HAIR LENGTH IN THE USA 61 Table V Headcovers at Theme Parks Type of headcover Number of persons Percentage No headcover 1790 72.47 % Caps a 604 24.45 % Hats 70 2.83% Scarves/hoods 6 b 0.24% Totals 2470 99.99% Includes baseball-type caps and sun-visor-type caps. One person wore a scarf, but her hair could be seen hanging to her shoulders. any persons wearing a hood or a headcover of any type that could cover very long hair, whereas during a few of the other studies, we did note one person in each of two studies with a hood that may or may not have been covering extra long hair. One of these persons appeared to be a Muslim and the other was of Indian (Asian) origin. From the 2.83% of persons wearing hats, we could clearly see free-hanging hair in all cases. For two persons, the hat was worn at a steep angle, covering part of the neck nevertheless, a sufficient amount of the hair/hairline could still be seen and an estimate of hair length could still be made. From these data and our notes in the previous studies, we conclude that headcovers did not interfere with our hair length estimates. Shorter hair. To obtain some limited data on shorter hair we decided to count approxi- mately 1000 persons, using the three groupings described in the hair survey of Table I, and we did this at Disney's MGM Studios. Chin-length or shorter -- short hair chin- to-shoulder length -- medium-length hair shoulder-length or longer = long hair. Table ¾I summarizes the data that we obtained for these three groups in this abb'reviated study. The shoulder-length or longer hair at 15.9% is in reasonable agreement with the value of 14.53% for the long hair studied at MGM studios (see Table II). Obviously, a larger amount of data is necessary to provide greater reliability for these numbers for shorter hair. However, these data show that somewhere in the vicinity of 60 percent of the people in the US have hair chin-length or shorter and that about 20-some percent have hair of medium length. The larger group of 62% with chin- or-shorter- length hair is probably largely comprised of males who wear predominately shorter hairstyles than females. SUMMARY Variables affecting hair length are summarized along with data on abnormally long hair from several different sources. By observing the hair of 24,300 adults in central Florida Table VI Short, Medium-Length, and Long Hair Groups Theme park Shoulder-length or longer Chin-to-shoulder length Chin-length or shorter MGM Studios 185 (15.9%) 257 (22.1%) 721 (62.0%) N= 1163.

62 JOURNAL OF COSMETIC SCIENCE theme parks at specified dates from January through May of 2001 and estimating hair length relative to specific anatomical positions, we conclude that about 13% of the US adult population currently has hair shoulder-length or longer, about 2.4% have hair reaching to the bottom of the shoulder blades or longer, about 0.3% have hair waist- length or longer, and only about 0.017% have hair buttocks-length or longer. Hair appreciably longer than buttock-length was not observed in this population. REFERENCES (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) C. R. Robbins, Chemical and Physical Behavior of Human Hair, 4th ed. (Springer-Verlag, New York, 2001), pp. 4-6. C. R. Robbins, Chemical and Physical Behavior of Human Hair, 4th ed. (Springer-Verlag, New York, 2001), pp. 9-24. J. M. Barman, I. Astore, and V. Pecoraro, The normal trichogram of the adult,J. Invest. Dermatol., 44, 233-236 (1965). R. J. Myers and J. B. Hamilton, Regeneration and rate of growth of hairs in man, Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci, 53, 562-568 (1951). C. R. Robbins, Chemical and Physical Behavior of Human Hair, 4th ed. (Springer-Verlag, New York, 2001), p. 9. Guinness Book of World Records 1999 (Facts on File, New York, 2000), p. 49. Guinness Book of World Records 1996 (Facts on File, New York, 1995), p. 13. M. Courtois, G. Loussouarn, C. Hourseau, and J. F. Grollier, Ageing and hair cycles., Br. J. DermatoL, 132, 86-93 (1995). C. R. Robbins, Chemical and Physical Behavior of Human Hair, 4th ed. (Springer-Verlag, New York, 2001), p. 11. A. O'Conner, BT Target Audience Study--Final Report, Colgate-Palmolive Company, March 6, 1973. C. R. Robbins, Chemical and Physical Behavior of Human Hair, 4th ed. (Springer-Verlag, New York, 2001), p. 17.