224 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS Table III Fiber Distribution According to Group Size Per Cent of Fibers in Groups of: Subject 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 14.7 46.3 34.7 4.2 -- -- -- • 2 6.4 31.4 42,3 12.8 3.2 3.8 -- 3 6.1 62.6 25.8 2.5 3. l -- -- 4 23.4 47.5 26.4 2.7 -- -- -- • 5 1.3 44.0 39.6 15.1 -- -- -- 6 2.6 30.8 35.4 22.6 5.1 -- 3.6 __ 7 7.1 41.8 32.1 10.2 5.1 -- 3.6 -- 8 4.9 19.5 46.8 21.5 7.3 -- M __ 9 5.8 44.7 33.5 5.8 7.3 2.9 -- __ 10 11.9 28.5 37.7 16.7 5.2 -- • • 11 5.7 30.0 30.4 17.6 13.2 2.6 -- • 12 2.1 34.6 39.0 22.5 2.2 • -- • 13 4.7 15.4 43.8 24.0 4.3 7.7 -- • 14 11.8 31.1 46.6 9,4 1.2 -- -- -- 15 8.7 26.4 41.5 14,0 4.1 3.7 1,4 -- 16 8.4 41.6 28.8 19,2 2.0 -- -- -- 17 8,4 34.3 38.2 19.1 .... 18 4.2 25,5 31.4 18.4 13.6 3.8 1.5 1.7 19 5.0 19.3 32.3 4.4 12.5 6.4 -- -- 20 6.1 6,8 26.4 23.0 15.2 10.2 9.5 2.7 Average a 7.5 33.1 35.6 15.3 5.2 2.1 1.0 0.2 Average b 7.5 31.8 35.1 16.1 6.0 2.2 1.2 0.3 aAverage for the 20 sublects. bAyerage for the 17 Caucasian subjects. are somewhat different. Sites with 1, 2, 3, and 4 fibers occur at 18.2, 40.7, 28.7, and 9.2 per cent frequency, respectively, while groups with 5 or more fibers at 3.3 per cent. This is in slight disagreement with some published results (31), where the group of 3 fibers was found to dominate. The proportion of single fibers is much lower than found earlier (30). Within our panel, no correlation of any significance was found between group size distribution on one hand and age, fiber population density, or site popula- tion density on the other. This is in contradiction to the conclusions of Oberste-Lehn (20, 21), who claimed strong correlations between group distribution and age, al- though on the basis of smaller sample size. In our view, all available studies--including the present one--used too narrow a data base to allow generalized conclusions in this area. Even if strong correlations were obtained from a much larger study, the averages could not be applied to individuals because of the very large variability of the distribu- tion pattern. The relative positions of fibers in groups showed no specific geometric patterns in agreement with earlier findings (28). SIMPLE AND COMPOUND FIBERS It has long been known that 2 or more fibers can emerge from a single follicular open- ing at the epidermal level on some parts of the body, including the scalp. In the litera-

FEMALE SCALP Table IV Fiber Distribution According to Compound Size 225 Per Cent of Fibers Subject Simple 2 3 4 1 36.9 50.5 12.6 -- 2 9O.2 9.8 -- -- 3 48.0 48.3 3.7 -- 4 63.7 31.2 5.1 -- 5 54.7 34.0 11.3 • 6 94,9 5.1 -- -- 7 80.6 19.4 -- -- 8 96.1 3.9 -- -- 9 73.8 26.2 -- -- 10 80.5 18.8 0.6 -- 11 74.5 25.5 -- -- 12 51.3 46.0 2.7 -- 13 40.8 42.1 15.4 1.7 14 73,9 24.0 2,1 -- 15 59.1 32.6 7.4 0.8 16 67.6 28.8 3.6 -- 17 56.6 37.4 6.0 -- 18 63.0 31.4 5.6 -- 19 65.6 28.0 6.4 -- 20 57.3 27.1 14.2 1.4 Average s 66.5 28.5 4.8 0.2 Aver age b 67.5 28.0 4.3 0.2 aAverage for the 20 subjects. bAyerage for the 17 Caucasian subjects. ture, these fibers have alternately been called "bunched" (20, 21) or "compound" (30). We follow the latter designation. The common opening for multiple fibers does not necessarily indicate a single papillary body. The literature refers to the convergence of follicular tubes in the epidermis (32). Our results, based on the total fiber number and not on the number of follicular openings, are given in Table IV. On the average, two- thirds of the fibers emerge in the simple form. Compound fibers with more than 2 members account for only 5 per cent. When the accounting is made on the basis of the number of follicular openings, the distribution is shifted even more toward the simple fibers 80.7 per cent. Follicles with 2, 3, and 4 compound fibers were present at 17.3, 1.9, and less than 0.1 per cent, respectively. The present results significantly differ from earlier ones (20, 21, 30). This is probably due to the poor definition of what can be counted as a compound fiber. If the magnification during viewing is low, a thin but contiguous epidermal wall may not be seen between closely spaced but separately exit- ing fibers. On the other hand, loose skin debris may be positioned between real com- pound fibers unless the scalp is freshly cleaned and these then may be counted as simple fibers. In spite of these uncertainties, the categorical statement of Oberste-Lehn (20, 21) that compound fibers with 4 members appear only after age 50 cannot be ac- cepted. The only 3 individuals with compounds of 4 fibers were 28, 31, and 33 years of age. No significant correlations were found between the number and size of compound hairs on one hand and age, number of fibers and sites, or group distribution on the