Everything you always wanted to know about your hair
We all want beautiful and healthy hair. But do we really know what happens inside our hair? Below, we present some basic facts:
The components of hair
Hair is made of two key ingredients: protein (keratin) and water. Hair just loves water and can absorb up to 30% of its own weight in water from liquids as well as air humidity. What colour of hair we have is determined by two additional proteins: eumelanine and phaeomelanine. Dark hair has more eumelanine, whereas blonds or redheads have more phaeomelanine.
The hair structure
Each single hair comprises three concentric layers:
1: The innermost layer (medulla) is not affected by hair care products and styling processes.
2: The middle layer (cortex) contains the pigment and can be modified by dyeing, bleaching, perming and straightening.
3: The outer layer (cuticle) consists of several layers of overlapping cells – just like roof tiles. It is especially important for the health and shine of hair. The smoother the outer cells lie on each other, the more your hair shines. Very straight hair usually has a very smooth surface, whereas curly hair tends to be more porous.
Images: Hair structure, healthy hair under the electron microscope
The number of hairs on your head
Blondes have more… hair? Yep, it’s true: on average, blondes have considerably more hair than people with darker hair (140,000 vs. 100,000 individual strands). But the world isn’t altogether unfair: blonde hair is usually much finer and more delicate. So, for all you natural blondes, gentle styling is even more important.
Hair care and protection
Still using that old straightener or the rickety hairdryer that was state-of-the-art back in the 1990s? You might be missing out years of innovation that made styling much healthier, gentler, easier and more efficient. You wouldn't use any old brush on your teeth, right? So give your hair the same privileged treatment and indulge it with unique state-of the art styling and health technologies as well as modern styling tools.
