Hair on the hands is deserving of some attention, and while you may not find occasion to use it largely in practice, still it is one of the "little things," and may come to your rescue at a moment when you are having difficulty in unlocking some complex character. The presence of hair on the head is natural, for the head was intended to be covered with it. but human beings are not expected to have hairy bodies, and do not, unless they belong to certain types and have certain qualities. The more hairy the body of a human being is, the more physical strength they have, and its presence also indicates the existence of a coarser element. The use of the hands keeps the hair on them worn off to a considerable extent; thus a liberal growth of it on the hand shows that the vitality of the person is very strong indeed. This vigorous nature stands much fatigue, and goes through even severe illnesses without fatal results. In the examination of most hands you will have little to do with hair, especially on the hands of women. When, however, it is seen on a woman's hand, it tells you of an approach to masculinity that you must weigh well in your estimate of her. On the hands of men you will more often encounter hair, because men are more robust than women, but it is not true that the absence of hair on a man's hand in any way shows effeminacy. If shows a finer-strung person, - one weak in character.

Coarseness
All hair you examine will be found either coarse or fine. This at once speaks of the nature of the person, for coarse hairs do not grow from the finest-textured people. They grow from strong persons, but not necessarily fine persons,and no matter how brilliant the glitter of costly jewelry, or how much the clothing may tell or wealth, if you find a woman with coarse hair on her hands, she is, under all of it, by nature common. In all readings what you are trying to discover is the material from which you subject is made. Thus, to prove fineness or coarseness, or physical vitality by hair on the hands, is well worth the effort.
Physically considered, hairs grow out through the pores of the skin, from bulbs or sacs which feed and supply nourishment to them. These sacs, firmly imbedded in the skin, partake of and draw their nourishment from the vitality of the subject. All the hair sacs do not have hairs growing from them; some never produce any at all. If the vitality of the subject is not very strong, hair do not start; if the vitality is impoverished after the hairs have started, these hairs become dry and stop growing. Thus the heat in severe fevers injures the hair sacs, and the hairs fall out. In severe nervous troubles the nervous fluid burns up the vitality of the hair sacs, and the hair becomes brittle and lifeless. This condition corresponds to the brittle finger nail of nervousness.

Iron in Blood
It is well known that iron in the blood is a source of great strength, therefore various forms of iron are prescribed by physicians when patients lack a sufficient supply of it. The hairs themselves are colorless in their natural state, and the fact that hair is of many shades is due to the amount of iron pigment absorbed from the body by the hair sacs and fed out by them. This is the explanation of white, gray, black, blond, red, or auburn colored hair.

It is an interesting fact that the prevailing color of the hair of people of northern latitudes is what we call blond (this is the Norse and Saxon color), and the color belonging to the Latin races living in southern climates is black. It is not possible for you to draw the distinction in this way with all the people you meet, because the races have so intermarried that all shades of hair are the result, and we find blond and black hair hopelessly mingling. But you can remember that the hardy Norsemen, Swedes, and Danes belong to the blond-haired types, and that the French, Italian, and Oriental nations are black-haired.

Blonde Hair
When we know how much fatigue, cold and exposure the North men can endure, and remember that iron gives strength, we find it hard to understand why blond hair belongs to them. It is explained, however, by the fact that their bodies are so exposed to cold that they need all the vital force possible, and so consume in their sustenance most of the iron, leaving little color hair. These North-men are called cold by nature; they love with frigidity, and have no heat or fire of passion. They do not burn with ardor and consume if their desires are not gratified, as do the black-haired Latins.The men and women live together that they may help each other work; there is little of the softness or ardor of love between them.
These people are call phlegmatic. The fact is, that there is so much vitality necessary to sustain life with them in their frigid climates, that the heat-producing iron is thus used up, leaving little behind to fire the passions. A passionate nature needs excess of health and vitality. Thus blonde hair on the hands shows a person who is even in temper, unexcitable, cool, phlegmatic, not over amorous, constant, less sensual, intensely practical, energetic, common-sense, more frequently honest, and matter-of-fact. This applies to the blond color belonging to the Swede and Norwegian, which is a straw-colored yellow. You must not class all blond hair as having the above qualities, for if you find it tinged with a reddish hue or drifting toward black in shade, you must modify your opinion accordingly. Take the Swede as one side of your blond type, and from it gauge the quality of the person you are examining, as the color of their hair may be modified by an alloy of other colors. In all the hair I speak of here, I of course mean the hair growing on the hands.

