It’s so easy to get dissatisfied with what you have, and seek ways to alter the natural state. But the eternal truth is that you look best if you can enhance your natural assets, and play them up for timeless style. That goes for your hair as well. While you might try chemical treatments to straighten your curls or get waves put, but the maintenance can be a pain if you have a busy lifestyle. Unlike earlier years, the current crop of stylists and hair experts recommend working with you natural hair texture. It is healthier for the strands and easier for you to maintain. Says Manju Bijlani Stylist, Nalini and Yasmeen, Mumbai, “It is not practical for anybody to style their hair everyday and spend hours blow drying and setting their hair hence it is extremely important that we work with one’s natural texture so that you are able to wash and wear the style and it still looks well kept. Well, if a stylist works with a client’s natural texture, the client can be taught simple quick styling techniques that can be used daily and the hair can still look very stylish.”

Deciding the structure

Trichologist, Dr. Apoorva Shah explains, “The texture, and structure of the hair plays a very important role in styling of the hair. Actually it is your texture which decides how you should style your hair.” In fact most of us tend to just classify our hair as dry or oily, and curly or straight. That’s when the problem of bad styling comes up. Actually hair is determined by the structure, thickness and quality of the strands. Hair structure can be curly or straight. Curly hair may be wavy or may have medium to tight coils. Curly hair has too much variation due to its curl pattern. “Curly hair is easy to work with. You have endless options to style them,” adds Manju. In fact the classification is based on the structure of your hair. The three main types include Straight, Wavy and Curly. Once your structure is determined, a stylist then checks for the thickness of the strands, and quality of your hair which can be coarse, dry or silky. Explains Manju, “Different hair types can be handled well with different kinds of styling products meant for that particular kind of hair, e.g. straight hair can be styled by blast drying the hair using a little bit of serum. Curly hair can be styled using curl saver mousse. Wavy hair can be styled with a little bit of L’Oreal Professionnel’s liss control kind of products that weigh down the hair a bit and short hair using different kinds of hair wax.”

Check the condition

Once you know the natural structure of your hair, next you should decide on the natural condition of your locks. In fact the condition of your hair can change from season to season, and city to city. So you have dry hair which happens when oil glands in scalp are inactive and they lack moisture. This can be a natural condition and may get aggravated by exposure to the sun, using harsh shampoos and any chemical treatment. Another reason for dry hair is blocking of pores by accumulation of oil on the scalp. They look dull and dry with split ends. “Dry hair needs lot of care and nourishment. After shampooing, dry hair becomes frizzy. Before shampoo, ends look dry. This type of hair breaks off easily. Scalp feels itchy and dry. Sometimes, you can observe dry flakes of skin in the scalp. Caring for dry hair should be part of daily regime. To protect them from the action of chemicals and pollution, use mild shampoo. Avoid excess use of hair dryers and curlers on dry hair,” advices Dr Shah. According to him, people with oily skin have oily hair generally. Hair becomes oily because of excessive secretion of oil from glands. Scalp also gets oily. “Oily hair needs to be washed too often. You can wash them daily or every other day. For oily hair, oils and shampoos having henna and neem are very good,” says the doctor. Then you have what is called combination hair – a problem that many women face but do not understand. In this you have grease scalp and dry ends with splits. In this case you will actually have to use a shampoo for oily hair, and a conditioner for damaged hair. Avoid getting the conditioner near your scalp. The best type of hair is the balanced hair or normal hair which has a natural shine, and the scalp is in perfect condition. It is easy to maintain, and a boon. So treat such hair well with proper care and a well balanced diet.

Straight Hair: There is no curl or wave in straight hair and it is taken as the base to categorize all hair. It is type 1 hair. Straight hair is shiny and fine, which has no curls. Total absence of waves makes the light to reflect back and give shinier appearance to the hair. To maintain the health, shine and beauty of straight hair, proper care is a must otherwise they look dull and damaged.

Wavy Hair: This is the second type of hair texture. This is type 2 hair and can further be classified as 2A, 2B or 2C. Hair of type 2A is fine and soft while 2B type of hair is medium textured. Type 2C hair is coarse, thick and frizzy. Hair Type 2 shows natural “S” type pattern. This type is the most versatile to work with. You can get them straight or you can have tight curls also.

Medium Curly Hair: Hair of this type has tight curls. There is a lot of volume in these hair and can have different styles. These hairs are strong but not as shiny as straight hair as they do not reflect light. When wet, they tend to shrink a bit. Curls of these hair are quite spring like, if you stretch them; they come back to their original position. To get them straight is quite a challenging task. This type of hair can be further categorized as 3A, 3B and 3C. The pattern in 3A type of hair has loose curls while in type 3B hair curls are tighter. 3C type of hair has tighter curls and rather shows kinky waves.