Long hair, short hair, wigs, shaved hair, plaited hair, … hair sends messages and are interpreted in various cultural contexts. How often do you change your hairstyle? Why is everyone's natural hair colour different? What is the actual process of hair colouring? Hair, though a familiar item in our everyday lives, has something we might not be aware of:

	hair represents the highest volume of mitosis in human beings that an average head of 120,000 hairs produces 21 km of fibre each year;
	huge amount of resources have been devoted to caring for our hair, changing its characteristics and ensuring our comfort.

Decoding the Hair is a special exhibition organized amongst a list of activities for "The Year of France in China" programme. Scores of exhibits composed of panels, multi-media and computers, and interactive games will be on display to cover four areas with distinct ambiences:

	From life to matter where hair is the subject of study. Visitors can examine the hair matter, its structure and properties using a model of hair root;
	Product science with emphasis on research in the industry related to hair care;
	The transformation zone is where most visitors spend the longest time trying over 120 different hairstyles in a multimedia simulation game;
	Hair throughout the world enables visitors to explore different cultures in the context of hair.

Decoding the Hair is an exhibition designed and produced by La Cite des Sciences, Paris (CITE) in partnership with L'ORÉAL. The exhibition premiered at CITE in 2001 and has been presented in The Hague, Lisbon, Berlin and London.