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Abstract-This work describes different hair typing systems and proposes a recognition system that can be used to classify human hair curl pattern. The Andre Walker hair typing system is used as a basis for defining curl type. Curl type is a term used to describe how curly, wavy, or kinky a person's hair is according to 4 categories. This work limits recognition of curl types to categories 4a, 4b, 4c, and 3c. The hair analysis algorithm described in this work was initially developed as a pilot project through studying approximately 30 subjects that provided pictures of their hair. In this work, we describe a classifier that labels hair images and will eventually lead to a system for recognizing an individual's curl pattern. Results from this work may lead to technologies to suggest hair care products for persons with textured hair.
Keywords-hair analysis, convolutional neural networks, image recognition, curl pattern recognition
I. Introduction
The average number ofhair strands on a person 's head is close to 100,000 [1]. Thus, hair seems densely packed on the scalp. Hair classification is a complex pattern recognition problem because traditional computer vision techniques like object segmentation or image recognition are hard to apply directly.
The three-dimensional shape of hair fiber varies considerably depending on a person's ethnicity and geography, with examples from very straight hair with no curve, to the tightly sprung coils of the black race [5]. Few researchers in computer vision and pattern recognition have studied use of human hair shape characteristics [2, 3]. Some researchers have focused on hairline and color with average results. Identifying curl pattern can give more information about a person's identity, hair texture, and hair porosity.
Many women and men with textured hair struggle with finding hair products that cater to their hair care needs. Because of this, this research was started to study how to create computer vision algorithms that can start to recognize individual curl patterns common in human hair.
This paper will describe the three major hair classification systems, why they exist, and how hair features like curls and hair strand type can be used as a basis to classify hair. Finally, the paper discusses an approach to classify human hair into types suggested by the Andre Walker typing...