Analysis of Hair and Fibers

Hair and fibers can be collected at many points throughout the process of forensic science. The best times to collect evidence of the crime committed are at the scene of the crime, or at the autopsy of a body.

When you are at the scene of the crime there can be many signs of who had committed the crime. The types of evidence you see there is endless, whether they are blood stains, fingerprints that were left behind, skin cells, or even hair and fibers; with all of these types of evidence it can still lead to the end result of catching a criminal.  Hair may not contain any tissues but they can help narrow down the search by studying the hair’s characteristics. The characteristics include thickness, whether it is straight curled, color etc.  Also with the finding of hair investigators can find out the race and sex of the criminal.

Fibers are a very important part of a crime scene for they tell you what the attacker or killer was wearing at the time the crime was committed. Some forensic scientists can identify where the garment was made and thus see who the manufacturer is. If a piece of clothing is rare or is specially made it helps narrow down the search for the person to as low as 1 in one billion.