Wordy Wednesday: Curly Hair?

How Natural Curls Occur

1. The curl in the hair is based on the shape of the hair follicle, from which the hair shaft simply follows suit. The follicle may be spiral, circular or oval, and so the shape of the hair follows. Curly hair tends to seem frizzy because oils in the scalp have a hard time traveling down hair shafts with a tight spiral.

How to Change the Curl Pattern

2. You can manipulate the amount of curl in your hair by either straightening curly hair or curling straight hair. In order to change the amount of curl in the hair, the hair must go through a chemical process where the keratin in the hair is broken down and the bonds that link the fibers together are broken. This is done through some kind of heat process. As the hair cools, it bonds are redeveloped and the hair takes the new shape. If the hair has been placed around rollers, then it will stay curly. This is why simply placing hair on hair rollers will allow hair to hold a curl for a number of hours; meanwhile, using heated rollers will allow the hair to hold a curl for an entire day.

How to Permanently Curl Hair

3. A perm (short for permanent and indicated permanent curl) is a good way to get hair to stay curled for a very long time. A professional should probably do a perm, but there are home kits you can use. Basically, the hair is washed to allow the hair cuticles to open just a bit in order to get the perm lotion into the hair shaft. The lotion creates a chemical type of heat that alters the keratin in the hair and breaks down the sulfur bonds in the inner layers of the hair. This causes the hair to relax. At this point, it is placed around rollers and the hair makes new bonds due to the application of a neutralizer, which allows the hair to form the new curled shape.