Reasons for why afro hair doesn't retain length?

[trj1922]

I'd also like to note, that we seem to be a very stylist dependent demographic. I have never heard any of my friends of other persuasions claim they "can't wash" their OWN hair.

It startles me every time I hear a relative or friend who would call themselves "Black" if you asked tell me this.

How can you not wash your own hair? Not know "how". Not "be able to" or "just can't"?


IMHO everyone should at least be able to wash/dry/wrap or wash/dry/bun their own hair just in case "life happens".

Amen to that! I have never understood the dependence on stylists some of our sisters display. It's one thing not to know how to do a full head of micros on yourself or a picture perfect wrap, but not to know how to wash and at least bun your own hair is ludicrous! I have seen sisters running around scratching and patting their heads frantically while little bits of spent brown gel cascade onto their shoulders making an unholy mess because they didn't have money/time/appointment availability to get to the shop that week. It's just SAD!!!

 

[PhonyBaloney500]

I think that not knowing how to properly care for your hair and it's texture is a big part of it. I agree with some of the other things mentioned but I don't think that manipulation and heat overall are the causes. Other hair types wash, blow dry and flat iron daily without damage. They also color frequently and don't do deep treatments. IMO that's more manipulation than washing once a week or once every two weeks and then setting or applying heat and then styling.

I think afro hair starts off more susceptible to damage for the following reasons:

First off, type 4 hair has one less cuticle layer than types 1-3 so that makes it more susceptible to damage from jump.

It is also more fragile because of the kinks and curls - each place where the hair changes direction is a potential breaking point.

Also, relaxers break down the bonds in the hair and make it more susceptible to damage.

I agree. Take already delicate hair and expose it to certain things (rough cotton pillow cases, a mean comb, rubberbands) and damage is sure to result.

For me until I joined this forum my hair was always a little past sholder length and I figured that's how it would always be. I learned so much about the things I was doing wrong (not sleeping with a satin scarf or bonnett, either trimming too much or not enough, not using conditioner consistently, combing dry, etc.).

 

[locabouthair]

I think that not knowing how to properly care for your hair and it's texture is a big part of it. I agree with some of the other things mentioned but I don't think that manipulation and heat overall are the causes. Other hair types wash, blow dry and flat iron daily without damage. They also color frequently and don't do deep treatments. IMO that's more manipulation than washing once a week or once every two weeks and then setting or applying heat and then styling.

I think afro hair starts off more susceptible to damage for the following reasons:

First off, type 4 hair has one less cuticle layer than types 1-3 so that makes it more susceptible to damage from jump.

It is also more fragile because of the kinks and curls - each place where the hair changes direction is a potential breaking point.

Also, relaxers break down the bonds in the hair and make it more susceptible to damage.

I never heard the bolded. I do agree type 4 is fragile but I am a very coarse 4b. I heard coarse hair can have 5 more cuticle layers than fine hair.

 

[glamazon386]

I never heard the bolded. I do agree type 4 is fragile but I am a very coarse 4b. I heard coarse hair can have 5 more cuticle layers than fine hair.

I remember reading it in a hair book some years ago but I can't remember which one. There was also something about the cuticle being shaped differently.

 

[BotanyGrl]

I never heard the bolded. I do agree type 4 is fragile but I am a very coarse 4b. I heard coarse hair can have 5 more cuticle layers than fine hair.

I've read the same thing Glam said in two separate cosmetology textbooks. Check out this slide show. It's about the structure of hair and also states that our hair has less cuticle layers.

http://www.slideshare.net/dralisyed/1-structureof-hair-euro-july-08?type=powerpoint

 

[locabouthair]

I've read the same thing Glam said in two separate cosmetology textbooks. Check out this slide show. It's about the structure of hair and also states that our hair has less cuticle layers.

http://www.slideshare.net/dralisyed/1-structureof-hair-euro-july-08?type=powerpoint

thanks. the video's not playing for some reason.

