All That Glitters: Simple Steps to Identify Healthy Curls

How do you identify healthy curls?

For many, the health of our hair is based solely on appearance. This approach is not entirely wrong. However, all that glitters isn’t gold! Experience has taught me that not all shiny, perfectly formed curls are healthy. While appearance can be an indicator of health, it is not the only one and can be misleading. Products can give the illusion of health, and quite often, we mislabel hair that lacks shine as unhealthy.

Putting too much weight on things like shine, silky surface texture, and lack of frizz causes us to overlook some of the other indicators of health. Readily assessing and identifying the health of your curls keeps us on track to reaching our healthy hair goals.  Today we’re exploring simple ways to identify and maintain healthy curls.

Things to know

On the quest to identify healthy curls, it is helpful to know how your hair should look, feel, and behave. To do this, you must understand some specifics about your hair. These facts will help you determine if shine should be on your radar and give you a better idea of what some aspects of health look like for your specific curls.

Once you’ve identified these essential characteristics of your hair, consider the following signs of healthy curls:

Elasticity

By definition, elasticity is the ability of your hair to resume its original shape after being stretched. More affectionately known as shrinkage, when present with other healthy characteristics, elasticity can be a great indicator of health.

Healthy curls that are adequately hydrated will shrink and spring back to their original form after being stretched. The tightness or looseness of your coils and waves will affect how elasticity manifests. The tightest curls will experience more shrinkage. We often want to eliminate shrinkage, but it can be a useful tool for assessing health.  Lack of elasticity and lifeless strands that snap or drag when stretched could indicate a problem.

Moisture

Number one on most naturals’ list of things to stress over, moisture is the presence of water in the hair strands. Achieving moisture requires regularly hydrating both the body and hair through the consumption of water and cleansing the hair. Certain products may help to draw water to the hair, but don’t replace the necessity for water in our diets or washing the hair.

The presence of moisture is not a one-time achievement. Healthy hydrated hair will lose water over time, which is why it needs constant replenishing. With proper care, it will become easier to replenish and maintain the moisture levels of your hair. Keeping adequate moisture levels helps with styling and promotes a healthy appearance.

Curl Definition

Clean, healthy hair allows the definition of your curls to be evident before the application of any specific products. We often expect our products to create curls, but products only enhance the coils that are already present. A great sign of healthy hydrated hair is the curls that form when your hair is clean and free of products.

 Saturated in water, these defined curls are a great indicator of what you can expect with the proper application of the right products.  Keep in mind the definition will vary based on the tightness and diameter of your curls, the cleanliness of your curls, and its moisture levels. As the health of your hair improves, you can expect the definition to improve as well.

 Manageability

How easy it for you to style and manipulate your hair? Is detangling a struggle? Does it seem that even with your best efforts, your hair is hard to manage?

Fairy knots, excessive tangles, and split ends make styling and manipulating your hair very difficult.  You can expect your hair to tangle on occasion. It is the nature for hair that is naturally curly or has an abundance of coils. Following proper detangling, though styling, your hair should be reasonably manageable—constant struggles when styling is an indication that your hair has some issues that need addressing.

So, how do you identify healthy curls? In addition to appearance, healthy curls should be elastic, manageable, hydrated, and well defined. How do we achieve this? It’s simple! Bold Kulture Beauty has the tools you need to be successful on your natural journey. Visit us today and be empowered to feel beautiful and confidently embrace your healthy curls!