Hair colour in the Faroe and Orkney Islands

Hair samples from 274 Faroe Islanders (mean age 16.7 years) and 246 Orkney Islanders (mean age 13.5 years) were classified and divided into eight colour categories by matching them to standard samples on the "Haarfarbentafel nach Fischer-Saller". Sex differences in the proportions in each category in both the Faroese (144 males, 130 females) and Orcadians (120 males, 126 females) were tested by x(2) and were not significant. A highly significant difference (1% level) was found in the proportions in the eight categories between the total Faroese and Orcadian samples. The Faroese subjects, despite their higher mean age, have a higher proportion of light-haired individuals. Hair of a "smoky-grey" tone, clearly unrelated to greying with age, and not represented on the Fischer-Saller scale, is reported and was found to be predominantly a feature of Orcadian males. The results for the Faroe and Orkney Islanders are compared with data for other North Atlantic populations.