In my various travels in the land of hairboards, I’ve noticed a startling trend….that most people (even some veteran natural) don’t understand some of the basic scientific terms used to describe hair. Additionally, a lot of people (old and new) don’t understand how to correctly apply these terms to their own hair. This is where the importance of performing a hair assessment comes into play. Performing a hair assessment will not only help you to learn the basic characteristics of your hair, it will also help you understand what type of products might work best for your hair. This in my opinion is the single most important thing you can do for your hair to ensure that you meet your hair goals, no matter what they may be.

A hair assessment consists of observing the hair in multiple states (wet, damp and dry) to determine some basic physical properties of the hair. A hair assessment seeks to determine things like texture of the hair strands (fine, medium, coarse), the density of the hair (thin, medium, thick), the porosity of the hair, the presence or absence of a curl pattern, and a myriad of other things.

So today (and possibly this weekend if needed to clarify) I’ll be making several posts discussing:

1. How to perform a hair assessment
2. What do the results of the hair assessment mean
3. How to use the results of your hair assessment to help improve the health of your hair.

Sound good? Well….let’s get it rolling and I’ll back after lunch with the first post….How to perform a hair assessment.

ETA:  I must apologize to all of you for promising to get the posts out this weekend on performing a hair assessment. This weekend was a hectic one, so I’m just getting a chance to make these posts. I hope you all enjoy!