 

[MsEllie]

My theory:
- too much use of styling products,
-a general over obssession with styles and having to look on par, equaling to hair breakage.
-Little to no cleansing (compared to others)
-Little to no trimming (more like none)
-Lack of knowledge on how to take care of hair (natural or altered)

In my experience it is these two items that blocked my growth. While growing up we were taught to wash at least once a month (twice in a good month) never to deep condition hair... this was unheard of (in my day) won't tell my age just yet . And because whenever I would try and wear my own hair out no matter how often I oiled it - it would dry up like a brillo pad and break off so I would braid it weave and that would mask the problem but it was still there - a vicious cycle. Now I am aware of deep conditioning and moisturizing and sealing - a little knowledge goes a long ways.

 

[Mook's hair]

I think your question is interesting as well as your theory.
But I think some of the reasons for naturals who don't retain length are different than the reasons for relaxed ladies who don't retain length.

But since we are doing an opinion study. I'll chime in.
The #1 reason is Lack of knowledge on how to take care of hair (natural or altered) and sometimes lack of time or effort.

Under that statement I add the following.
a) Overuse of the WRONG styling product for your particular hair type.

b) general over obsession with styles and over-manipulation I agree with this one because people who have one signature style like a bun or french roll or twists. Tend to have the easiest path to length retention.

c) :burning:Relaxer Over-processing followed by lack of conditioning and leading to weak broken brittle hair.

d) Fear of trimming away damage. I do not think trimming is absolutely essential if your hair is thriving but once a certain level of damage is present, trimming and maybe even cutting will be the best option to correct it and make a turn in a new direction.

e) Poor use or abuse of heat.

f) Fear of Water/moisture.

 

[vkb247]

The cuticle layer of hair is like the shingles on a roof. Imagine taking a piece of roof and rolling it up. Think about how all the shingles would stick off and expose the roof underneath. This is what happens with curly hair. Our cuticle layer often exposes the delicate parts underneath which increases the odds that we will lose moisture and be exposed to environmental hazards. This is one of the reasons that protecting the cuticle layer (from heat, excessive manipulation, etc) and keeping the cuticles flat (ACV rinses, not piling the hair up when washing, cold water rinses) is important for curlies.

I just wanted to contribute my $0.02

 

[katblack]

Value placed on style rather than care to obtain healthy hair and feeling that water to the hair is a bad thing. I think our biggest bugaboo not retaining growth is due to neglect of the ends of our hair. I mean, how many times have I heard Black women stating "My hair does not grow" while I try to explain why they feel the need to relax new growth! They think it's because the relaxer 'wore off'ohwell:. Yup, lack of wanting to know-knowledge.

YES!

 

[katblack]

I never heard the bolded. I do agree type 4 is fragile but I am a very coarse 4b. I heard coarse hair can have 5 more cuticle layers than fine hair.

I never heard such a thing either.

I think too many are into bashing type 4 hair. I have type 4 hair and when moisturized, even with no moisture, my hair isn't breaking at every bend. Our hair is the second coarsest out their next to asians, so why is a bend, if your hair grows healthy with equal thickness through out break hair, school me?

 

[katblack]

Well, our hair does have more points where breakage is likely to occur. Every bend and turn is a fragile spot. Our hair isn't "weaker", just more fragile or susceptible to breakge when using the same technique someone with straight hair may use, like combing.

Interesting but not the case for all hair. What would be the difference of bends and curls of 2a-3c hair as opposed to 4a and beyond, their hair is curly period, where's the breakage and weak ends?





The sebum thing is true, but kind of in a vacuum. Like if you too a coily haired person and a straight haired person and had them both not wash their hair for a while, the straight haired person's sebum would find it easier to travel down the strand.

With the sebum bit what I was trying to say is, when people do water only, they actually start to feel and see sebum at the first couple inches of hair. Meaning their was little to none their previously , also meaning not present down anyone's length straight hair or curly(if you wash frequently).

Obviously washing and conditioning, no matter the type of hair, affects how sebum travels and how effective it can be.

As far as the kinky hair bible, we each have to come up with our own. That's why there are so many blogs and haircare sites dedicated to kinky hair. Personally, my bible says no combs, no relaxers, no straightening, water your hair like a plant, use oil for lubrication, don't put synthetic products on your hair, and just let it be. But just like in Christianity, everyone's bible is different.

