blackhaired

Blackhaired is an English adjective used to describe a person with black hair. It also appears in alternative spellings such as black-haired or black haired. The one-word form, blackhaired, is encountered in historical texts and in some modern contexts where space or typographic constraints favor a single word.

In standard usage, the descriptor typically precedes the noun when used attributively, as in a blackhaired girl, though many style guides prefer the hyphenated form black-haired or the two-word form black haired to indicate a compound modifier.

Hair color is determined primarily by the type and amount of melanin produced in hair follicles. Black hair contains high levels of eumelanin and occurs in populations across many regions, including East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and the Americas. Hair texture and other traits vary independently of color and can change with age, sun exposure, or health.

Black hair is a common descriptive feature in fiction and journalism and can carry symbolic associations such as youth or vitality, but these meanings vary by culture and context. Descriptive terms for hair color are neutral descriptors but may intersect with stereotypes or ethnicity in some contexts; care should be taken to interpret appearance without essentializing individuals.

Related topics include hair color, eumelanin, melanin, and the genetics of hair color.