All About Hair...and So Much More.
Welcome to All About Hair—where education meets inspiration for stylists and hair lovers alike.
Whether you’re starting your career behind the chair or just obsessed with all things hair, this channel is your go-to spot for real tips, honest advice, and plenty of inspiration.
You’ll find pro techniques, career-building tools, and everyday hair hacks—plus the encouragement to grow with confidence and creativity.
Subscribe and join a community that’s passionate about great hair and even better vibes.
All About Hair...and So Much More.
EP 302: Hair Science 101
Have you ever wondered what your hair is really made of and why it behaves the way it does? This deep dive into the science of hair structure reveals the fascinating biology behind your strands and transforms how you'll care for them forever.
Your hair isn't just a fashion statement—it's a complex structure of protein chains. We explore the two main parts of hair: the living root beneath your skin and the visible shaft that's completely keratinized (yes, technically dead!). Understanding this fundamental truth explains why damaged hair doesn't regenerate and requires proper protection.
The real game-changer comes when examining the three layers of a hair strand. While the innermost medulla plays little role in hair care, the middle cortex holds your hair's strength, elasticity, and color pigments. But it's the outermost cuticle layer that deserves your attention—this protective shield of overlapping scales determines whether you'll have a good or bad hair day. When these scales lie flat, you get shine and smoothness. When damaged, you get frizz, dullness, and dreaded split ends.
Transform your hair care routine with science-backed strategies: limit harsh chemical treatments, use heat protectants before styling, choose gentle sulfate-free products formulated for your hair type, finish with cool water rinses, maintain a nutrition profile rich in hair-friendly vitamins and minerals, and don't skip those regular trims. Your cuticle will thank you!
Ready to revolutionize your relationship with your hair? Subscribe and share this episode, then join us next week as we tackle "The Truth About Hair Growth: Myths versus Science." Because when you know better, you do better!
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Welcome to All About Hair and so much more. I'm your host, denise Kylitz, and I'm so excited to have you here. If you love hair, beauty and all the ways to feel amazing inside and out, you're in the right place. But here's the twist we're not just talking hair anymore. We'll dive into everything. Life After 50 brings Health, hormones, relationships, fitness and so much more. This is a space for women who are embracing change, building confidence and living with creativity. All About Hair and so Much More.
Speaker 1:Today's topic we're going to talk about the science behind hair, its structure, its composition and how to keep it healthy. So, whether you're a hairstylist, a salon owner or you just love learning about hair, this is a must-know refresher. Let's talk about what is hair made of. Well, hair is primarily made of keratin, which is a protein that's also found in your skin and your nails. Keratin consists of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and sulfur the same elements that make up much of the human body, and hair strands form long coiled keratin chains. So the main two parts of the hair is the hair root, which is below the skin, inside the hair follicle, where your living cells generate and push the hair outward, and then you have the hair shaft. That's the visible part of the hair, or what we see, and it is completely keratinized, meaning it is no longer living, it's just protein on the outside of your hair. So here's a key fact that you need to remember that hair strands are no longer alive once they emerge from the scalp. That's why they don't regenerate when they're damaged.
Speaker 1:Now let's talk about the three layers of the hair strand. This is actually the most important when it comes to chemical and mechanical damage. First you have the medulla. This is the very innermost part of a hair, but you know what? It's not always present in fine hair and it doesn't really play a role in any salon services. So pretty much you could forget about the medulla. The cortex is the middle layer of the hair and it's the thickest part of the hair, and it's the thickest part of the hair strand and it's responsible for all the strength and the elasticity. So if you damage the cortex of the hair, you're actually going to damage your hair. This also contains the pigments, or the melanin, which determine your hair color. So think about that as what you're born with. But it's also the part of the hair strand that chemicals, hair color or bleach need to penetrate to change the color of your hair and it is covered by the cuticle and the cortex can be accessed by lifting the cuticle, but you have to use an alkaline solution to do so.
Speaker 1:Now the cuticle. I talk about the cuticle all the time. This is the very outer layer of your hair. It's scaly, almost like fish scales. Or if you think of a pine cone, you know how a pine cone is shut real tight and that's protecting the cortex of the hair. Or if it's wide open, then you're going to get damage to your hair.
Speaker 1:A healthy cuticle gives shine, smoothness and protection, and that's what this is all about. Healthy hair is all about a healthy cuticle. Anything you can do to protect the cortex and lay that cuticle down smooth, you're going to get better looking hair, and that is with everything, with products, with how you blow dry, with how you style, with what chemical services you get. So damaged cuticles will cause frizz, dullness and split ends. Damaged cuticles is what causes bad hair days. My friends, if you want more information, I do have a video on this on my YouTube channel. I will make sure that I put a link to that in the show notes, okay, and then you can watch and see it and it'll tell you what causes the cuticle to be damaged.
Speaker 1:On that note, how do you keep your hair healthy? Oh, my goodness, first and foremost, you have to care for the cuticle. I say this over and over, I tell people this all the time. And how do you do that? What are some things that you can do to take care of that cuticle on your hair? First, avoid harsh chemical treatments which can be bleach, which can be high lift color if you're not using it correctly. Mostly it's bleach perms, things like that, that really blow open that cuticle to get into the cortex of your hair.
