The Science of Black Hair

At the end of last semester, I decided to stop putting heat to my hair. After years of going through a routine of straightening my hair, I was ready to embrace my natural curls and figure out what kind of products work with my kinky frizzy texture. In my journey, I read many blogs about “natural hair care” basically providing, reviews for good and bad products for my hair type. Then, after wasting countless dollars on products that I never use, I stumbled upon a book called The Science of Black Hair: A Comprehensive Guide to Textured Hair. This book, unlike any other article or blog I read, took a different approach to hair care, which I believe to be an art or an esthetic.  Everyday we fix our hair to be presentable for the public but hair care goes beyond just making your physical appearance “beautiful”. As someone who has an irritated scalp, this book coupled art and science by outlining the biological and chemical concepts that are important to understanding hair, specifically coarse and textured African American hair. I think that since I’ve cut my hair, I’ve been more attentive to the way I treat my hair, and especially what I put into my hair. I never considered that maybe certain products didn’t work well with my hair because of the science behind how they interact with my hair, but this has definitely been a growing and rewarding process for me!