COMPARATIVE HAIR MORPHOLOGY AND FINGERPRINT STUDIES AMONG A SAMPLE POPULATION IN AKWA IBOM STATE UNIVERSITY, IKOT AKPADEN, MKPAT ENIN LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

Hair morphology is the study of the physical properties and structure of the hair. Hair morphology and fingerprint identification are used for personal identification due to its distinctiveness and reliability. The process of fingerprint studies involves capturing and analyzing the minutiae point as ridge island and ridge dot which form intricate patterns. This research was carried out to access the hair morphology and fingerprint among a sample population of 600 Akwa Ibom State University students, 500 individual fingerprint samples for both male and female, 100 hair samples for both male and female. The method of sample analysis in hair morphology is in three part; microscopic examination of each hair specimen, wet-mount of the hair specimens and microscopic examination of each wet-mounted hair specimen. The fingerprints collected on a plain sheet are placed and examined under a bright light for a clear view with a magnifier of X40 to identify the minutiae. Materials used are; A4 paper, transparent masking tape, compound microscope, slide and cover slips, pipette, mounting fluid, human scalp hair, stamp pad, ink, forcep and methylated spirit. The result shows that tribes are independent on hair appearance, this implies that an individual can have any type of hair appearance whether curled, wavy or straight no matter where they come from. Likewise the result in fingerprint shows that the left and right thumb is independent on minutiae. This is because the thumb can exist without a minutiae but a minutiae cannot exist without a thumb.