PMC4794122_01
Illustration of the structure of hair.. a) Sketch of a human hair showing the three main regions, the medulla, the cuticle, and the cortex. b) Molecular cartoons of hair structures: keratin coiled-coil dimers and lipids in the cell membrane complex. c) A sample 2-dimensional X-ray diffraction image, indicating the assignment of structures to signals, as outlined in the Results. d) Optical microscopy images of the hair surface of all persons involved in this study.
pone.0149619.g001.jpg
PMC4794122_01_pone.0149619.g001.jpg
pone.0149619.g001
Human hair is a layered structure with a total diameter between 40-110 mum (Fig 1a and 1b). A typical diffraction pattern is shown in Fig 1c).