The aim of this series of papers is to exchange and collect ideas from individuals interested in human hair the clinician dealing with a patient's complaint of "too much or too little hair"; an industry representative interested in improving his product for hair care; a basic scientist concerned with metabolism, genetics, or nutrition; a govern-ment representative whose responsibilities include drug monitoring, envi-ronmental toxicity, or customs inspection; or a forensic scientist in-terested in the collection of objective court evidence. Each has a contribution to our understanding of human hair in this, the first sym-posium on hair.