Indians have world’s best hair: study

Getting down to the root of the issue, a multi-ethnic study has demonstrated the superiority (of health) of the Indian hair.

A team headed by Yashwanth Kamath, who used to head the Textile Research Institute in Princeton, New Jersey, tested samples of hair for four characteristics that determine healthy hair – thickness, tensile strength, shine, and smoothness. Caucasian, Asian and Indian hair samples were put to the test for the World’s Best Hair study.

Their results put an end to any splitting of hairs over the issue: in terms of health, the Indian hair is the best, topping other ethnic groups on all four counts. So, are we only genetically endowed, or do we even do a better job of grooming?

S. Sugandhan, consultant dermatologist and cosmetologist, MIOT Hospitals, says other studies in the past have proved that Indian hair is also the densest  in terms of number of hairs per follicle. Hair health depends both on several physiological, pathological causes and grooming. The latter is more to do with preventing breakages and split ends, he says.