All in all I see where you're coming from. I hope you dont think I'm trying to change your view, I just wanted you to really know where I was coming from.

 

[gmw]

Botton line is lack of knowledge, and going to non-knowing stylist (even just one time.) That is it.

I cut the back of my hair off last summer, and it was just past shoulder length stretched. Heat damage from a salon....

However my hair is just about back from the techniques I knew before the heat damage.

I am on the fence about manipulation. In the warmer months, I am in my hair a whole lot more than the colder months. However my hair still grows.

Once again this is still about knowledge. What works for my hair may not work for the next person, but I know what work for me.

 

[caribeandiva]

Dryness dryness dryness!! Most blacks don't know that this is the biggest culprit to breakage. They don't know to counteract it with moisturizing conditioners and daily moisturizers.

Using heat (blowdry and/or flatiron) everyday is another big problem. Again they need to learn that conditioners are meant to help that problem too.

 

[Fine 4s]

We are speaking generally, most doesn't apply to LHCF'ers, but those who have a different style every week usually have little to no hair, IMO, especially when coupled with lack of knowledge.
By all means make your own opinions, I want to hear what you wonderful ladies think!

I wear a different style weekly and I have healthy hair. Several non LHCF-ers I know have hair (and by hair I'm assuming you mean healthy among other things) and also change hair styles often. Who gets to define the point of obsession? One ought to be specific when making statements like this or else allow several assumptions to be drawn. For example what type of styles are we talking about, gelled? weaved? braided?

Let's not forget that how we define healthy hair care practice varies. I know one non LHCF-er who gels and ponytails her hair everyday and homegirl has a long permed healthy hair. At the same time you'll see some LHCF-ers who wear WNGs but wonder why they can't retain length.

But let me stop PRETENDING to not understand what you are trying to say. I'm assuming you mean this:
As BK South stated: Value placed on style rather than care to obtain healthy hair.

I can see this being a general statement.

 

[Queen V]

Dryness dryness dryness!! Most blacks don't know that this is the biggest culprit to breakage. They don't know to counteract it with moisturizing conditioners and daily moisturizers.

Using heat (blowdry and/or flatiron) everyday is another big problem. Again they need to learn that conditioners are meant to help that problem too.

My sentiments exactly. A lack of moisture causes a lot of the breakage problems that we experience.

 

[bludaydreamr]

I know some ppl have disagreed with the bolded one, but I think it may be a cultural/regional thing b/c I completely agree.

Down South I see a LOT of styles that require coloring, glued in weaves, Pump It Up and globssss of black gel. Then micros and stuff. . .oh gosh. Down South meaning FL/GA. I don't know about the other places but it is rampant around here.

I agree completely, I live in ATL; there is a considerate amount of healty hair walking around, but these little girls, tweens, teens; I have noticed look so terrible slicked back itty bitty ponytails gel and caked up. I want to grab them and do their hair myself.

-IMO we give up on caring for our hair because of the lack of knowledge, and because of our dependence on these “stylists”, this leaves many with the same end result so that we believe these misconceptions about our hair.

 

[**SaSSy**]

The biggest reason for all women of color is lack of moisturizing.

I believe that keeping the ends hiding may help, sylver2 has proven that you don't need to hide your hair all the time for you to retain hair.

 

[katblack]

I wear a different style weekly and I have healthy hair. Several non LHCF-ers I know have hair (and by hair I'm assuming you mean healthy among other things) and also change hair styles often. Who gets to define the point of obsession? One ought to be specific when making statements like this or else allow several assumptions to be drawn. For example what type of styles are we talking about, gelled? weaved? braided?

KB RESP: The styles I am talking about are negligible because I speak generally. There are many afro textured hair people, that dont seem to be getting lengths. I am not familiar with damage causings styles, nor am I suggesting that any one given style destroys hair retention.

