Black Hair is Not Inherently Fragile

[loolalooh]

So some of us (including me) have learned to view black hair as fragile. I once had an Asian friend who could brush her hair DAILY and not break one strand. Now, if I dare to brush my hair the way she did, I will certainly see some broken strands. But wait ... just because I "can't" brush my hair without breakage doesn't mean that my hair is inherently fragile. It just means that I need to take a different approach to caring for my hair. Many of you know this already but for the others ... This leads me to following article...

From 2005: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...nel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

The conclusion: The excessive structural damage observed in African hair shafts is consistent with physical trauma (resulting from grooming) rather than an inherent weakness due to any structural abnormality.

In a nutshell: Whatever damage we incur is from what we do to our hair ... not because of the kind of hair we have. Stay encouraged and don't feel like hair breakage and damage woes are inevitable. Revise your hair care regimen to accomodate your hair's needs and you will see improvement in growth, length retention, and overall health.

 

[laurend]

Thanks for the interesting post. A lot of AA women were not taught to take care of their hair esp. with a relaxer. Usually we put a relaxer on and have the beautican tell us what to do, in which they never do. I haven't had on hairdresser ever say to me the following: be carefully detangling your hair, or limit the use of heat applicances and etc. It's a rare person that will teach you these things.

 

[loolalooh]

You're welcome!

 

[hillytmj]

Wow, that was interesting abstract. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Ganjababy]

I think that the natural tight curls most of us have = more fragile hair. Every bend and curve the hair takes means that it is more likely that it can break when manipulated and knot more easily which can also lead to more breakage compared to naturally straighter hair.

So it is the kinks that make our hair more fragile and more prone to breaking and mechanical damage

 

[loolalooh]

^^ I hear what you're saying.

I think the point the study is trying to make is that the damage we incur should be blamed on our practices (over manipulation, over combing, etc.) rather than our hair itself. It's not our coils and kinks that are the problem ... it's how we treat them.

Plus, this study is measuring inherent fragility by the way protein is distributed within the strand. It wanted to drive home the fact that our hair has no structural abnormality as compared to other races.

What you're talking about is a mechanical fragility. Tight curls and kinks requires an approach to hair care that caters to tight curls and kinks. With that proper hair care, we're good to go.

 

[yuriko]

ITA, my grandmother who was already an old lady when relaxer first came to my original country, Nigeria, always laughs at those that try to comb their hair all the time. She has been natural her whole life and wears her hair in low manipulation styles, twists, cornrows, etc. She never combs her hair more often than once a week and has had BSL natural hair for most of her life.

I don't think the black from the old days were punishing their hair as much as we are.

 

[Hairsofab]

I guess I view my hair as fragile because well it is. I'm not sure what is meant by fragility. To me it means, something you have to take extra care of because it is prone to break/be damaged. I do think my hair takes more care to make sure that it doesn't become damaged. If you want to compare to asian hair. They can wash n' go without the need for moisturizers and without worrying about breakage. They can flat iron daily without worrying about their hair breaking off. If I wash n' go with no extra moisturizers, my hair breaks. If I do a puff daily (I've tried this), I get the single strand knots that eventually break off the ends of my hair. If I flat iron daily, my hair breaks off. Almost anything makes it break because my hair is naturally dry, and as a general rule (people I'm generalizing please no lectures on "Well my best friend is black/asian/white and they blah blah blah") kinky hair is prone to dryness due to the nature of kinky/super tightly coiled hair. You say well its how you care for it that matters. And I agree, but I do think I have to take extra care of my hair, more care than people with other hairtypes, to make sure that it doesn't become damaged. Due to this extra care required, I do consider my hair more fragile and delicate than other types of hair.

 

[that_1_grrrl]

I don't think anyone can flat iron daily without eventually running into problems. Heat isn't meant for anyone's hair.

I guess I view my hair as fragile because well it is. I'm not sure what is meant by fragility. To me it means, something you have to take extra care of because it is prone to break/be damaged. I do think my hair takes more care to make sure that it doesn't become damaged. If you want to compare to asian hair. They can wash n' go without the need for moisturizers and without worrying about breakage. They can flat iron daily without worrying about their hair breaking off. If I wash n' go with no extra moisturizers, my hair breaks. If I do a puff daily (I've tried this), I get the single strand knots that eventually break off the ends of my hair. If I flat iron daily, my hair breaks off. Almost anything makes it break because my hair is naturally dry, and as a general rule (people I'm generalizing please no lectures on "Well my best friend is black/asian/white and they blah blah blah") kinky hair is prone to dryness due to the nature of kinky/super tightly coiled hair. You say well its how you care for it that matters. And I agree, but I do think I have to take extra care of my hair, more care than people with other hairtypes, to make sure that it doesn't become damaged. Due to this extra care required, I do consider my hair more fragile and delicate than other types of hair.

