training your hair

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Hey there lovely folks,

Today I want to write about a topic that kind of irritates me. I must put a disclaimer up front: the views expressed in this post are purely my opinion, so take what's said for what it's worth. Additionally, my views are in no way meant to offend any of my lovely readers, and I hope that my thoughts/ideas will spark lively and friendly discussion :-)

Now, on to the topic at hand. I often hear women say/write about their hair being "trained." This term applied to hair completely baffles me. There is no such thing as training your hair. I mean, what exactly are you training it to do? Usually when a woman refers to having hair that is trained what has really happened is that the hair is heat damaged. Heat damage occurs, as the name implies, from too much heat being applied to the hair. If heat is applied to hair often, it does not matter how well moisturized your hair is or how much heat protectant products you apply your hair will be damaged. So how much heat is too much? Well, that depends on the health and nature of your hair. The better moisturized your hair is the more heat it can withstand. However, anyone applying heat every day or every other day is at a high risk for heat damage. And for most people even applying heat once per week (not talking about indirect heat such as conditioning caps used with a plastic cap underneath) for extended periods of time, such as years, will cause heat damage. Once hair is heat damaged the texture of your hair will change, this includes your hair's curl pattern. This is what makes most people say that their hair is "trained." A looser curl pattern as the result of hair that has been straightened every week for years is not "trained," but instead is damaged. The line is fine, but definitely there.

So, those are my thoughts on "training" your hair. Let me know your thoughts on the use of the word, "trained" as it relates to hair.

That's all for this post,

Tootles!!!