There exists a photograph, a snapshot really, of a young man standing with his mother on the southwest rim of the Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas Panhandle. Taken in the early 1970s, his hairstyle is completely appropriate for the time. His hair was long, but not overly so. On a normal day, it would have been combed and parted and neat. He was tall – six-foot three – thin, slightly tanned, and his hair was naturally a dark brown color which matched his mustache and very dark brown eyes.
That day, however, his hair was sun-bleached to an almost red color – not uncommon whenever he spent some time in the sun. The Texas Panhandle is largely a prairie and notorious for things such as its hot, very dry climate, and constant wind. The average daily wind is 14 mph. That may not sound like much, but there are a number of days when the wind doesn’t blow enough to speak of, so to average out at 14, means there are days when it really blows! There are occasions when the measured wind velocity between Amarillo’s downtown buildings hits 100+ mph. Those times tend to be a bit expensive for the insurance companies who pay for the damages done. The hot, dry summer wind that day was apparently a little above the average and as evidenced by his hair. It was wild…unkempt even – the result of all of these factors and the fact that it was naturally very curly. It looked like a reddish “Fro”.
Ask anyone with naturally curly hair if they like it and more often than not, you’ll get a negative response – especially the younger crowd. It is hard to control – it literally seems to have a mind of its own. It is harder to cut because the curls may be tighter one day than the next. So the hairstyle can vary with the humidity, the weather, the wind, the way it was slept on, etc., etc. At times it even seems to vary with owner’s attitude that day – or maybe it’s the attitude that varies based on how attractive the hair looks… Either way, the result doesn’t vary – it is still difficult to deal with. But maybe not for much longer…
In the July, 2016 volume of National Geographic magazine, there is a short article discussing some of the characteristics of curly hair. According to the article, studies published in the journal of the American Physical Society describe the hair shaft as a very complex structure – influenced by gravity, texture and the shape of the follicle it grows from. Apparently, an asymmetrical follicle produces curly hair and the longer the hair grows, the more complex the structure. The more complex the structure, the more susceptible to heat. So Purdue University is investigating the styling temperatures best suited to maintaining healthy curly hair.
Having been that young man in the photograph and having not used heat to style my hair, I can attest to the fact that it did not contribute to having little remaining volume or that my much shorter hair is now controllable by a fine-toothed comb…
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