Page 14 - Understanding light, colour and hair colour
P. 14
Hair colour is decided by the varying amounts of pigments contained in
the hair structure. Pigments are contained in two types of melanin
Eumelanin contains the dark blue through to violet pigments only.
(Please see Fig. 13)
Phaeomelanin contains red through to orange and yellow through to green
pigments. Melanin is found in the cortex and the matrix cement but not in
the cuticle cells which are completely three of melanin.
Cuticle cells work the same as prisms absorbing white light and splitting
it into individual colour wavelengths and reflecting the corresponding
wavelengths to the pigments.
