Hair Not Naturally Shiny?

I've found that my hair just is not shiny (except for an area close to my hairline from my ears to the back of my neck, where the texture is very different from the average on my head. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] .). Even in my relaxed days, and when my hair is healthiest--natural or relaxed--my hair does not shine. I see everyone's avatars with beautiful, shiny hair--am I the only one whose hair tends not to shine? Does this necessarily mean that it's damaged? Or is it products? I know that the front of my hair is somewhat damaged from lifting the color too high, but the rest is currently fairly healthy, and has been quite healthy. Yet no shine to be found! If I put in shea butter or an oil and twist it up, maybe. But naturally, when it's out and soft and bouncy and healthy, it just is not shiny. Sheen, but no shine. I use good conditioners, keep it moisturized, cold water rinse to seal the cuticle, shea butter, oil, whatever--it won't shine! My guess is that my cuticle is not flat and my hair has some z-shaped tendencies, which doesn't reflect light very well. Anyone else? Do you take steps to make it shiny, or just accept lackluster (literally) hair?

Also, my hair does not like uniformity. It takes loads of gel to get it to clump, because no one hair likes to do the same thing as the next. My guess is that this is related to having a bunch of different textures and curl patterns on my head. So I don't wear my hair "curly" except for twistouts, otherwise it's fluffy [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] . Has anyone else found this? What's your preferred hairstyle, then?

lol this is so funny becuz even when i was relaxed i secretly became baffled why my hair wasnt shiney n glossy looking! it's always been healthy but no such shine around, lol. As a natural, i dmn sure have no shine and i made the mistake of putting tons of unneccessary products in my head for the sake of "shine". it did nothing but make my hair more dry!

now i dont focus on shine and work on my curl definition cuz i HATE how my hair is more curly around my head vs the top [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] . im scared to color it and look forward to what henna can do for me down the line! but NOPE, your not the only one! my hair is just a dusty dry looking color in itself, lol.

MJ: "you are not alone, i am here with you"

My hair isn't naturally shiny either. I need oil or gel to make it shiny

our hair texture is not naturally shiny, but has sheen when healthy.

i color my hair, when its lighter it didn't hold much shine - well the way I l liked - I colored it darker and the shine and sheen is so much evident. I am using the same products as before, the curl is the same. It just seems the light bounces off it much better.

to not have a natural shine is normal, and doesn't mean your hair isn't healthy!! some textures shine others sheen. not sure if it is because of the "z" tendencies, some of my hair has a swoopy "z" formation and still shines.
if you do twist outs, twirling clumps of hair around fingers covered in your favorite oil can add shine!!!!

thanks, guys! I don't usually worry about it not being very shiny, but I guess I was just getting a little paranoid (I didn't see an appropriate "paranoid"-looking smiley, so insert your mental image of one here).

@ NubieNattyTwn: lol! yeah, my hair does the same thing--it's curly around the sides, but for me it's only the minority of my hair so I just try to fluff it like the rest!