title: Is characterizing the digital forensic facial reconstruction with hair necessary? A familiar assessors' analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In the international scientific literature, there are few studies that emphasize the presence or absence of hair in forensic facial reconstructions. There are neither Brazilian studies concerning digital facial reconstructions without hair, nor research comparing recognition tests between digital facial reconstructions with hair and without hair. The miscegenation of Brazilian people is considerable. Brazilian people, and, in particular, Brazilian women, even if considered as Caucasoid, may present the hair in very different ways: curly, wavy or straight, blonde, red, brown or black, long or short, etc. For this reason, it is difficult to find a correct type of hair for facial reconstruction (unless, in real cases, some hair is recovered with the skeletal remains).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study focuses on the performance of three different digital forensic facial reconstructions, without hair, of a Brazilian female subject (based on one international database and two Brazilian databases for soft facial-tissue thickness) and evaluates the digital forensic facial reconstructions comparing them to photographs of the target individual and nine other subjects, employing the recognition method. A total of 22 assessors participated in the recognition process; all of them were familiar with the 10 individuals who composed the face pool.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The target subject was correctly recognized by 41% of the 22 examiners in the International Pattern, by 32% in the Brazilian Magnetic Resonance Pattern and by 32% in the Brazilian Fresh Cadavers Pattern. The facial reconstructions without hair were correctly recognized using the three databases of facial soft-tissue thickness. The observed results were higher than the results obtained using facial reconstructions with hair, from the same skull, which can indicate that it is better to not use hair, at least when there is no information concerning its characteristics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry of Araraquara, São Paulo State University, Rua Humaitá 1680, Araraquara, SP 14801-903, Brazil. c.face@terra.com.br
authors.forename: Clemente Maia S
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Fernandes
authors.forename: Frederico David Alencar de Sena
authors.initials: FD
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.forename: Jorge Vicente Lopes
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: da Silva
authors.forename: Mônica da Costa
authors.initials: Mda C
authors.lastname: Serra
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D005145:Face / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D018732:Forensic Anthropology; D006197:Hair; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D015588:Observer Variation; D010781:Photography; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D012984:Software; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed