high porosity Archives - Wavy Hair Care

Bond Builders For Damaged Wavy Hair

March 4, 2023 by Emily Evert 2 Comments

Can You Really Repair Hair Bonds Damaged by Bleaching or Dyeing?

There are several types of hair bonds that can be broken. The ones broken during the process of bleaching hair or dyeing hair are primarily disulfide bonds, which are a type of covalent bonds. Those disulfide bonds cannot be fully repaired with any technology that we currently have.

The cosmetic chemists on the Beauty Brain podcast say bond builders like Olaplex and wellaplex do more conditioning than bond rebuilding. Covalent bonds or disulfide bonds are the ones damaged when hair is dyed. “It’s literally impossible to fully restore disfulfide bonds”. Hair repair products may rebuild hydrogen bonds or electrostatic bonding.

Episode 216 on bond building explains how Olaplex has a patent that claims they rebuild disulfide bonds, but patents aren’t evidence of effective peer-reviewed science.

What percentage of hair bonds are damaged while bleaching hair?

Typically 15-25% of bonds are damaged while bleaching hair, but it can be up to 45% in cases where “severe” bleaching is being done.

This is a quote from from Chemical and Physical Behavior of Human Hair by Clarence R. Robbins.

“Robbins and Kelly [5] have shown that 15–25% of the disulfide bonds in human hair are degraded during “normal” bleaching, however, as much as 45% of the cystine bonds may be broken during severe “in practice” bleaching. This latter amount of damage may occur while frosting hair, or while bleaching hair from black or brown-black to light blond”

What Type Of Hair Bonds are Damaged by Bleaching?

Signs & Causes Of Damaged Wavy Hair

August 27, 2022 by Emily Evert Leave a Comment

Signs That Your Wavy Hair Is Damaged

Split ends. These are a giveaway that your hair is definitely damaged. It’s best to have them trimmed because while splits will start at the ends, if left untreated they can continue to split up the hair shaft.

Unexplained texture change. Texture can change due to hormonal changes so if you’ve gone through puberty, pregnancy, or changes in hormonal medications that could be the cause. Keep in mind that hair grows about half a inch per month, or six inches per year. So it may be several months or even a year after a hormonal change before you may really notice the change. If you have seen a texture change with no clear cause, it could be damage.

No elasticity. If you pull on your waves and they don’t spring back at all, that’s a lack of elasticity. It can be a sign of needing protein or using products that are too heavy…but it also can be a sign of damage.

Your hair feels dry compared to your norm.

Tangles. Tangles are normal for many hair types, but if your hair has become much more tangly this can be due to damage.

Breakage. If you see lots of broken pieces of hair happening, that’s a sign that your hair is likely weak due to damage.

Lots of frizz. All wavy hair has some frizz, some more than others. In general, there are many, many causes of frizz and most aren’t a sign of damage. But if yours has gotten really frizzy vs your usual that can be damage.

Your hair is rough feeling. Some hair types are naturally less soft than others. For example, really thick hair strands are often rougher feeling than fine hair strands. So this is another one that you should base on your norm.

High porosity hair is usually a sign of damage. Gets soaked easily but dries fast too. Feels rough after your hair dries unless you use leave in.

Your hair looks matte or dull rather than shiny. Hair type can make a difference in natural shine, but if your hair used to be shinier and has gotten more dull, that’s likely damage.

Longer hair is always going to be a little damaged because even gentle grooming and ordinary living life in the world causes some damage to hair. So the longer you grow your hair, the older your hair ends are, and the more time they’ve had to get damaged by life. Here is a quote about ‘natural’ (non-chemical or hair dye-related) damage in hair.

“Cuticle damage evidenced by broken scale edges can usually be observed a few centimeters away from the scalp. Such damage is caused by weathering and mechanical damage from the effects of normal grooming actions, such as combing, brushing and shampooing. In many long hair fibers (25 cm or longer), progressive surface damage may be observed (illustrated by Fig. 1.23). Stage 1 shows intact smooth scale edges and scale surfaces; stage 2 contains broken scale edges; in stage 3, the scales have been partially removed, and in stage 4 the hair splits indicating extensive cortical damage. ” quote is from Chemical and Physical Behavior of Human Hair by Clarence R. Robbins.

Causes Of Damage In Wavy Hair

Wet Frizz In Wavy Hair

March 29, 2022 by Emily Evert 4 Comments

What Is Wet Frizz?

Wet frizz is when hair is frizzy while still wet. Rather than forming “clean” curl clumps, the curl clumps will have strings of hair sticking out. A small amount of wet frizz is normal, but having a lot of we frizz can be a sign that your har isn’t getting what it needs.

If your hair is really frizzy while wet, it will likely dry very frizzy, too. If you struggle with frizz and that frizz is present even when your hair is soaking wet, your core issue may be wet frizz rather than regular frizz.

What Causes Wet Frizz?

Wet frizz can be caused by a lack of moisture or conditioning, product build-up, having high porosity hair, flash drying or moisture overload.

If your hair is frizzy while it’s wet, it’s usually lacking moisture and needs to be better conditioned.

In some cases, wet frizz may be caused by build-up. If your hair has significant build-up, it may disrupt your hair from clumping “nicely” in its normal way.

High porosity hair is more likely to experience wet frizz due to the raised cuticles making nearby hairs tangle rather than align together. If you’re new to the concept of hair porosity, I’d recommend checking out my blog post how to determine your wavy hair type.

For some people, moisture overload can include wet frizz. If your hair feels really soft (almost mushy?) and has lost its ‘strength’, gotten very poofy/fluffy or lost its regular definition, and your curls are looser than usual, these are signs of moisture overload and you may benefit from doing a protein treatment.

Flash drying causes wet frizz for some. Some people have hair that responds poorly to certain ingredients. If you find that your hair is soaking wet, and you apply a product and your hair instantly frizzes up while feeling like it got drier – that’s flash drying. In this case, you’ll need to learn what ingredient your hair has flash drying from and avoid that ingredient in your hair care products.

How To Correct Wet Frizz

How To Determine Your Wavy Hair Type | Porosity, Density, Curl Pattern & Thickness

February 16, 2022 by Emily Evert 20 Comments

What Are Wavy Hair Stats?

Your hair stats are made up of your curl pattern, your hair strand thickness, your hair density, and your hair porosity.

When I first started embracing my wavy hair about four years ago, I tried following someone else’s routine who had wavy hair with a similar curl pattern to mine. I was so confused when it didn’t work for me at all.

I eventually realized this was because we had different hair stats – hers was low density while mine is dense, and hers was thicker textured than mine.

Does Your Wavy Hair Type Matter?

When looking to start the curly girl method or wavy girl method, some people tell newbies the first thing that they should do is determine their wavy hair stats. When I first attempted to determine my wavy hair type (and even on the second and third attempts to determine my hair stats!) it just didn’t help! Due to this, for a long time I’ve recommended to people that they just experiment with their hair, instead.

I have finally – FINALLY, found my true hair stats and now I have found that knowing my hair stats really has helped me with finding my routine. However, I do still advocate for experimenting!

Now I now see the value in determining your hair stats, as it can help you determine which products will work well for you and what routine will work best for you. It’s essential that you determine your hair type correctly, though.

I incorrectly typed my hair multiple times, so I tried following routines based on the wrong hair type is why those routines didn’t work well for me. They weren’t really for my hair type!