rough hair? but not damaged.

[Rosa Harris]

I pulled out the old microscope last night because the texture of my hair after going off the cones and sulfates feels really frackin weird to me. It seems to have a rough somewhat textured or bumpy - ut not bumps or nodules - feel to it. I have thought that I may be feeling the wave pattern especially since the feeling is most prominent on the kinkies on the back of my neck that keep trying to lock.

Then again maye this is just how real hair feels without a heavy coat of cones on it? Its hard to think that far back. I recall screaming bloody murder when my mom would get to combing the back of my head as a kid and at some point that problem seemed to vanish but I never noticed till just now.

Although the pictures linked below are not that clear due to lighting/camera issues the actual visualization of the hair was very clear down to being able to see the tightly packed smooth scales. There were very few damaged areas - I had a hard time coming up with any for the pictures that were more than tiny rough areas at the distal ends of the shaft. The shaft itself was translucent and reflective and I did confirm that it truly is about the size of cat hairs - at least the more coarse cat hair not the fluff.

There were sporatic tiny crystalline looking particles along the hair shafts. I assume this is just grime since I saw simular things in the cat hair, my son's hair and huby's hair that I used for compassion. Currently I don't have slides so I cant fix the hairs and have had to work them in hairballs and working them might have contaminated the samles. I know they are not piedra - they do not even look close.

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=123000

[mira-chan]

My hair feels rough but it's very coarse and wavy. It will never feel silky, I suspect event straightening wouldn't help, cones didnt. Cut nds of it feel like sharp wire and hurt. Your hair type says it's fine texture so your rough feel is probably mostly from the wavy texture.

[molljo]

I have this, too. My hair is wavy, virgin, and in really great condition, but the strands themselves are bumpy. Here's what the Science-y Hair Blog says about it (she calls it kinking, but kinky means different things to different people) and its effects on porosity.


Kinking and porosity: Kinking in hair creates an uneven surface and it may be difficult for cuticles to lie flat and smooth when the hair shaft they're attached to is widening and narrowing or torque-ing (twisting). Any uneven surface accumulates more friction than a smooth surface. If a cuticle sticks out a bit, it is likely to be chipped or broken off. Kinking hair can be more vulnerable to increased porosity when exposed to daily wear and tear because it suffers more friction from everyday living than non-kinking hair. This photo (above, right) shows a porous hair with kinking (a kinky, curly hair). Kinking can occur in any hair - straight, wavy, or curly. Not every person with kinking hair will have porous hair - and you can look at people in your family to see whether you inherited hair that tends to be extra-thirsty or not. There are many variables involved, but this is an important one to know about because people with kinking hair usually need plenty of "slip" in conditioners to reduce friction. source (http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/hair-porosity-how-to-measure-sort-of.html)