How do you know if your hair is actually healthy?

[Arwenlily]

I think I have healthy hair. It feels moisturized, thick, and even though my curl pattern is determined by the products I use everything seems great. My ends appear to be in wonderful condition and I haven't been using heat or chemical treatments. I attempted to do a S&D a couple of days again and only found one knot and one white dot. I snipped them off and went on my way. I haven't had a trim since July 2013, so I thought that wasn't too bad. But my question to you ladies and/or gents, how do you know if your hair is actually healthy?

[HintOfMint]

Decent ends without many splits and knots? Check. Hair does what you want it to? Check. Hair feels good in thickness and softness? Check. Yeah, sounds as healthy as dead keratin can be, so I think you've got some healthy hair on your head! Keep it up!

[vickinight]

Hi, Arwenlily!

I think that this is such a hard question to answer...

Probably because of the fact that, hair, like nails, is basically "shed" biological material and not "alive," per se. And, like how buffing the nails and manicures can give nails what people generally perceive as the "healthy look," it can be very obscure.

Awhile ago, I was told about things like the hair porosity test, wherein one takes a strand of hair and submerges it in water to see if it floats or sinks. If it is found that the hair sinks, it was generally believed that this suggested overprocessed and "porous" hair. However, if the hair is coated in conditioner or oils (either produced by the scalp or applied) or product, it could still float despite being overprocessed. Also, I've read that generally hair will float and then sink as it eventually takes in water anyhow. All very confusing!

But if you are curious, here are some popular (but possibly unfounded) tests (http://glo.msn.com/beauty/how-healthy-is-your-hair-7955.gallery):
http://glo.msn.com/beauty/how-healthy-is-your-hair-7955.gallery

When my hair was tailbone-length, splits seemed to be the one big sign of damage that I could see. But the ends of my hair were very processed (dyed over many, many times) and I understood it to be explained away by that. Knots were another problem. So when I hear that you say your ends look great, I would think that is a great sign!

Happy New Year and Happy Growing!

[Arwenlily]

Hi, Arwenlily!

I think that this is such a hard question to answer...

Probably because of the fact that, hair, like nails, is basically "shed" biological material and not "alive," per se. And, like how buffing the nails and manicures can give nails what people generally perceive as the "healthy look," it can be very obscure.

Awhile ago, I was told about things like the hair porosity test, wherein one takes a strand of hair and submerges it in water to see if it floats or sinks. If it is found that the hair sinks, it was generally believed that this suggested overprocessed and "porous" hair. However, if the hair is coated in conditioner or oils (either produced by the scalp or applied) or product, it could still float despite being overprocessed. Also, I've read that generally hair will float and then sink as it eventually takes in water anyhow. All very confusing!

But if you are curious, here are some popular (but possibly unfounded) tests (http://glo.msn.com/beauty/how-healthy-is-your-hair-7955.gallery):
http://glo.msn.com/beauty/how-healthy-is-your-hair-7955.gallery

When my hair was tailbone-length, splits seemed to be the one big sign of damage that I could see. But the ends of my hair were very processed (dyed over many, many times) and I understood it to be explained away by that. Knots were another problem. So when I hear that you say your ends look great, I would think that is a great sign!

Happy New Year and Happy Growing!

That is all very interesting. I was wondering about the porosity test as well because my mother and I have very different hair and both of our hairs floated in the float test for porosity. I thought that couldn't be right. I wonder if it was hers or mine that is incorrect.

[Arwenlily]

Decent ends without many splits and knots? Check. Hair does what you want it to? Check. Hair feels good in thickness and softness? Check. Yeah, sounds as healthy as dead keratin can be, so I think you've got some healthy hair on your head! Keep it up!

Haha thanks! I'm trying so hard to keep my hair healthy and I just hope I'm actually doing a good job.

[MaryO]

I have actually been wondering this too so thanks for asking the question Arwenlily! :-)

[BlueRabbit]

The dead keratin mention is spot-on. There isn't a lot to make your hair "healthy" necessarily, but un-damaged. If you don't get proper nutrients, I suppose your hair would be more prone to damage. I would agree that the best indicator is exactly what you say- no knots, no white dots, no splits. For me, it's when I do my monthly S&D the number of offenders is low.

[Aderyn]

Well, hair is dead, so having "healthy" hair seems to be a bit of an odd concept to me, personally.

Generally, I would say hair that is "healthy" is hair that looks like the healthy hair pictured here: http://naturalnigerian.com/2012/08/hair-a-microscopic-view/

If the cuticle is roughed up, torn, split, etc., that is what I would consider unhealthy hair. Generally, hair that is healthy would feel soft and moisturized (or would easily be soft/moisturized with moisture put in).

I shy away from saying, "healthy hair feels this way and look that way," because there are many products out there that are used to mask damage, make your hair shiny and soft and the like. Saying, "healthy hair is clarified hair that has to feel soft and moisturized" also seems a bit unproductive, because, well.. you just stripped your hair of everything.