Let's not forget that how we define healthy hair care practice varies. I know one non LHCF-er who gels and ponytails her hair everyday and homegirl has a long permed healthy hair. At the same time you'll see some LHCF-ers who wear WNGs but wonder why they can't retain length.

KB RESP: What you gave me was your opinion and a good observation, so let me just say I am giving my observation/opinion as well?
KB RESP: What allows your friends or those you know that have long healthy hair to retain length with such frequent styles?

But let me stop PRETENDING to not understand what you are trying to say. I'm assuming you mean this:
As BK South stated: Value placed on style rather than care to obtain healthy hair.

KB RESP: I have the tendency of being, well, misunderstood...

I can see this being a general statement.

There are exceptions to the rule:wink2:.

 

[anon123]

Just a thought, my friend and I are always talking about hair, and we talk about how afro hair and how it's quote unquote weaker? Well, how would anyone know if that statement is true or not? STRAND TEST! That's right I took a strand from my caucasion friends hair and my own popped both with equal difficulty. My mother's strands is even harder to pop.
Point of my little story is I wonder if this whole "afro hair weaker than euro hair", I wonder if it's just another way to make us feel insecure.

You know, when I was in Korea my students would use strands of their hair to "fight" with, like a strand war. Each person held a strand of their hair taut and they pressed them together and the person whose hair broke first was the loser. I always lost. Certainly not true for all black people's hair, but definitely for mine.

 

[Solitude]

My hair did not retain length for a time because I used (abused) heat too much and exposed my hair to chemical processing too often.

In response to your theories, OP....

- too much use of styling products
The only reason why styling products may cause problems, in my opinion, is combining them with too much heat, which may "fry" the hair...IDK
-a general over obsession with styles and having to look on par, equaling to hair breakage.
- I agree with this. But....I didn't honestly didn't mind having shorter hair when I was in college. My hair still looked good and "stylish." Length wasn't important to me.
-Little to no cleansing (compared to others)
um...I don't think this makes a big difference. Frequent cleansing is a newer phenomenon for all races. I don't think cleansing affects retention that much, I just like a fresh clean scalp to prevent dandruff
-Little to no trimming (more like none)
-nah, I have to disagree with this one. I used to trim with every relaxer & I cut off my progress every time. This was one of the MAIN reasons why I wasn't retaining length.
-Lack of knowledge on how to take care of hair (natural or altered)
-I don't know about this one. Some women take good care of their hair; it's not that the practices aren't good - they just don't lead to optimum growth and retention.

Very interesting thread.....

 

[Aveena]

My hair would grow like crazy if my go-to-style was wash and go. I'm slowly getting to a low manipulation everyday style.

for ME my major issue has been styling.

 

[mscocoface]

I have been here a few years on this earth and I must say that not only lack of knowledge due to the fact we just didn't know how to take care of our hair it is also the bad hair practices that have been handed down from generation to generation calling them good hair practices. In short even when we were wrong with those practices many did not and do not stop to determine what is wrong and how to change what we are teaching.

If you look at all the history books for the US and our history here the majority of the time you see our hair is in an altered state and supposedly some of the crazy instructions that came with trying to keep those altered states. (Not frontin on my chemical haird ladies on this site you are the exception to the rule - we cool)

I don't know of anywhere there is or was a mass advertisement or instruction showing how to care for our hair in it's natural state in the past. The closest that that ever came was during the 60's with the Black and Proud Movement. Big Afros and cornrows, but I don't even remember then that there was a lot of instruction showing how to maintain these styles in order to grow long healthy hair! YES I am a lot older than some on the board stop trying to add up my age! LOL

The other issue to this is that much of our education has been generation to generation when it comes to our hair. Which is why I believe that we are some of the pioneers in showing not only our generation but other generations coming along about healthy natural hair care.

This is being learned via the kitchen table, a few salons, and thank goodness the internet!

I have a dream (taking a few words from Dr. King) that one day all of what we are doing will be the norm instead of the exception. That you will see young girl babies who go through life without using a chemical on their hair and taking that knowledge they learned from their elders and passing it along to their girl babies and other girl babies in their family.

I dream that there will be a time when we won't have to deal with the stupid comments and remarks against natural hair and that it will be the norm versus the exception.