Speaker 1:You want to avoid those if you have fragile hair and you also want to avoid frequent heat styling. That means flat irons, curling irons oh my gosh. One of the worst offenders is hot rollers. Yes, they're coming back. So if you do use those, limit it to not every day. Maybe special occasions, maybe get yourself some Velcro rollers or figure out a different way of styling your hair to make it wavy. This is if your hair is in a fragile state. Okay.
Speaker 1:Another thing you want to do is make sure you're using gentle, sulfate-free shampoos and deep conditioners. Make sure you're using proper shampoos and conditioners for your hair type. Your stylist will be able to recommend the proper conditioner, proper shampoo for your scalp and for your hair, and that's really important to pay attention to. If you're just going to the drugstore and you're just paying for the cheapest shampoo and conditioner, your hair is going to be affected by that because the pH isn't going to be correct in it. It might have stripping agents in it like sulfate. It could have waxes in it. That's building up on your hair all kinds of things.
Speaker 1:So just know that you also want to make sure that you're using heat protectants before you're styling your hair. These have come a long way. The heat protectant I use, actually I think it protects your hair up to 420 degrees. I've actually done tests on it. You can spray this heat protectant on a piece of bread and then a piece of bread without it, stick it in the toaster oven and the one that has the heat protected the hair heat protected on it actually doesn't get burned. I know it's a thing All right. And then another thing that you can do that you may or may not have already known is you can finish your hair washing with a cold rinse. It doesn't have to be freezing cold, but a cold rinse will help smooth the cuticle and locks in the moisture.
Speaker 1:Okay, what can you do to like say, you're saying, denise, my hair doesn't grow or I feel like I'm losing my hair. What can I do? You know, I want my hair to get longer. Well, first of all, you want to look at your diet. Okay, a balanced diet with proteins, vitamin A, c, d and E, amino acids, biotin and omega-3s. Okay, you definitely want to have those. And again, I do have a video on my YouTube channel about proper nutrition for hair growth. You might want to take a look at it. Again, I will link it in the show notes.
Speaker 1:Another thing you can do is to stimulate hair growth is scalp massages. Make sure that when you're shampooing your hair, you're really getting in there with the pads of your fingers, not your fingernails the pads of your fingernail, the pads of your fingers, and really massage your scalp. That's what it takes, and you could do this even on dry hair too. It doesn't have to be just your shampoo. You can go in there with your fingertips and really massage your hair a couple of times a day and it'll help stimulate hair growth. And regular trims will help prevent split ends from traveling up the hair shaft. Regular trims do not make your hair grow, but they will actually keep your hair in proper condition for healthy growth, because if you're not getting your hair trimmed and your hair is past your bra strap, I guarantee you that you got split ends. Okay, if you see your ends getting thinned out, or even if split ends you can see them. I know there are a few people out there that I know of that actually like to go in and look at the ends of their hair and trim them with little baby scissors and they don't get a haircut. It's like please just go get a trim and this will help from your split ends traveling up your hair shaft and damaging your whole hair shaft.
Speaker 1:So quick recap of the science of hair and for healthy hair strands Remember you've got two main parts of the hair your hair root, which is below the skin, the hair shaft, which is what you can see, and it is no longer living. It is actually dead. Here's a fun fact the first half inch of your hair is actually not keratinized all the way. So if you're a hairstylist and you're having problems with your hair color, getting hot roots, that might be. What's happening is that you are formulating for that half an inch growth and you're formulating for the rest of the hair, and the half inch growth is not keratinized all the way and their scalp is hot, so you might be getting hot roots. If you have questions about that, please reach out to me. That might be a little bit more than what this whole podcast is about. It is Sorry, I go off on tangents so I digress.
Speaker 1:Okay, three layers of the hair strand, medulla, which you don't need to concern yourself with. It really serves no role. The cortex the cortex is the middle layer, the thickest part of the hair. It's responsible for your strength and the elasticity of your hair. It also is responsible for the color of your hair, and the way you can get to this is by lifting the cuticle. The cuticle, in my opinion, is the one layer of the hair you want to concern yourself with Everything you do. You want to make sure that you are laying that cuticle down, protecting the cortex of the hair. You want a smooth cuticle because that gives you shine, smoothness and protection. Damaged cuticles cause frizz, dullness and split ends every day, all day.
Speaker 1:And how to care for your hair? Just avoid harsh chemical treatments and use heat protectant. Those are my two biggest tips. And also, make sure you get a balanced diet. It's pretty easy, okay, hey, I invite you to share your own hair care routines and questions.
Speaker 1:Why don't you reach out? You can actually go to this podcast episode. There's a little thing in there that says, hey, give Denise a text. You can do it there. You can reach out to me on Instagram. You can reach out to me on my website. Even if you haven't subscribed to this podcast, I would love for you to do so. It really really does help with getting more information out to you. Also, make sure you're sharing this with somebody you think might enjoy it. I want you to also tune in for our next episode next week. We are going to be talking about the truth about hair growth myths versus science. Yeah, hair growth. Well, thanks for listening and until next time, remember, when you know better, you do better. I'll see you next week. Thanks for tuning in to All About Hair and so much more. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you never miss a new one, and if you think someone else would love it too, share the episode. Let's keep spreading the love and learning together. See you next time.
