Run along the columns finding the hairs and subtracting from the skeleton
% Preallocate arrays for heights above and below the core skeleton.
hairHeightsAbove = zeros(1, columns);
hairHeightsBelow = zeros(1, columns);
% Loop over all columns, finding distances above and below for each column.
for col = 1 : columns
% Find row of hair sticking above the core skeleton.
hairTopRow = find(hairs(:, col), 1, 'first');
% Find row of hair sticking below the core skeleton.
hairBottomRow = find(hairs(:, col), 1, 'last');
% Find row of the core skeleton.
skeletonRow = find(coreSkeleton(:, col), 1, 'first');
% Compute distances of hair ends to the core skeleton.
hairHeightsAbove(col) = abs(hairTopRow - skeletonRow);
hairHeightsBelow(col) = abs(hairBottomRow - skeletonRow);
end
