AbstractThe fracture behavior of human hair has been investigated with a view toward delineating fracture mechanisms that lead to different types of fracture under tensile loading. Principally, three types of fracture are encountered—smooth fractures, step fractures, and fractures involving undefined fibrillated ends. The moisture content of the fiber plays an important role in determining the type of fracture that occurs. Fiber conditioned at either low (∼0%) or high (90%) relative humidity give predominantly smooth fractures, whereas those conditioned at intermediate relative humidities given predominantly step fractures. Surface treatments with polymers or surfactants do not seem to have any effect on the strength or the fracture behavior of fibers. At low moisture contents, fracture initiation occurs more often in the cortex, whereas, at high moisture contents, fracture almost always initiates at the surface of the fiber, suggesting that the swelling pressure of the cortex plays a significant role in fracture initiation. Fibers with larger cross‐sectional areas tend to split along the axis because of the higher probability of encountering flaws or medullary cells which direct cracks along the fiber axis. Unlike synthetic polymeric fibers, hair fibers seem to follow the Griffith criterion of brittle fracture. This may be coincidental since electron microscopic evidence suggests that fracture propagation occurs by secondary cracks generated as a result of stress concentrations building up at the periphery of the primary crack. The rate of stress transfer to adjacent cortical cells via intercellular cement probably plays an important role in the fracture mechanism.