The past couple years have been such a journey for me. Whoever said that we are supposed to have it all figured out by age 30 lied... yup that was a flat out lie!! I've always known that I wanted some kind of digital presence, I've always known that I wanted to be an entrepreneur but I've never quite got it to click. Over the past years that I have been absent from this blog I've gone from working a fulltime 8-4, to creating my own hair product line, opening an online retail store, having several part time jobs, whew I am getting tired just writing this lol. Then came 2020..... the year covid hit. There was a lot of silence, stillness and healing in 2020. I needed a time out. I needed to stop. If I am being totally honest 2020 rocked me in ways that I still cannot quite put into words. Maybe one day, far far into the future looking back I could explain. At present I sit here in June 2021, still trying to catch my footing, not wanting to go back to the mundane activit...
Hey,
I wanted to come at you first and foremost with some information about the structure of the hair strand and some of the challenges we curly girls face because of the structure of our strands.
Ok, so the basic layers of a hair strand are captured in the image below. Any type of hair from pin straight to tightly curly is made up of these three layers. This is just a basic overview of each layer for general knowledge, not going into too much detail to confuse anyone.
Cuticle- This is the outermost layer. It is made up of transparent/colorless scales that overlap eachother in order to protect the inner layers of the strand. Most topical hair products are aimed toward affecting the cuticle in some manner.
Cortex-This is the largest layer of the strand and is made up of a protein called keratin and pigment. Within the cortex there are protein bonds, the number of bonds determine the texture and strength of the hair. Greater the number of bonds, the curlier the hair. The pigment present in this layer also determines hair colour. All chemical services/thermal services aimed towards changing the curl pattern of the hair or changing the colour of the hair affects the cortex.
Medulla-This is the innermost layer and its actual purpose uncertain.
Challenges for curly girls:
1. Curly hair is often dry as it is difficult for the natural sebum (oil) produced by the scalp to move downward towards to end of the strand. This is why most curly girls add oil in their hair daily while persons with naturally straight hair complain about having 'oily/greasy' hair.
2. The cuticle layer of curly hair opens easily just due to the curl pattern. An open cuticle is one of the main reason we experience breakage an splits as the strand is not properly protected. Relaxers and/or chemical services done by most african women also raise the cuticle causing the cortex to be open to the elements. In my up coming articles about healthy hair practices you will hear me talk about ways that we can close this cuticle layer and thus greatly minimise damage.
I wanted to come at you first and foremost with some information about the structure of the hair strand and some of the challenges we curly girls face because of the structure of our strands.
Ok, so the basic layers of a hair strand are captured in the image below. Any type of hair from pin straight to tightly curly is made up of these three layers. This is just a basic overview of each layer for general knowledge, not going into too much detail to confuse anyone.
Cortex-This is the largest layer of the strand and is made up of a protein called keratin and pigment. Within the cortex there are protein bonds, the number of bonds determine the texture and strength of the hair. Greater the number of bonds, the curlier the hair. The pigment present in this layer also determines hair colour. All chemical services/thermal services aimed towards changing the curl pattern of the hair or changing the colour of the hair affects the cortex.
Medulla-This is the innermost layer and its actual purpose uncertain.
Challenges for curly girls:
1. Curly hair is often dry as it is difficult for the natural sebum (oil) produced by the scalp to move downward towards to end of the strand. This is why most curly girls add oil in their hair daily while persons with naturally straight hair complain about having 'oily/greasy' hair.
2. The cuticle layer of curly hair opens easily just due to the curl pattern. An open cuticle is one of the main reason we experience breakage an splits as the strand is not properly protected. Relaxers and/or chemical services done by most african women also raise the cuticle causing the cortex to be open to the elements. In my up coming articles about healthy hair practices you will hear me talk about ways that we can close this cuticle layer and thus greatly minimise damage.
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