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Why Does Hair Texture Change Throughout Life?
A child with silky fine hair may have a head full of kinky curls when puberty hits. Another baby may start out with fine ringlets only to have them turn stick straight when she gets older.
As our body ages, we see changes in our hair texture. The hair of a newborn is very soft and very fine.The diameter of the hair thickens as we enter childhood or early adolescence. As we move into adulthood and then older, the hair again changes, becoming finer again in our 40s and 50s. All of these changes are genetically programmed.
“Hair changes every five to seven years,” said Christo of the Christo Fifth Avenue Salon and creator of the Curlisto line of hair products.
But even though we might know what affects hair texture, it still is unclear exactly how and why this happens.People with curly hair have a flatter follicle. Straight hairs tend to have a rounder follicle. But how a flat follicle turns round, and vice versa, is a mystery.
“What adds to the curl or takes away from the curl is a fascinating issue scientifically,” says Tom Dawson, a principle scientist at P&G Beauty. “You’d think with something as fundamental as human hair, and the amount of time and money we put into our hair, that we’d know more than we do. But it’s a tough nut to crack.
“What is known is that hormones have a major effect on hair texture.”Hormones influence the hair in several different ways since they are regulators of the body’s metabolism,” Christo says. “Hormones tell our body how to perform, therefore increasing or decreasing specific hormones can directly affect the way our body functions.”
He cites three major hormones that affect the hair:Thyroxine and triiodothyronine are produced by the thyroid gland and influence the way the body uses the food we eat. An under-active thyroid can cause brittle hair and hair loss.
Androgen is produced in the adrenal glands and is responsible for hair growth. In women, an increase in the production of androgen causes thinning of the hair and excessive facial hair.
Insulin is produced in the pancreas and is responsible for the adaptation of glucose in the blood. Under-production of insulin can cause hyperglycemia and over-production can cause hypoglycemia, which can both cause hair loss and change the way the hair looks and feels.
Cancer patients often find that after chemotherapy, their once-straight hair grows in curly. Chemo affects rapidly growing cells more than slowly growing ones, and hair follicles in the scalp grow rapidly. They are jolted by the chemo, and when they go back to work, they may have a new job description, says Dr. Jennifer Griggs. Over time, the hair follicle tends to return to its normal shape.
With little scientific evidence available about how hormones and genetics cause these texture changes, Jonathan Torch, creator of Curly Hair Solutions and founder of Toronto’s Curly Hair Institute, has come up with his own theory.
He believes changes in the muscles at the base of every follicle are the key to the changes in hair texture that take place over time. These muscular changes, he says, often come during puberty, chemotherapy or menopause, when hormones and medications may affect the muscle tone.
Sometimes these changes can be extreme, says Torch, who has witnessed many a client go from curly to straight and straight to curly.”I can’t prove anything medically,” he says. “But I have a philosophy that genetically, the muscles are changing. And this changes the shape of the follicle.”
This entry was posted on Saturday, December 1st, 2007 at 12:22 pm and is filed under Mature Curlies, Teens, Wavy. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment.
August 31st, 2008 at 3:25 am
[...] a different texture, like what happened in your case, and even a different color. Let me quote from Naturallycurly.com: Where curls come to life! : "Cancer patients often find that after chemotherapy, their once-straight hair grows in [...]
October 22nd, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Ha: up until about sixth grade, my hair was STICK STRAIGHT, and then in sixth grade it got REALLY thick and frizzy, and now i’m in eighth grade with really nice curly hair thanks to naturally curly!!
December 7th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Hey Kara! I know exactly what you mean! When I was in 6th grade, my straight/slightly wavy hair turned massively curly, thick, and frizzy. I had no idea what was happening or how to control it! I’m a freshman in college now, and I’ve learned to love my curls. Thank you Michelle for posting this! It’s always been a mystery to me as to how this happened!
January 23rd, 2009 at 2:47 pm
I was born with really pretty wavy hair that turned into tight corkscrew curls when I was about 15 years old. It was BEAUTIFUL!!!! I was blessed to enjoy this hair until I gave birth to my first child at 21. After that, my hair started to get straighter and straighter. Now that I am done having kids, I have some hair that is wacy & some that would be considered loose borticelli curls. I miss my old hair & would do just about anything to have it back.
February 8th, 2009 at 9:10 am
When I was first born there are picture of me looking like an asian baby. Slanted eyes, jaundice skin and a full head of fine pin straight jet black hair. By the time I was 6 months it had become a frizzy mop of black curls.
Slowly I lost those curls and by the time I was 3 my hair was sporting straight sandy blonde locks.
My wave slowly returned as I got older and my hair started to darken again, but it’s only in the last few weeks that the real curls have made themselves known (age 19) though thankfully they’re a bit softer and more manageable than when I was an infant.
Everyone’s thinks i’ve had my hair permed and they’re all saying how much they love it! xD
March 4th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Wow! I didn’t know this was so common!
I was born with blond ringlets, but had straight dark hair by the time i turned 2.
It was 7th grade for me when my hair went curly (unfortunately at the same time as I first decided to cut my hair short!).
High school introduced the reign of the flat-iron, but now that I’m 20 I finally have beautiful curls I love. Many many thanks to the ladies on here who corrected my ways - my straight-haired mother was helpless.
I really hope my curls don’t fade again. That would be a shame!
March 22nd, 2009 at 11:04 pm
now i know my hair type. thnx to you guys. when i was young as my mother relates, i have a wave my hair but also doubting because my hair is getting like 2B after scrunching it after shower and drying it with diffuser but without any chemical. but sopmetimes it is only slightly wavy. so what do you think is my hair type now?
April 14th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
I was born with pin-curls. Struggled with strong waves that bulged to the left in grammar school.Then in high school I had beautiful waves that complimented long layers. Now in my RAGING HORMONE 50s, I’m shocked. Strong S waves, tight waves framing my face. FRIZZIES!!!!!!!!! I don’t know what to do! I love this web site! I’m learning how to handle my NEW hair.
April 16th, 2009 at 12:18 am
I was born with very little red hair pin strait. As I got older my hair of course browned out to a honey brown, but stayed thin and horribly strait. I was a mothers worst nightmare I had a tender scalp and then very tangly hair my father dubbed it a rats nest. So to keep some form of control my mom kept it in a bob.
I hate short hair.
As I became a teenager my hair darken even more and manged to get a red tent (in the proper lighting.) and right before high school my rats nest frizzed then curled. Not waved but loose ringlets.
I was so relived, my hair has grown out considerably now and my favorite question years down the road and I have heard it too many times to count ” Is your hair real?” I of course want to respond of course not its a wig.
I hate hearing people complain about wanting straite hair after having lived both extremes I would take my curls now over any cut of strait hair.
Also you have to love the hair dresser refusing to change your hair besides a trim. Strait hair never gets that.
May 26th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
i had curly hair when i was a baby. then when i got my first hiar cut and then my har started to become thick and straight. and acoding to that guys theory he siad it had somethin to do with pubery and cancer and stuff and iv never gone through that
May 29th, 2009 at 11:19 am
I’ve always had wavy hair, but then around age 13 it got curly. xD
June 18th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
When I was 6, my hair was wavy and up to my butt. But, when I turned 7, my hair started to get really thick and dry. Now, my hair is curly but pretty