Showing posts with label hair typing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hair typing. Show all posts
Saturday, October 4, 2014
My HHJ Reflection Two Years In (Part 2)
Hey, beautiful people! After I posted my top 5 things that I learned last week, I thought of five more:
6. A little protein is my friend. A lot is not. Low porosity hair usually
doesn't need a lot of protein, but my hair is also fine. Fine hair usually needs protein, so the
result is that my hair really likes moisturizing deep conditioners with a little
protein in them. It gets really hard
with any protein that is on the stronger side.
7. What
I thought was a lot of conditioner or gel is not. While my hair is fine, it is also
super thick, so I need a lot of product to get through my strands. When I condition, I usually use gobs of conditioner. If I split my hair into 4 sections, I usually
use a 2 palm-fulls of conditioner per section.
It is the same with gel. I used
to wonder why I could not slick down my edges with gel, and then I realized
that I simply wasn’t using enough. I
need about a palm-full for the front, and two palm-fulls for the back. For me, a palm-full is about a half cup or a golf ball-sized amount. As a result,
I have opted for cheaper conditioners, like Herbal Essence, and gels, like Eco
Styler.
8. My
low porosity hair doesn't need to be moisturized daily. One of the benefits and drawbacks of
low porosity hair is that it takes forever to dry. As I’m typing this, my hair has been
airdrying for about 10 hours, and it is still wet. As a result, I also don’t need to moisturize
everyday. Sometimes, when I put my hair
in a bun, the inside of the bun will stay wet all week and I just need to
moisturize the outer edges every couple days.
9. I am
a “lazy natural”. I liked wigs because
it was easy to do my hair at the beginning of the week and just put a wig on it
every day. On the weekends, I would wash
and go because that was also easy. Once
I could do a puff, I did that. Now that
my hair is longer, I put it in a bun and keep the same bun until it starts to
look a little rough. I am not the type
of natural that loves to do intricate styles, though I am going to push myself
to do more styling in this next year. If
you are a lazy natural like me, Tribe Called Curl has a great Youtube series for lazy naturals.
10. Cowash
is nice, but shampoo/soap is necessary. Low porosity hair is
prone to buildup. Also, now that I’m
using cheaper conditioners, it is good to do a good cleansing periodically. I’ve found that I can’t just use conditioners
to cleanse my hair. I need to use something with actual cleansing agents on occasion.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Determining Your Hair Properties
As I mentioned in my last post, even if you are a product junkie, it is important to do it in a controlled way. You have to figure out the types of products that work for your hair. Otherwise, you will end up throwing a lot of money down the drain. A key step in figuring out the types of products that work for your hair and how to use them is learning your hair properties. In my opinion, there three key aspects:
2. Hair Width - This is the thickness of each hair strand. Fine is thinner than a piece of thread. Medium is about the same diameter as a
piece of thread, and coarse is thicker than a piece of thread. Fine is usually
more fragile, and cannot use "heavy" products. Fine hair tends to
like protein. Again, my hair is a mix. Due to my hair width and porosity, I can only use lighter proteins. Note that hair width is different from hair density. For example, I have fine hair, but high density (meaning a lot of it).
1. Hair porosity - There are a few tests to determine hair
porosity. GreenBeauty has a great Youtube video on three of them. The most popular is the water cup test. Take a clean strand (i.e., no
products on it) and place it in a clear cup of room temperature water. If the strand sinks to
the bottom, it is high porosity. If it floats in the middle, it is normal. If
it continues to float on top after several minutes, it is low porosity. Low porosity
hair also usually takes a long time to dry. It also doesn't need much
protein, and you really have to work to get moisture into it because the cuticles
on the hair shaft like to stay closed. You may even notice water beading on top of it. With high porosity hair, it's easy to
get moisture in, but the trick is keeping it in because the cuticles like to
stay open. My hair is a mix of low and normal porosity, so it is really hard for me to get water or anything else into my strands. I need to use lighter products, and I have to give products time to absorb.
2. Hair Width - This is the thickness of each hair strand. Fine is thinner than a piece of thread. Medium is about the same diameter as a
piece of thread, and coarse is thicker than a piece of thread. Fine is usually
more fragile, and cannot use "heavy" products. Fine hair tends to
like protein. Again, my hair is a mix. Due to my hair width and porosity, I can only use lighter proteins. Note that hair width is different from hair density. For example, I have fine hair, but high density (meaning a lot of it).
3. Hair Texture/Type (Curl Pattern) - Some people would disagree with me on whether
this is important, particularly because so many people get hair typing wrong. However, if used right, I think typing can be helpful, just not as much as hair texture and
porosity. There are a number of hair typing systems. The most popular is the
Andre Walker system. This picture and this link from NaturallyCurly.com are a good descriptive guide on the system. Like the other two properties, my hair is a mix here as well. I have pen-sized curls (3C) in my crown, frizzy masses (4B/C) around my edges from the front to my ears, and the majority of my hair is small crochet needle size or smaller curls (4A). I usually use product consistency and styles that suit my smaller curls, but use more product and twists on the edges or hairpins to blend the textures.
On my pinterest page, I have more hair property tips that I've picked up along the way.
HAPPY ANALYZING!!
*This post was updated 1/1/2017 to add a sentence on hair density.
*This post was updated 1/1/2017 to add a sentence on hair density.
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