Here we have a the hint of a breakthrough that could put a damper on French-bashing. Sorry, no cure for baldness on the dome’s horizon, but a possible breakthrough for:[ul][li]Straight-haired people who want curly hair (sans perm)[]Curly haired people who want straight hair (sans ironing or relaxers)[]Gray / white haired people who want their original color back (sans dye)Black guys with beards who have pseudofolliculitis[/ul]In an article in the NY Post’s print edition entitled “The Straight Dope On Curly Hair” and a story in today’s TelegraphFrom the latter’s story, “Scientists hold out prospect of a pill to make your hair curl”:[/li][quote]
…For the first time, the structural difference between straight, wavy and curly hair has been revealed by scientists in Paris. They believe it could mark the first step towards drugs, or even shampoos, that can control hair shape: a revolution in the world of women’s hair…
…In Clichy, Paris, a team from L’Oreal grew hair in the laboratory to get to the root of what makes hair curly or straight. They found that the hair bulb, around four millimetres deep in the scalp, is hook-shaped in people with curly hair and straight in the case of European and Asian hair. When it emerges from the scalp, the hair shaft retains the shape of the follicle…
“It is now possible to use biological methods to make curly hair straight and vice versa”…
The team has found that hair whitening is caused by the emptying of the follicle’s reservoir of pigment cells that give hair its colour - melanocytes. Scientists believe that the decline in pigment cells may be linked to the absence of TRP-2, an enzyme. “This protein, which is present naturally in skin melanocytes, seems to have a cell protection function, helping these cells to survive”…
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Bill Hoffmann’s aforementioned print story in the NY Post does include this little tidbit missing from the Telegraph’s report
Which I assume means curly haired women who take this (still undeveloped) hair straightening pill won’t have to worry about tripping over their pubes in between Brazilian Wax appointments.