Did You Know? 17 Facts About Kinky Afro Black Hair

1. Once a strand of hair has reached its longest length that it can grow to within it’s growth phase (4 to 7 years), it is shed, that is pushed out by a new growing strand.

2. Your hair doesn’t stop growing because it has reached a certain length, it stops growing after a particular period of time (which depends on your genes), then shedding takes place.

3. Dreadlocks are an accumulation of growing, broken and shed hair locked together! This is the reason dreadlocks always seem to grow so long…

4. Kinky hair fibres are produced from oval shaped hair follicles in the scalp while Caucasian or Asian hair fibres grow from circular hair follicles.

5. The pulling force applied to break the Afro kinky hair is less than that required to break straighter hair like Asian hair.

6. Black men have coarser hair than black women.

7. Kinky hair is known for its shrinking characteristics; it can shrink to less than half its original length.

8. Healthy black hair, whether relaxed or natural doesn’t necessarily have a shiny look. Except where oils are applied, kinky hair has a matte look.

9. Natural hair is able to withstand more stress than relaxed hair.

Relaxing the hair, however, reduces tangling, knotting and friction between the hair fibres. This reduces manipulation induced breakage.

10. Because of the compromised protein structure in relaxed hair (our hair is mostly protein), it is important to use protein and moisture rich hair products which will strengthen relaxed hair, as well as natural hair.

11. Kinky hair is elastic, it is able to easily bounce back after extension or tension with little or no breakage.

12. Black hair is most elastic when wet. Moistening the hair before manipulating it makes it easier to comb and results in less breakage.

13. Hair with low porosity has a high resistance to chemical treatments and doesn’t easily absorb moisture. Hair that doesn’t easily get wet for shampooing is less porous.

14. Hair products with low pH tighten the hair cuticle, thereby reducing it’s porosity. On the other hand, high pH hair products make the hair cuticles to swell resulting in increased porosity.

15. The more damaged your hair is, the higher the porosity of your hair. Highly porous hair absorbs more water when wet and looses more when dry, so it doesn’t really lock in moisture.

16. Here are factors that increase the porosity of your hair:

-Sulfate-rich shampoos

– excessive heat styling

– over exposure to the sun

– overuse of chemical relaxers and dyes

17. Rinsing your hair with apple cider vinegar can help tighten the cuticles. Using shampoos with low pH or neutralising shampoos can also help reduce hair porosity.