 

[Rei]

I don't think anyone can flat iron daily without eventually running into problems. Heat isn't meant for anyone's hair.

yeah but i think she means in general, there will be damage, but usually its still hair that is bsl+ and "kind of" damaged rather than nl broken off damaged. I've never heard of most of the people i know doing a DC with heat as i know it outside the salon that they go to once in a blue moon. (note i said most, i'm sure there are those that do) But if I don't do it at least once a week all hell breaks loose *shrugs* i don't know, its a nice thought in general, but at the end of the day i still have to baby my hair more than other people of other races i know. it doens't bother me though, because they all wish they could do a fro

 

[that_1_grrrl]

yeah but i think she means in general, there will be damage, but usually its still hair that is bsl+ and "kind of" damaged rather than nl broken off damaged. I've never heard of most of the people i know doing a DC with heat as i know it outside the salon that they go to once in a blue moon. (note i said most, i'm sure there are those that do) But if I don't do it at least once a week all hell breaks loose *shrugs* i don't know, its a nice thought in general, but at the end of the day i still have to baby my hair more than other people of other races i know. it doens't bother me though, because they all wish they could do a fro

I understand, but I still disagree. Too many people focus on length when talking about types 1 and 2 hair. Length does not equal healthy. Looking at the hair of those types I see, some girls have a lot of flyaways. Flyaways are a result of broken hair. They also have a lot of split ends. That's not healthy to me.

Plus, Black women tend to do more than one bad thing to their hair without giving their hair what it needs (moisture), so I do not necessarily think that means we have fragile hair.

But maybe I can only speak for my hair.

 

[gymfreak336]

I don't think anyone can flat iron daily without eventually running into problems. Heat isn't meant for anyone's hair.

Maybe not daily but with the right care you can heat style.


To the OP.....Great post!

 

[Rei]

I understand, but I still disagree. Too many people focus on length when talking about types 1 and 2 hair. Length does not equal healthy. Looking at the hair of those types I see, some girls have a lot of flyaways. Flyaways are a result of broken hair. They also have a lot of split ends. That's not healthy to me.

Plus, Black women tend to do more than one bad thing to their hair without giving their hair what it needs (moisture), so I do not necessarily think that means we have fragile hair.

But maybe I can only speak for my hair.

That is true, the focusing in length part. I think it has some merit though. I guess I can only really believe what I see around me. I mean a bsl head full of broken hairs has still probably seen more health overall than a person who has been at SL for 20 years. After all, it got that long in the first place right? and to be that long and not broken off, while still flatironing everyday? *shrugs* I guess its just opinion on this.

 

[msMicaela]

I dont know how i feel about this subject... i always thought our hair was inherently fragile...Case in point...perming,flat ironing, combing, brushing, dying are all no nos... not even in excessive, they are just things to stay away from if i dont want breakage and "dead ends". IF i leave my hair in its natural state, it gets tangled, dry and i am forced to condition condition condition in order for my ends to not just break off!! I mean just the nature of our hair is fragile... "Others" can die, perm, brush, comb, not condition for weeks and u would never know they do all that to thier hair.

Dont get me wrong I think our hair is the most versatile, has the most body, and can look absolutely amazing when and if one is able to figure out what it needs to thrive...but i think for us as a race to be under the misconception that our hair is the strongest and can do anything to it...is sad, because if we continue under that belief we will continue to see woman with short, chopped up hair because they dont relize that our hair is our baby and we have to baby it in order for it to thrive!

 

[MAMATO]

I dont know how i feel about this subject... i always thought our hair was inherently fragile...Case in point...perming,flat ironing, combing, brushing, dying are all no nos... not even in excessive, they are just things to stay away from if i dont want breakage and "dead ends". IF i leave my hair in its natural state, it gets tangled, dry and i am forced to condition condition condition in order for my ends to not just break off!! I mean just the nature of our hair is fragile... "Others" can die, perm, brush, comb, not condition for weeks and u would never know they do all that to thier hair.

Dont get me wrong I think our hair is the most versatile, has the most body, and can look absolutely amazing when and if one is able to figure out what it needs to thrive...but i think for us as a race to be under the misconception that our hair is the strongest and can do anything to it...is sad, because if we continue under that belief we will continue to see woman with short, chopped up hair because they dont relize that our hair is our baby and we have to baby it in order for it to thrive!

ITA

I see our hair as a crystal glass...Dont tell me it is not fragile as long as you don't touch it and keep it protected ... C'mon it is not a plastic glass, it is inherently fragile because you can't manipulate it the way you'd do with its plastic counterpart.

 

[that_1_grrrl]

Maybe not daily but with the right care you can heat style.


To the OP.....Great post!

LOL, I know. I used to heat style every week when I was relaxed. I never got past SL but my hair always looked healthy: thick, shiny, definitely not jacklaxed.

But I *think* was stuck at SL because I was relaxing every 6 weeks, not moisturizing, combing/brushing through my hair like a maniac, and sleeping without a cap. Not to mention the "trims" I got with every relaxer. erplexed Wish I could do it all over...

I just don't see our hair as fragile because I yet to meet people of other races that do all we do to our hair. The girls I grew up with washed their hair everyday, so their hair got moisture. I only saw them comb their hair while it was wet (most of them came to school with wet hair). Obviously no perms. When they dyed their hair, then it started looking jacked up, lol.

And since I grew up in a Latin neighborhood, a lot of these girls had African ancestry and had hair that was all types of curly. Their hair still grew long.

I also know a White girl who is going bald because she does a lot of ish to her hair. She wears glue-in tracks that she refuses not to wear because she is going bald.