Our curly hair is usually very fine, which is one reason we have some of the challenges we do. You see, hair comes in a range of thicknesses, from wiry to fine, depending on the diameter of each hair. Coarse or wiry hair might feel harder to the touch and sleeker, because each strand is much thicker than fine or medium hair. This hair can be resistant to styling. Since the individual strands are thicker, they are much stronger. Medium hair is softer than coarse hair because each hair has a smaller diameter than coarser hair does. Fine hair tends to feel soft and downy to the touch. The strands have a small diameter, so although there might be lots of hair, each individual strand is delicate. Fine hair often lacks the medulla, the inner core that other hair types have. One person can have a mixture of hair thicknesses.
Hair can also feel thicker on the head depending on how many actual strands there are, as well as on the amount of curl each strand has. Because a curl takes up more space than a strand of straighter hair, curly hair feels thick, although each individual strand might be gossamer thin. This explains why your hair might seem stubborn and tough. It's really just thousands of delicate, thin, fluffy strands, the masses of them making your hair seem as though it can take almost anything. Think of your hair more as a frightened, fluffed-up kitten. It might seem big and tough, but it's actually delicate and easily hurt.
This article will focus mainly on fine to medium hair, because this is the hair I learned how to handle and the hair most of us of African descent have. In addition, African American hair tends to be finer than other racial hair types, up to 84 percent thinner than the thickest Asian hair. Had my hair been coarse, it most likely would not have been as devastated by the perms I used. Because my hair is soft and fine, however, the chemicals I once used ravaged it, destroying the strands so that they broke instead of grew.
It's crucial to understand how the diameter of your hair determines what kind of treatment it can handle. The diameter controls how your hair reacts to damage, so it's directly related to how long your hair can grow under various circumstances. Thicker strands of hair can withstand more damage than fine hairs can. This is similar to how a thick tree trunk can survive a few chops with an ax that would fell a thin sapling. People with thicker strands of hair can do more damaging things to it and still grow it pretty long. True, it might have thousands of split ends and may look dull, and I'm not saying it's okay to damage any hair, but thick hair doesn't fall apart. Those of us with thinner strands of hair could do the exact same thing to our hair, but ours would fall apart.
For example, my mom was able to relax her hair and grow it halfway down her back. Seeing that she could still have long hair, even though it was relaxed, made me think I should be able to do the same thing. What I didn't realize is that my mom has thicker strands of hair than I do. Therefore, my hair simply fell apart when I applied the same chemicals to mine that she applied to hers. So, it's true that some people will be able to relax or perm their hair, and it might still grow long. Mine will not. If the individual strands of your hair are thin, you might not have had any luck with perms, either. This is why my hair grew only when I stopped using chemicals on it.
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