Your hair is coarse & dense, not dry & hard
Since coarse hair is thicker in diameter than fine hair, it tends to feel “hard” or rough and this can be confused with dryness. Coarse hair is great! It is less vulnerable to breakage when cared for properly and is the preferable hair type for someone who likes to experiment with different styles and colors. When you touch someone’s hair that feels pillow soft, more times than not they probably have finer strands,o and it is important to understand this difference because it will help determine which products are probably better for your hair.
Since coarse hair is thicker in diameter than fine hair, it tends to feel “hard” or rough and this can be confused with dryness.
Read more: You are Feeling Texture, Not Dryness
Products for coarse hair
With coarse hair it is better to use thicker products, especially thicker moisturizers and butters to help seal in the moisture from wash day. Using thin products like milks and other lightweight moisturizers might not be the best options for long-term moisture. Finer textures tend to respond better to products that are not as heavy but then curl pattern and porosity are also important factors. So to sum up:
Reach for
- thicker moisturizers
- butters
Avoid
- milks
- lightweight moisturizers
Coarse vs. Dry
If your hair is low or normal porosity and coarse, then your hair is healthy. If a coarse texture is highly porous due to over-manipulation, frequent heat usage, or color treatments, then that is a good indicator that your hair is indeed dry. You will want to take extra measures like making sure you are deep conditioning weekly, doing regular protein treatments, and sealing in the moisture with either the LOC method or the LCO method for long-term moisture.
What is “hard” hair?
When people say their hair is “hard” I am always curious to feel it. I have observed that this “hardness” is usually described by people with short, Type 4 hair. Describing your hair as “hard” can be misleading when trying to express your hair care concerns. In the hair care arena, hard is usually an indicator of protein overload, almost as if someone used ApHogee Two-Step Protein Treatment without rinsing it out completely or following up with a moisture treatment. If your hair is hard, it will snap, so that may not be the adjective you want to use when describing your hair. If someone allows me to touch their hair, I instantly noticed that what they mean to say is dense. Short, compact, dense Type 4 hair tends to feel, well, hard. Dense hair is great thing! There are women with waves, curls, and coils who wish they did not have to pick their hair so much to achieve volume. When you have dense hair you can always thin it to remove bulk, but when your hair has low density, you are only option is to create an illusion. Love your “hard” hair, girl!
Read more: This Protein Treatment Hardens on Your Hair…But Don’t Be Scared
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Are you guilty of calling your coarse, dense hair hard?
