin. The melanocytes, less numerous, will focus on producing pigments (colored by definition) which they will transmit to the keratinocytes of the hair2. These melanin pigments are different from one individual to another, so that their composition will determine the color of each person’s hair (blond, brown, chestnut, red…). The operation, necessary for coloring the hair, is continuous during the classic cycle of a hair, that is to say during its growth (1 cm per month for 3 to 5 years depending on the sex3) until its degradation which will lead to the fall. Another hair then takes its place and the operation resumes. Until the day when the mechanism seems to have jammed.