132 KERATIN AND KERATINIZATION 



deformation in the hair follicle and it is in this polarized matrix that the 

 first filaments are assembled. Tentatively it would seem that the earliest- 

 formed filaments are oriented by the same flow and that the orientation of 

 subsequent deposits is determined in turn by these " seeds". 



The opinion sometimes expressed that the narrowing neck of the follicle 

 acts like a spinerette, is certainly not correct except in the sense that it 

 supplies the initial orientation to the " seeds". Thereafter fibrillar growth 

 itself is oriented. 



