Thin-layer chromatography has been applied to the separation of a mixture of phospholipids from human hair lipids and to its resolution into 8 components. The latter consisted of glycerophosphorylcholine, phosphatidic acid, lysophosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylserine and phosphatidylethanolamine; the last three phosphatides made up 65 % of the mixture. The purified phospholipids were submitted individually to hydrolysis and the respective fatty acid esters analyzed by gas chromatography. Sphingomyelin contained the highest level of saturated acids and the ratio of mono- to polyunsaturated acids was close to 1. Phosphatidylethanolamine acids ranged high in unsaturated members and displayed an average double bond number of 1.3/molecule.