So how do you know when your hair is healthy?
1. Minimal to normal shedding
The average human loses approximately 100 hairs per day normally, so if you are losing bundles* of hair in the shower or from just touching your hair, something is wrong.
Abnormal shedding can be caused by medication, stress, postpartum symptoms or an allergic reaction, all of which require medical consultation before trying to come up with your own remedy.
2. No breakage
If you notice small broken strands of hair everywhere this is a sure sign that your hair is not strong enough to hold on to parts of itself. Is important to understand the difference between shedding whole strands and breakage which are typically half of the strand or the ends of your hair.
Breakage usually means your hair is weak and you have to figure out what is making your hair weak in order to begin the process of fixing it. It could be your relaxer if you use on, hair color if you use color, dryness, or lack of protein. The more you learn the easier it will be for you to target the source of the problem.
3. Hair that is soft to the touch and naturally shiny
Hair should not feel hard, brittle or rough regardless of the race you are from. The natural composition of hair dictates that it should be soft to the touch and shiny.
What makes hair shiny you ask? It is all about the color of your hair and how it reflects light. Light bounces off of dark hair so the darker your hair is the more light reflects off of it making your hair appear shiny.
The structure of your strand also dictates how easy light is reflected from it, so if your strand is strong with all the layers intact the more light bounces off. The more depleted and fragile the strand the more light shines through without bouncing off.
Those three things are your basic indicators of hair health and the more you learn the more aware you will be about how your hair works and what keeps your hair healthy.
If you are a new natural or you are just starting your healthy hair journey, give yourself time to figure things out. It took me years to learn what I know now, and I am still learning, the human body will always throw us curve balls that force us to figure things out.
At the end of the day, it keeps us on our toes as we strive for the best health overall. So…. Is your hair healthy? Comment below and let us know.
This post was first seen on www.emilycottontop.com
Eleanor says
All relaxed hair is damaged. No matter how nice it looks, the actual purpose of relaxer is to damage your hair so that it will be straight.