Black Hair
black hair belongs to the Latin and Oriental races. Its owners live in sunny climes and enjoy balmy breezes. Thus they are not the hardy, enduring class that we have just considered. They have plenty of vital energy and strength, the iron in them is abundant, but as it is not needed to sustain and feed their vital fires as in the case of the North men, it is absorbed by the hair sacs, enters the hair tubes, and makes them back.
The climates of the Latin and Oriental races invite inertia. Theirs are soft, mild atmospheres which possess enervating qualities, and produce love of pleasure and ease rather than a desire for work. Thus filled with vital force, and not having to exert it to keep warm, their strength seeks some avenues of escape, and finds it in the indulgence of the pleasures of sense. In this way do the black-haired people become more ardent, restless, sensuous, volatile, and less evenly balanced than the colder types. Their black-hair is the mark of person who have heat and warmth, vitality enough and to spare, and who love to expend the excess of health on pleasure. Understand now that I am in no wise saying that all the black hair you meet has the temperament and the failing of the French, Spaniards, and Orientals. Black hair will show you strong strong vitality, and a warm, intense nature, but in our country you will find Saxon qualities behind, making it more practical, and directing its energy into active channels. Whenever you do find it will marked on the hands, you will not fail, however, to remember the iron, the strength, the way the color is produced, and the people from whom it sprang. With these facts in your mind you will know what black hair means.

Gray/white Hair
You will find gray or white hair on the hands also. White hair is the hair tube without any of the iron pigment in it at all; gray hair still has some of the iron present. White hair is produced by the vitality of the subject falling so far below the normal standard that there is not enough iron absorbed by the hair sacs to give even a blond color. That all color is absent, and whiteness present, is because the vital force has gone below the normal point. There are isolated cases where the hair has turned white from fright, and also from much headache. In each of these cases, it will be possible to locate the trouble, however, as indicated later in this chapter. If you find gray hair on the hands look for the color of the tips; it found black or red, and the texture of the skin youthful, you at once look at the Mount of Venus, and you will find it flat and flabby, much rayed and lined. With this look for a broad, white Heart line, filled with chains. A combination like the above will tell you that a worn, out libertine is before you. When gray hair is found which you think is caused by age, look at the skin on the back of the hand and see if it has the wrinkled, satiny-brown color of an old hand, or if it bears the aspect of youth. If you see the aged skin, you merely conclude that this is the cause of the color of the hair. If you see youthful skin, and gray hair look for the vitality impaired by excess. Venus will give you the confirmation of this point. Where the hair has been made white by shock, you will find a broken or islanded head line. If the color is produced by headaches, many small rays cutting the Head line will show it, or many small islands and a similar combination on the Life line. The shock will be a single sign on Head and Life lines; the frequent headaches will show by the continuous cutting of small lines.

Red Hair
Red color of hair is produced by the presence of another chemical combination of iron in excessive quantities in the subject. In examining red hair always look for its fineness or coarseness; for, a sign of great inflammability at best, it is much more so if the hair be coarse. It is a color that gives heat of temper, excitability of disposition, certain predisposition to engage in quarrels, and liability to "flare up" on the slightest provocation. If the hair is fine, the fits of temper will be momentary, though violent while they last. If the hair is coarse, it will indicate brutality, violent temper, and the tendency to sullenly nurse a fury and seek revenge. Red hair gives you always excitability, and electric readiness to engage in strife, commonly called temper, and is not a sign of over refinement.

Auburn Hair
What is called auburn hair, and is so much praised and loved, is a combination of the warmth and passion of black hair with a shade of added fire from the red, which combination tinges the hair with a golden auburn glow, a brilliant combination, but if the possessor happens to have bad qualities, beware!, for a furnace is burning underneath the surface.

As a general rule, you will use hair on the hand to confirm something seen elsewhere, unless you happen to be reading with the hands held through a curtain and do not see the subject. If this is the case hair on the hands will enable you to do work otherwise impossible.

References
The Laws of Scientific Hand Reading- A practical Treatise on the Art Commonly called Palmistry 1946 Benham, William. Printed and published by R. J. Taraporevala for D. B. Tarporevala Sons & Co. Bombay