I could go on but I won't. Anyway that is my 2 cents.

 

[glamazon386]

I never heard such a thing either.

I think too many are into bashing type 4 hair. I have type 4 hair and when moisturized, even with no moisture, my hair isn't breaking at every bend. Our hair is the second coarsest out their next to asians, so why is a bend, if your hair grows healthy with equal thickness through out break hair, school me?

Are you relaxed or natural? Your hair is healthy because you know how to take care of it. Also, everybody's hair is different. Some of the things that other people do to their hair I know for a fact my hair wouldn't be able to stand. It would all fall out even though my hair is healthy.

Kinks and curls do make the hair more susceptible to damage. But it's not about extremes. It doesn't mean that not everybody who has type 4 hair is doomed. Type 4 hair is more fragile than types 1-3. It is a scientific fact that even though it looks stronger, it is in fact more fragile. With proper care and maintenance, it will grow and be healthy just like the other types you just may have to be a little more careful. I think if most of us washed, blow dried and flat ironed our hair every day on top of having dyed hair and not moisturizing and dcing (like many white women do) it would become non existent over time.

 

[glamazon386]

Interesting but not the case for all hair. What would be the difference of bends and curls of 2a-3c hair as opposed to 4a and beyond, their hair is curly period, where's the breakage and weak ends?
:.

Type 2 hair is not as tightly coiled as Type 4. Neither is type 3. But a lot of 3's experience dryness issues too. The tighter the kink or curl, the harder it is for the sebum to travel down. That's why a lot of people's hair thrives with cowashing and extra moisturizing. Naturally the scalp's oils weren't traveling down the shaft. It's not rocket science. I wouldn't expect a type 2 wavy haired person to have the same issues a type 4 tightly curled head would. But it really depends on your hair. Some people just have dry hair and some people's dryness can be attributed to their routine, products, dying their hair, etc. I've seen white girls with fried hair before.

 

[brucebettye]

For me personally, the reason why I was not retaining length was because I keep cutting off my dry and brittle ends. So since I know that I need to moisturize my hair twice a day I am retaining length.

 

[trj1922]

I agree with Glamazon that type 4 hair is inherently more fragile due to the curl pattern. Each bend as I understand it does represent and area where the strand is thinner and more prone to breakage. Type 2s and 3s are NOT immune to this (most experience more dryness and breakage than a stick straight type 1 but not as much as a 4). It is a matter of degree as there are less bends to contend with.

I don't really see why that assertion needs to make Black people feel inferior or insecure. IMO we spend too much time feeling insecure over things that are quite neutral in import. We then go to great lengths denying things that may even be true to avoid feeling that way when there is no reason to feel it to begin with.

Most people would say it is common knowledge that Caucasian skin is less tolerant of sun damage than African skin due to lower melanin production. Blackness has natural advantages in addition to what some choose to see as disadvantages. I never see white people feeling insecure about this, however. They just slap on the sunblock, go get some Botox if it gets to that point and go on with life. Maybe we can do the same with our hair.

 

[katblack]

Thnx for all the information given.
Call me a skeptic, but I'm just, I guess, unwilling to believe 4 type hair is weaker. I guess, since I dont see the difference in my hair, I am unwilling to see it on the hairs of all my type 4 sisters.(By the way I am newly natural, 6 months)
All in all, great points. It seems we have lack of knowledge and moisture as a major issue.

 

[locabouthair]

Here's one thing a lot of people do.

Comb type 4 hair with a fine tooth comb

My mom did that to me. I have 4z hair and everytime she would comb it there would be a bunch of hair in the comb. As a child my hair never made it past my ears.

A friend of mine would try to use a small tooth comb when she was braiding my hair then tal about how nappy my hair was

It should be common sense that this is a no-no but a lot of people still do this causing type 4 hair to break off every time you comb it.

 

[heyfranz]

I bc'd twice to go natural and always relaxed again after a couple of years. That was before i found the hair board. My hair grows much quicker relaxed and now i believe it's just because i didn't know how to take care of my natural hair