What does crunchy mean?

[Um Enis]

Ok... I've been a member here for a while now... and I know that to little protein causes weak hair but that too much protein causes crunchy hair. But what I have not been able to figure out in all my years here is what exactly is crunchy hair? Please describe :)

[Juneii]

the ends of my hair does this when I have too much oil on them.

I THINK crunchy means when you hold several strands between you fingers and rub them back and forth. You hear this crinkly sound and the strands of hair is very coarse and dry.

correct me if I am wrong :)

[Denebi]

For me, crunchy means dry, breaks easily, and when I try to comb it it tangles and crackles (yes really, a terrible sound). Eek!

[Dreams_in_Pink]

Hair is crunchy when it doesn't move with your head. It just sits there, motionless :( (this is what happens to me)

[Dragon]

Crunchy for me means when I can here it crackel as I press my hair between my fingers.

[irisheyes]

I can honestly say I never really knew what crunchy meant, either. There have been other threads on this subject, and I have sat here in front of my computer, crunching away from scalp to ends. I was thinking there was no difference between my virgin hair and my dry, damaged ends. Maybe what I heard was a normal sound? But just now I rubbed my hair between my fingers and guess what? No crunch! My hair is moisturized because I have been doing conditioner only washes daily this week. I did a protein treatment too.

[JenniferNoel]

It's different for everyone's hair type. Crunchy generally literally means crunchy, as in, you can hear or feel some kind of "crunch" when you squish or rub the ends together. Happens to me when my hair craves a DT.

[Anje]

"Crunchy" for me is a phenomenon more associated with oil than with protein. The hairs feel stiffer and coarser than usual, and are generally the polar opposite of how my hair feels when it's well-moisturized (say, just dry after an SMT). Typically they're coated with oil, though, so it's like dry, oily hair.

When I get over-proteined, the effect is similar, but the ends of the hair kink considerably (way more than normal for my hairtype), they're stiff, and they're rough to the touch. You run your fingers over a pinched section of hair, and feels grabby, like the way some microfiber feels when you touch it, as opposed to the usual silkiness.

[ilovelonghair]

To me, it is the noise, brittleness and feel of ends. I used to have it really bad. Now it is only every now and then.

[ktani]

It is literally the sound hair can make when you hold your hair ends next to your ear and gently squeeze them together in your hand. The hair can sound like eating breakfast cereal before the milk makes it soggy, or eating dry toast, crunchy.

[alwayssmiling]

If my hair is crunchy I now know it is either too much oiling, too much product (like mousse), or too much protein, either way it usually needs clarifying and a DT and it becomes soft again.

[Carriegirl]

Oh no...my hair does this :-( Off to start a new HELP post! ;-)

[hmmm]

I'm confused about the crunch sound... isn't it normal for hair to do this? My hair does it all the time, and it's not dry or damaged.

[ktani]

I'm confused about the crunch sound... isn't it normal for hair to do this? My hair does it all the time, and it's not dry or damaged.

My hair used to sound crunchy when I had build-up or it was dry. It no longer sounds that way and has not for a looong time. My breakage from mechanical damage is waay down and I have no split ends. Crunchy to me is a sign of a problem. It can be fixed though. Damage, as has been discussed in another thread, means different things to different people.

[hmmm]

My hair used to sound crunchy when I had build-up or it was dry. It no longer sounds that way and has not for a looong time. My breakage from mechanical damage is waay down and I have no split ends. Crunchy to me is a sign of a problem. It can be fixed though. Damage, as has been discussed in another thread, means different things to different people.

Okay, I must be confusing how you 'crunch' the hair, then. Do you just 'fold' it against itself and listen for a crunch, or do you rub the strands together? Rubbing the strands always produces a crunchy sound...

[Um Enis]

OK. Now I know what really crunchy is :)

What about rustling. Not really cereal crunchy, but definitely rustling, like leaves. Is that on the crunchy spectrum or is that not crunchy.

[McFearless]

My ends get crunchy if I use too much oil on dry hair. This is usually cured by shampoo and conditioner.

[ScarlettAdelle]

The way I use it, it's when the ends are frazzled and destroyed. They tend to dry hard and sometimes even in a different pattern than the rest of the hair. In my particular case, I have curly hair and my ends dry in an odd sort of way that looks straight, but feels felted*.

It also is used to describe hair that has dried with way too much gel in it & has the wet look even when completely dry, and if you were to scrunch it with your hands, you would hear a loud crunchy sound.

I refer to my ends as "crispety cruncheties" because they're just destroyed and need to be cut off, but I don't have the heart to as cutting them all off would take me back to BSL from hip, and if I dry them certain ways, I can usually make them look/feel softer.





Felted is kinda like if you were to take a piece of hair, rub it between your hands till it matted a little, went over it with a flat iron and then comb through it. It feels rough & has no real curl to it, but it's just crinkly & fuzzy

[Anje]

OK. Now I know what really crunchy is :)

What about rustling. Not really cereal crunchy, but definitely rustling, like leaves. Is that on the crunchy spectrum or is that not crunchy.
I think it depends to some degree on the hair. My fine hair doesn't really rustle with normal movement, though there's a sound if I crush and roll it between my fingers next to my ear. So rustling for me would definitely indicate some sort of problem in the crunchy spectrum.

I think coarse hair rustles to some degree, just by virtue of its texture. Still, it's probably worth while making sure that rustling, noisy coarse hair isn't over-dry or some other problem.

[jojo]

id explain it as your ends feeling thicker but not in a nice way and feeling dry and stiff, the opposite of slippy hair I suppose!