Hair loss: Reasons and how to take care of your curly hair. Part 1: Introduction
Hair is normally classified as African, Asian or Caucasian. From physical appearance, Asian hair is straight and Afro-textured hair is curly or tightly coiled. Caucasian hair is anything in between, sometimes wavy, sometimes curly, sometimes coiled. For simplicity and ease of explanation we will group all hair not straight as curly.
Why do we lose hair?
Hair loss can be complex as it can be caused by so many factors like: stress, medication, hormones, genetics, environment, styling, etc. However, the focus of this blog post is on hair loss related to styling & grooming.
Losing hair can be a debilitating experience and it remains one of the main complaints that people have about their hair. In this post, we will highlight the basic characteristics of curly hair to understand why people are prone to hair loss or hair breakage. Afterwards, we give recommendations or tips on how to correctly and effectively care for curly hair.
Characteristics of curly hair
- The main physical difference is the shape of the hair shaft. The hair takes a tightly coiled spring like appearance with sharp twists along the longitudinal axis. This makes curly hair more prone to breakage.
- Due to the twisted hair shaft, kinks and sharp twists can form along the hair. Therefore sebum is not easily distributed along the hair fibers. People with curly hair would most likely experience dry & fragile hair strands which will be in need of frequent moisturisation.
- The hair shaft diameter is asymmetrical on the root and even flat at twist points along the hair. It is assumed that this smaller diameter is linked to less blood flow to the hair follicles, which is a reason why curly hair grows slower than other hair types .
- Curly hair has sparsely arranged cuticle layers than other hair types. In damaged curly hair, the distribution of the cuticle layer tapers or reduces as you move along the hair from root to tip. Most times there is no cuticle left at the hair tip.
- Curly hair has higher density of hair fiber lipids but less elastic fibers than other hair types. Curly hair, therefore, has less tensile strength than other hair types .
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Damaged curly generally has less cysteine content when compared to healthy curly hair Cysteine is an amino acid which attaches to keratin to form disulphide bonds. These bonds give integrity and strength to the hair fibers. Damaged curly hair will also contain more negative charges and is prone to more frizz .
In Part 2 of this blog article, we will review the care regimen for curly hair