3 Things You Need To Know to Care for your Curls | First Class Curls
6:43:00 PM
If you want something you’ve never had,
you’ve got to be
willing to do something you’ve never done.
Now, if you’ve been following the natural curly hair
community for a while then you’ve probably heard of the term “curly hair types”
categorized into numbers/letter ranging from #1 (straight hair) to 2A to 4C
(wavy/curly/coily hair).
Each letter/number combination representing a certain hair
texture. Knowing what category your hair falls into is all well and good, and
gives us a good sense of what your hair looks like. But just knowing this will
not help you to know how to care for your natural curly hair. However, knowing
the following will...
1.
Hair
porosity – your hair’s porosity tells you how well your
hair absorbs and retains moisture. Hair can be low, normal or high porosity. Those
with low porosity hair have hair cuticles that lay pretty flag against the hair
shaft. Those with high porosity have cuticles that are more open. And normal
porosity is somewhere in the middle. There are various ways you can determine
your hair porosity. One of the ways is to fill a bowl or cup with water. Using
fresh clean hair, place a hair strand (or a few strands) into the water – just
place it in, no need to push it into the water. Leave the hair alone for about 10
mins. If the hair sinks to the bottom, you have High Porosity hair, if it sinks
to somewhere in the middle, you have Normal Porosity and if it doesn’t sink at
all, you have Low Porosity hair
2.
Hair
Density – this is usually referred to as how “thick” your hair is, which
measures the amount of hair strand you have on your head. Density is categorized
into high, medium or low. Below is an image to help better understand hair
density. It measures the space between each individual hair strand. The farther
apart they are you will lean toward Low Density. Those with hair strands really
close together have High Density hair and those somewhere in the middle will
have Medium Density hair. The truest way to determine your hair density is to
count how many hair strands you have in a 1 inch square section of hair on your
head. But nobody has time for that, so try this instead…make a part in your
hair and examine that part. If you can
easily see the scalp, then you have Low Density hair, if you can see the scalp
but the line/part is very thin, then you have Medium Density hair, and if
the scalp is hidden and you cannot see it
or can barely see the scalp then you have High Density or (as some refer to it) “Thick
Hair.”
3.
Hair
Width – this is the circumference or how thick your individual hair strands
are. There are also a couple of ways to determine if you have fine, medium or coarse
width strands. One way it is to take a single hair strand and hold it up to a light.
If you can barely see it, then you have Fine Width hair. If you can see it but it’s
still a bit faint, then you have Medium Width. And finally, if you can’t miss
it, then you have Coarse Width hair strands.
How knowing this can help you achieve first class curls:
1. Hair Porosity
– once you know your hair porosity, this will help to give you insight on ways
to care for your hair so that you retain moisture. A challenge curlies have
with low porosity hair is getting the moisture into the strand. Adding
heat/steam to your deep conditioning treatments will help the cuticle open and
allow more moisture in. On the flip side, high porosity curlies do not have a
problem getting moisture in. But just as easily as the moisture gets in, it
easily gets out. A way to retain more moisture is to seal it with oil.
2.
Hair
Density – knowing your hair’s density will help you determine how much
product to use on your hair. If you have low density hair, it will take you
less product to coat all your strands, as opposed to those with high density
hair, will need more products to coat all your strands and ensure your best
styled curls. Also, those with high density hair should apply product in
sections to further ensure all strands are coated with product.
3.
Hair
Width – knowing this will help with ways to best manipulate your hair. Of
course the least amount of manipulation to any type of curly hair is best, we
still need to do some type of maintenance to curly tresses, such as detangling
and styling. If you have fine width
strands you will be more prone to breakage as opposed to curlies with coarse
strand hairs. I recommend finger detangling as a way to help break up knots and
tangles more gently when your strands are on the finer side.
Now I know that was a lot of information, but it is all very
important stuff to help get to know your curls better. Don’t get overwhelmed, rather take your time
in understanding and absorbing all the information. In time it will all start
to make sense and taking care of your curls will become second nature!
I have Low Porosity, Medium Density and both Fine and Medium
Width strands…..oh and a 3B curl pattern. Check out more pictures on my
Instagram: @FirstClassCurls.
Now it’s your turn to let me know….What’s your curly hair combo?
Now it’s your turn to let me know….What’s your curly hair combo?
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