Hair State
The state of your hair can be split into two things, its physical state and its chemical state.
Physical state: This is affected by how it’s styled or physically manipulated; is your hair down or in a protective style? Is it blown out or straightened?
Chemical state: In other words, have you applied any chemicals to it? Have you relaxed or texturised your hair? Or have you recently used a protein/keratin treatment or henna? Or is your hair dyed or bleached?
All of these things contribute to the texture type of your hair, so it’s important to take them into consideration when figuring out what your hair needs.
Chemical treatments can affect your hair’s porosity, density and curl pattern:
Porosity |
Density |
Curl Pattern |
|
Bleached |
Increases porosity | Decreases density | Slightly loosens curl pattern |
Dyed |
Increases porosity | Minimal change | Slightly loosens curl pattern |
Protein/keratin |
Decreases porosity | Majorly increases density | Slightly loosens curl pattern (weighs your hair down) |
Henna dyed/treated |
Decreases porosity | Majorly increases density | Slightly loosens curl pattern (weighs your hair down) |
Relaxed/texturised |
Increased porosity | Decreases density | Dramatically loosens curl pattern |
Whereas changes in the physical state of your hair affect its needs more than its attributes:
Moisturisation (oil) |
Hydration |
Scalp care |
|
Loose hair |
Needs more moisturisation | Needs more hydration | Scalp needs to be oiled regularly |
Exposed protective style (i.e. styles with one’s own hair) |
Retains more moisture than when left loose, but still needs regular moisturisation | Needs more hydration | Scalp needs to be oiled regularly |
Unexposed protective style (e.g. braids with extensions, wigs, weaves) |
Hair tends to retain more oil in these styles, so less moisturisation is needed | Needs more hydration | Scalp needs extra lubrication as extensions cause friction and dryness |
