[Abdul-A]

First, there is some diversity in Africa in looks. I agree that with Europeans there is a lot of diversity in hair and eye color. Diversity exists among Africans, too, but not to that extent. Black hair, just like skin, gets its color from an excess of melanin. The coarse hair acts like a carpet to protect Africans living in the hot Savanah, hence protecting overheating of the brain. Coarse hair provides better ventilation. The melanin also protects from excessive ultraviolet rays, and the black color also provides camouflage in the dark rainforests of subsaharan Africa.

Now let's consider Europeans: They evolved in the harsh north. In those days, the world was in the grip of the Ice Age, and most of Eurasia had conditions like Northern Alaska. A person with a lot of melanin would not get a lot of UV rays, thus hampering Vitamin D production in the gloomy, cloudy climates in Europe. Hence, such people would develop weakness in the bones and die out. This is proved by the large number of cases of rickets in children of Africans and some dark Asians in Northern European countries. Hence the drive here would have been toward having all types of fairer skin and wavy-straight hair. Besides, white skin and fair hair would provide camouflage in the snowy background, proving advantageous for Europeans in hunting game and also preventing attacks from animals like wolves, bears, sabre-tooth tigers etc. Just like white skin is better in preventing frostbite, black skin is advantageous in preventing sunburns. East Asians evolved in frigid Eurasia, too. But their genes handled the cold in a different way. Instead of growing white, they developed a short stature, thus preventing loss of heat from the body, because less skin area would be exposed. Some scientists believe that because Nordics actually evolved in Central Asia, blond hair might have helped in the camouflage effect in the dried, hay-colored backgrounds of the grasslands of the southern Urals-Black sea area.

So you see, it's all a matter of evolution shaping the looks due to environmental conditions.

User Detail :  

Name : Abdul-A, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Middle-Eastern, Religion : Muslim, Age : 34, City : Cairo, State : NA Country : Egypt, Occupation : Professor, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper class, 

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