Library · Histology
The structure of hair
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A hair is a long filament made by the hair follicle, the structure in the skin that it grows from. It is produced by keratinized cells, that is, cells that fill up with keratin, a tough protein.
The important detail is what happens to them as they differentiate: they lose their nucleus, the cell's control center, and then fill with that keratin.
The hair shaft has parts with names of their own. The cuticle, which anchors it to the follicle and gives it strength; the cortex, where the keratin-producing cells are; and the medulla, the inner part, which shows up only in thick hairs. Think of a pencil with its lead right in the center.
The color is not in the keratin but in melanin, the pigment made by the melanocytes of the hair bulb, the widened base of the follicle.
In brief
Hair is a long filamentous structure produced by keratinized cells of the hair follicle.
These cells lose their nucleus and then fill with keratin as they differentiate.
The shaft has a cuticle that anchors it to the follicle and gives it strength, a cortex that produces keratin, and, only in thick hairs, an inner medulla.
A pencil with its lead right in the center.
Color comes from melanin made by melanocytes in the hair bulb.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingHistology, Hair and Follicle, StatPearlsPublished
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