Hair Analysis

Hair is extremely important physical evidence being the most common biological material, which plays a crucial role in a criminal investigation. Hair evidence is generally associated with crimes involving physical contacts such as rape, murder, road accidents, and trafficking and may be found at the crime scene, on the body and clothes of victim/suspect, or attached to a weapon of offense, tool, or vehicle. Even thefts of animals cause the shedding of animal hairs on the person or vehicle involved in the offense. There are many differences between human and animal hairs. The comparison and identification of human and animal hair can provide investigators with valuable information for potential leads. Morphological and microscopic comparison is considered a reliable tool for the specific identification of the characteristics found in hair. With the advancement of technology and awareness, hair analysis is a widely accepted tool to determine color, race, sex, age, metal poisoning, illegal wildlife trade, sexual assault, and disputed maternity and paternity matters. Hair is actually unique to the individual is very probable since, if it were not, it would be the exception to the general rule of biological individuality. The molecular analysis and microscopic comparison of morphological characteristics of hair have been accepted both scientifically and legally for decades.