Whatisseeingaline That Goesstraight Up and Straight Again

Photo by Karston Tannis

I once met an older adult female with slightly wavy hair who looked at my 2c/3a curls wistfully and said, "Before I had kids, I had beautiful curly hair similar yours."

I didn't know how to answer because I had no idea that could happen!

Certain, I knew that many mothers dread their infant'southward first haircut because ofttimes, in one case cut, the adorable ringlets are never quite the aforementioned. But I hadn't heard of someone who lived their whole life with luscious curls only to lose them postpartum.

Over on CurlTalk, we've heard from community members who lost the gyre pattern they had as a child. Why does this happen?

Curl patterns depend on genetic, hormonal, and environmental factors in addition to your hair care regimen. If that sounds similar a lot of factors — that's considering it is!

Folks with curly hair know that experimentation and technique are essential getting your curl design to be its healthiest. The skillful news is that if you had curly hair as a child, chances are proficient that you can implement sure changes to aid your hair become curlier again.

In this article, I hope to discuss some factors that determine the curliness of your hair and propose some ways to unlock your untapped curl potential.

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Genetics

Curl pattern is genetically programmed just like eye color, meridian, and nigh other aspects of phenotype. Throughout our lives, all the same, we experience biological changes to our pilus texture. By bore, our hair tends to go gradually thicker into adulthood, thinning once more in middle and old age. These changes can impact curl pattern.

Science has proved that the shape of the hair follicle determines curliness, but it's not articulate what determines the shape of the hair follicle. The more perfectly round the follicle, the straighter the pilus. When follicles are less symmetrical, that's when interesting things like curls, waves, kinks, and coils happen!

In a paper by Westgate et. al. in 2017, the scientists note that "The strongest bear witness for the control of shape comes from the testify of the role of the inner root sheath [a part of the follicle] which appears to structurally mould pilus fibre shape, including scroll—only we are all the same a very long way from understanding the complete biological/biophysical mechanisms that produce such a wide range of curled, coiled, kinked and wavy pilus fibres."

But the plot thickens, as Dna lone doesn't tell the full story.

Hormones

In 2015, one of our co-founders, Michelle Breyer, wrote a helpful article entitled, "Why Does Pilus Texture Alter Throughout Life?" In it, Michelle writes near the 3 major hormones that affect pilus:

• Thyroxine and triiodothyronine from the thyroid — too piffling causes brittleness and hair loss
• Androgen from the adrenal glands — also little can cause pilus thinning
• Insulin from the pancreas — too much or too little tin can cause hair loss and/or changes in the manner your hair looks or feels

Drastic hormonal changes or medical treatments like chemotherapy can also change the muscles in your pilus follicles and crusade new pilus patterns to emerge. Hormonal changes around puberty tin can also bear upon your hair's texture.

So what tin can I do?

Reverse damage

If you've had long pilus in the by xx years or then, in that location's a high adventure yous take chemical or heat impairment. Even years of using products with sulfates can wreak havoc on naturally curly pilus. Repeated use of a straightening iron tin can cause curly roots but direct, damaged ends. If you lot've bleached your hair frequently in contempo years, you lot might look into poly peptide treatments.

Some of this damage is reversible, but sometimes you may to get a big chop in order to restart.

Consider a cut

Another way to unlock your curls is to talk to a stylist who specializes in curly hair. Most haircuts are done while your hair is wet, which makes information technology almost incommunicable to see your curl design in its natural state. A professional person might be able to help y'all think differently about your hair and suggest some personalized products or practices to assist yous regain your former locks.

Learn more by reading What is a Deva Cut? Is information technology for Me?

Daily intendance

If there's something that people with good for you curly hair know that the rest of the globe does not, information technology's the Curly Girl Method. This regimen will feel completely foreign to anyone who has straight hair. I used this method to "train" my hair to be curly in high schoolhouse after I did a big chop — and my hair has been curly e'er since.

Are you ready for our secret? Here information technology is: the Curly Daughter Method.

Good luck! Let us know if yous get-go to see changes in your curl pattern later implementing any of the suggestions above.

Here's our CurlTalk thread if you want to add your own story: Curly as a kid; straighter now?

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Source: https://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/curls/my-hair-was-curly-as-a-kid-but-now-it-s-straight