Hair Care 101; Introduction

Thank you all for voting in the hair poll! I see that we got 45 votes and here are the results:

What type of hair do you have?

Straight
16 (35%)

Wavy
20 (44%)

Curly
5 (11%)

Permed
4 (8%)


The majority of my readers have wavy hair, followed by straight, curly and then 4 of us with permed hair. I have naturally stick straight hair but am growing out a perm that I had a year and a half ago.

In case you didn't know, after the hair has grown out of the follicle it is dead. There are different types of hair and also different amounts of follicles that vary from person to person. For instance, I have very fine, thin hair but I have a lot of follicles, so it can sometimes look like I have thick hair.

Here are some hair "facts":
  • Average number of hairs on the head: 100,000
  • With reddish hair: 90,000
  • With black hair: 110,000
  • With blond hair: 140,000
  • Maximal length of hair: 70 to 90 cm (27 to 35 inches - not so see below)
  • Annual growth: 12 cm (about 4.7 inches - not so see below)
  • It is normal to lose 100 hairs per day from the scalp.

Now, those numbers can't be facts because my hair currently is 39 inches long curly (not sure what it is straight) and it was longer than that a few years ago before I got a perm (reaching around 50 inches). Then I have grown 10 inches of new hair since I got my perm in March 07. So that was more than 4.7 inches a year. So those numbers don't apply to everyone and it can depend on your health, age and what you eat as well.

Knowing what type of hair you "naturally" have is key to hair care, unless you have processed hair, which needs lots of TLC! I will be sharing with you, my tips and what I have done over the years and the mistakes I've made also and how I'm learning from them. I hope you will glean something useful from this series on Hair Care for yourself!

Next post, starts my hair story......that is the best way I could see to discuss all that I have done over the years. So I will use each photo as a discussion point.