Distinguishing Male and Female Hair Characteristics by Light Microscopy: A Criminalistics Approach

Abstract

Hair is one of the most frequently encountered types of trace evidence in forensic investigations. It assists in establishing a potential associative link among the suspect, victim, and the scene of crime. The morphological characteristics of hair can be useful in the majority of forensic cases. Current study employs the light microscopy techniques for examining and correlating the morphological characteristic differences between human male and female scalp hair. A compound comparison microscope (Olympus BX-53) equipped with polarizing and fluorescence attachments, along with a stereomicroscope (Olympus SZ-61), was used for hair examination. The objective of the present study was to examine and compare selected physical and microscopic features of male and female human scalp hair from different volunteers. A range of morphological characteristics i.e., distribution of pigmentation, root shape, cuticle thickness, and cuticle scale pattern, medullary patterns, shaft diameter, texture, and certain other microscopic features, were investigated across genders. The presence and edge characteristics of ovoid (oval) bodies were also noted as ancillary microscopic features. The empirical observations of the present study, when considered alongside findings reported in previous literature, indicate certain gender-associated trends in hair morphology.
Heredity plays a significant role in determining hair characteristics, despite considerable overlap in microscopic features between male and female scalp hair.. A greater average hair shaft diameter was observed in male hair (98.2 ± 12.42 μm) compared to female hair (73.88 ± 10.84 μm). Male hair samples generally exhibited a smoother surface appearance and comparatively thicker cuticular layers under light microscopy. . Similarly, other parameters like number of split ends, a wider natural color range were also observed. The key observation of this study was the presence of discernible gender-related trends in selected microscopic features of male and female scalp hair.