How elastic is your curly hair?

Understanding whether curly hair is healthy, strong and resilient through the degree of elasticity? Yes, today we are talking about just that!

Have you ever thought of your curls as a troupe of little acrobats? Just as these performers need to be flexible to perform, curly hair needs elasticity to be healthy and strong.

But what does it mean to have elastic hair and why is it so important?

Elasticity is the ability of curls to stretch and return to their original shape without breaking and indicates whether they are strong and healthy enough. Like a quality elastic that after being stretched returns to its original shape with little effort.

So now, the question that arises is: how do you know if your curls are healthy acrobats or if they need a little extra training?

The elasticity of hair can vary greatly from person to person and depends on many factors, first and foremost the level of hydration of the hair and its ability to maintain it, the presence or lack of protein and damage to the cuticle due to, for example, aggressive chemical treatments.

It is generally classified into three main categories.

High elasticity

Hair with high elasticity can stretch up to 50 % of its initial length without breaking and quickly returns to its initial length after being stretched. This indicates that they are resilient, as they are usually well moisturised, healthy hair without significant damage to the cuticle.

Characteristics of hair with high elasticity

• They can stretch considerably without breaking.
• They bounce back quickly, bounce effect, to their original shape.
• They have a smooth, intact cuticle.

Medium elasticity

Hair with medium elasticity can stretch between 30% and 50% before returning to its original length. This type of elasticity is common and indicates that the hair is generally healthy, but may need a little more care to achieve optimal elasticity.

Characteristics of hair with medium elasticity:

• They stretch, but not as much as those with high elasticity.
• They return to their original shape, but not always quickly.
• They may show signs of slight dryness or superficial cuticle damage.

Low elasticity

Hair with low elasticity stretches less than 20% before breaking. This hair type is generally brittle, dry and damaged.

Characteristics of hair with low elasticity

• They break easily under tension.
• They have difficulty returning to their original shape after being stretched.
• They often appear dry, brittle and damaged.

At this point, we need to understand how to determine the degree of elasticity of hair in order to subsequently take the right measures to improve its health.

Here is a simple test you can do at home, your own personal ‘acrobat test’.

Wet hair elasticity test

The wet hair elasticity test is particularly useful because hair tends to be naturally more ‘flexible’ when wet (it lengthens by an average of 50%, or 75% in the case of type 4 curls).

How to do the test: take a small lock of wet hair, or even individual hairs, and use your fingers to gently stretch it. Release the lock and observe its behaviour. If the hair lengthens significantly and returns quickly to its initial length (bounce effect), it means that it has a high degree of elasticity and is therefore healthy and strong. If they stretch moderately and take a while to return to their initial length, they have medium elasticity: their health can be improved. If, on the other hand, the hair struggles to lengthen and return to its original length, or breaks immediately, it is a symptom of low elasticity and therefore fragile and weak hair

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Remedies to increase lost elasticity

If curly hair has lost elasticity, there are several remedies you can take to restore it and make your hair healthy, strong and resilient again.

Moisturising: favour mild, moisturising shampoos and consider doing a moisturising mask once a week or as needed to give your hair a spa-like pampering.

Natural oils: apply oils, such as jojoba or carrot oil – we also talked about these in the article How to care for dry, lacklustre hair – to your hair and massage them in gently, paying particular attention to the lengths and ends, to facilitate their penetration into the hair. Leave the oils to act for as long as necessary and then proceed with washing.

Styling for elasticity of curly hair: choose specific styling products to restore the elasticity of your hair, such as those rich in protein. You can try Supercurly booster for example: a protein reconstructor based on hydrolysed keratin and collagen. Keratin gives strength and elasticity, collagen replenishes the hair fibre and strengthens it, and in addition releases special proteins that create a protective film on the surface of the hair.

Elasticity is that element that can indicate whether curls are in good shape and resistant or not. It is also a little trick to choose with greater awareness the best products to use according to personal needs, both during washing and styling, and, last but not least, the best styling techniques.

 Remember, observe and listen to your curls: they will know what they need!