Is my hair damaged?
It is important to know when your hair has been damaged. It is fundamental to damage control by knowing when to treat hair more carefully and also allows us to narrow down possible causes of the damage. The following questions are important in judging hair quality.
Does the hair have shine?
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| Did you know? Weathering of hair can be seen under a microscope. (1) |
Hair shine can be visually gauged by looking for the amount of light reflected from the hair. The natural arrangement of closely overlapping cuticles in the hair makes it shiny. The smoothness of the overlapping cuticle scales allows light to reflect, which we see as "shiny". Combing and brushing hair causes one to lose cuticle scales. This weathering of hair is sped up by excessive grooming and chemical treatment of hair, such as from dyeing.
Not all hair has that natural shine. It's important to know the extent of shine natural to you. For instance, African-American individuals tend to have less shiny hair because their hair shaft is naturally irregular.
Weathered hair that has lost a significant number of cuticles becomes dull and frizzy. Trichoptilosis, or split ends, results from too much loss of cuticles. The inner weak part of the hair, the medulla, is exposed and the hair breaks to give frizzy and "hard to manage" hair.
