How do I know my Natural Hair is healthy?

Every time I go to visit my hair stylist (to go get my hair straightened), she touches my hair a bit b4 washing it and is like "Omg...You're hair is soo damaged and dry. There has been so much breakage. You should stop doing whatever you're doing cuz you are making your hair break off." But when I have my hair curly I'm always monitoring how much is in my comb or in the sink. Its not that much. So where is the damage? And when my stylist is finished straightening it, I look at it and notice that it is at most 3 quarters of an inch longer. WHERE'S THE BREAKAGE?! I'm just not seeing it.
Is there something she is just seeing as a hair dresser for about 20 years, or is she just saying things to make me stop going curly then going to her so she doesn't have to deal with it?

Most people think just because they're natural, their hair is healthy. But has your hair stylist managed your natural hair before? Maybe she's just not used to your hair. But maybe you have heat damage and that's why she thinks it's unhealthy.

Free2BMe wrote:Most people think just because they're natural, their hair is healthy. But has your hair stylist managed your natural hair before? Maybe she's just not used to your hair. But maybe you have heat damage and that's why she thinks it's unhealthy.

Yeah she has done my hair plenty of times. I'm just trying to figure out how is it damaged if it's growing

Make sure your hair is balanced between protein and moisture. Becuase too much of one over another is not good and can make your hair brittle.

I've seen some people with healthy natural hair get there hair straightened, and it seems to look dry in that state. It could be how she straightens it which makes it look that way.

If your hair is growing and you are not noticing any breakage or damage then I would be highly suspicious of her opinion of your "damaged hair". Next time around you should ask her to pinpoint which sections of your hair are damaged and what regimen she is wanting you to follow. Does she want you to have your hair heat straightened all of the time? This could be a sign that she simply wants your business and is not really concerned about the overall health of your hair. You should be able to wear your hair curly too. That is the best asset of naturally curly hair - the many different styling options.

I know that when I used to get my hair straightened my stylist used to say that my ends were dry and damaged also. She had suggested that I started using oil to seal my ends in order to combat the dryness (which I didn't...it took me like 7 years to follow her advice!). But yeah, she was right. Even now when I slack off, I can feel a huge difference in my ends. Also, when my hair was breaking off like crazy (mostly at the crown) I couldn't tell by how much hair came out in the comb/shower/sink/etc... I shed a lot then and I still do now, but now my hair is longer and healthier than its ever been.

Maybe you should try a henna gloss weekly and add alma powder to the mix and of course you have to dc.

Good luck with your hair.

This may seem bizarro, but I do 'postmortems' on my shed hairs.

1. I take a hair and examine the length to look for midstrand splits (none present).
2. I check for split ends (none present),
3. Lastly, I perform a tensile strength test on it, stretching it till it snaps.

Sometimes I'm amazed at the strength it takes to snap the hair. My hair is in better condition now in its natural shrinky-kinky state than it everwas when I was paying people $60+ to relax it for me.

I agree with @feliciap708; I believe the henna gloss and DT has helped, but it takes my hair a while to recover from the henna/indigo dryness.

I also saw improvement when I left the SLS/ALS shampoos alone.

ps. When it's straightened, she's going to notice if the ends are 'see through' (broken off) or weathered (dull looking).

naturallyu wrote:If your hair is growing and you are not noticing any breakage or damage then I would be highly suspicious of her opinion of your "damaged hair". Next time around you should ask her to pinpoint which sections of your hair are damaged and what regimen she is wanting you to follow. Does she want you to have your hair heat straightened all of the time? This could be a sign that she simply wants your business and is not really concerned about the overall health of your hair. You should be able to wear your hair curly too. That is the best asset of naturally curly hair - the many different styling options.

i totally agree with you! it sounds suspicious to me, and she should ask her specifically to see what shes talking about.

But did you know there is such a thing as a hair doctor? they're called trichologists. I don't know anything about them or if they work with natural hair or not, but I had no idea that was a real thing so I thought I would pass on the info.