So What Does It All Mean?

The answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything?

If you are not a big geek, ignore that part.  This post explains what your all your hair properties mean.  I suggest going on the Curl Talk forum on Naturally Curly (or the Long Hair Community for straight hair since Naturally Curly doesn't have a straight hair section) and find people with the same hair properties.  You can see which products and techniques they use for their hair and try them on yours. 

Curl Pattern:
Curl pattern is the least important hair property.  In general, the curlier your hair is, the more moisture it needs.  Very curly hair will be dryer, because it has more bends, and the cuticle cannot lie flat against the bends.  When the cuticle isn't flat, moisture escapes. People with wavy (type 2) hair often find they need a gel with a harder hold then those with curly hair.  Different styling techniques will work best for each curl pattern.  Styling is probably the biggest difference between different curl patterns.  Also, the straighter your hair, the stronger cleanser you are likely to need.  Straight hair (1's) will likely need at least an occasional sulfate shampoo.  Nearly all wavies (2's) need an occasional non sulfate shampoo (low poo).  Curlies (3's and 4's) are more likely to be able to cowash (conditioner wash) exclusively.

Thickness:
People with thick hair will probably want heavier products to keep their hair from getting too big.  They may also prefer air drying, which produces less volume then diffusing.  On colder days, you can sit under a hard hat dryer to speed things along.
People with thin hair will probably prefer lighter products, so their hair does not get weighted down.   They may also prefer diffusing and/or clipping (I'll explain in a later post) as their styling method to add volume.
For more info:  No-poo Jillipoo:  Adjusting the Volume

Texture:
Fine hair:  Fine hair usually does not like a lot of oils, butters, or products that contain them.  Heavy products will be too moisturizing and/or may weigh fine hair down.  Fine hair tends to get over moisturized easily.  Fine hair that is very prone to being weighed down may not like any silicone, even water soluble ones.  People who's hair gets weighed down very easily find them too heavy.  Many fine haired wavies find cowashing weighs their hair down.  Some fine haired wavies cannot cowash and have to use a low poo exclusively.  Fine hair tends to like protein, no matter what the porosity.  Fine hair has a small cortex, and has a hard time keeping the proper amount of protein in it.  Protein products help get the proper amount of protein inside the hair's cortex.  Fine hair should like protein in hair products and/or protein treatments as needed.  Once a week protein treatments are common for fine hair, but do protein treatments when your hair needs them.

Coarse hair:  Usually likes oils and butters and the products that contain them  These products help soften the hair so it bends easier (wavy, curly hair).  Coarse hair tends no to like protein.  (porous, coarse hair will need some protein)  Coarse hair has a large cortex that tends to have plenty of protein and doesn't need any more.

Medium hair:  Is is in the middle (duh).  It likes some oils, butter, and oil/butter products.  It needs some protein.  Medium hair may do a protein treatment more like once a month to once every few months.

Porosity:
Porous hair:  Porous hair needs protein.  Protein helps fix the porosity by temporarily filling in the openings and holes in the hair's cuticle. When the protein eventually washes out of your hair, you will need to fill the openings again with more protein. You will want to use protein in you products and/or do protein treatments. If your hair is porous and coarse, use caution because this hair can get too much protein easily.  I've read keratin or silk protein is the easiest for coarse hair to use.  I don't know if that is true or not.  Closing the holes in your cuticle will also help keep moisture from escaping, so it will help keep your hair moisturized as well.  Experiment with different types of protein to see which type works best.  Your hair may dislike one kind of protein and love another. 

Normal Porosity:  Good for you.  If your hair is fine you will still want protein treatments.  If your hair is medium, you may still want an occasional protein treatment.

Non Porous Hair:  Non porous hair does not need protein because the cuticle lies flat and does not need to be repaired (you still need protein for fine hair).   Non porous hair is very healthy hair in general.  If non porous hair becomes dried out, it hard to get it moisturized again.  It is hard to get moisture back into hair because there are no openings in the cuticle for the moisture to make its way into hair.

Elasticity:
Overly Elastic Hair is a sign hair is over moisturized.  You need to use more protein and use as little conditioner as possible until your hair returns to normal.

Normal Elasticity Hair stretches up to 1/3 of its original length and returns back to its original length.  Good Job.  Carry on.

Low Elasticity Hair can be caused by several things.  Usually it is lack of moisture.  Use moisturizing conditioners, deep treatments, and leave in conditioners.  You may also need protein treatments to shore up the stretchy protein strands in your cortex.

Keep in mind that these are general rules.  Hair is individual.  My hair is very fine, but only follows about half of the general rules for fine hair.  You need to do what works for your individual hair.

How to Figure Out Your Hair's Porosity and Elasticity

When your hair grows out of your head, it is born perfect.  The hair's cuticle lies flat and smooth.  When your hair gets damaged, the cuticle begins to open up.  Hair with a closed cuticle is non porous.  Hair with a cuticle that is open, or missing chunks is porous.  Some hair is naturally susceptible to damage.  Some hair will become porous from sun damage, wind damage, etc.  But perming, coloring, flat irons, etc. are common causes of porous hair.

Non porous hair-  Is hard to get wet.  Water runs off it like off a ducks back.  Non porous hair takes a long time to dry (8 hours-ish).  It is hard to get water in the closed cuticle, but once the water is in there, it is locked in tight.  It will sometimes squeak when you run your hands over dry hair.  Non porous hair is resistant to color, but once is is colored, it won't fade.  It is also resistant to perming or straitening.  These solutions will have to be left on the hair longer for them to be effective.  Low porosity hair is healthy hair.  It is shiny, especially if it is dark.  Hair products seem to sit on top of porous hair and do not soak in.

Normal porosity hair- Is relatively easy to deal with.  It takes perms and color treatments predictably.  If you always get the color on the box, this is a sign you are normal porosity.  It dries at an average rate (3-4 hours-ish).

Porous hair- Is easy to get wet.  Porous hair dries quickly (1-2 hours-ish) without product.  With conditioner and gel, it may take a long time to dry.  Porous hair soaks up hair products like a sponge.  Porous hair will dye darker then the box (if dying hair a darker color then your natural color).  But, the color will fade quickly.  Perms will take curlier then expected, but then relax quite a bit.  Porous hair is damaged hair.  But that doesn't necessarily mean that your were doing terrible things to your hair.  Some hair is just naturally susceptible to damage.  Porous hair tends to be dull.

I should note that the drying times are my guestimations.  Drying times will also vary with hair thickness and length.  Drying times are based on hair without conditioner or gel.  These can greatly increase the drying time. Drying times will also be affected by length, thickness, humidity, temperature, etc.

My porous hair will get wet from the steam when sitting in a hot bath.   My hair will dry in an hour or two without product, but will take all day to dry when I used a heavy conditioner and lots of gel.  I need lots of conditioner and gel for my hair because it soaks it up.  When I dyed my hair darker with a permanent dye, it would dye much darker then the woman on the box.  Then the color would fall right out of my hair.  All the color would be completelly gone in three weeks.  When I used to perm my hair (darn 80's) I would look like a poodle the first few days, and then my hair would relax to a normal perm.  The first day people would always say "Oh, you got your hair permed.  It looks....um...nice?"  Then I'd say "Don't worry.  It won't look like this in a few days."  The right hair products have gone a long way to help me with my porous hair.

For info, I love this curl chemist article.  All of her articles are interesting. You may also like reading The natural haven:  Porosity:  Definition and Causes 



ELASTICTY
Take a hair from you head and firmly grasp each end.  Stretch it gently.  If it breaks, it has low elasticity.

If is stretches up to 1/3 of its length and returns to its normal shape, it has normal elasticity.  Good for you.

If it streeeeeeeetches and does not return to its original shape, it is overly elastic.

Overly elastic hair is a sign of over conditioning (too much moisture).  Low elasticity is often a sign of dry hair, but can have more complex causes.  My hair used to have zero elasticity, but now has low elasticity.  I consider it progress. :)  You can do the elasticity test on dry or wet hair.  You may find it easier to take a few shed hairs and sort of twist them together and then pull on the whole wad of hair.  This is an easier way to test my super fine hair.  It is very hard to grasp just one of my hairs.

So what does all this stuff mean?  The link will explain it.