Super strange hair question :D (red hair, skin, healthy, shoulder)

[thepinksquid]

Okay, so I've wondered this my whole life and I've never been able to get an answer for it.

I have very, very thick coarse & wavy (not curly) hair. I'm Caucasian, by the way. My hair is also a naturally dark bright red, if that matters.

Anyhow, although my hair is very thick and strong...typically it's pretty soft and manageable. EXCEPT for the underside of my hair that's grows from the back of my neck. The hair that grows there is very coarse, dry and kinky. Honestly, it's very much like ethnic/black/African hair. It's also a shade or two darker than the rest of my hair. No matter how much I condition it, or try oils in it, it's still this way. Once, when I was a teenager, I used perm relaxer on it, and I got a very similar result much like when a person who is black/African descent straightens their hair. It has a tendency to break off at times...and, as odd as this sounds, I can easily kind of create little "dreadlocks" in it (and I did in the past...)

The hair there really doesn't bother me much at all. But I've just always been curious as to WHY my hair in that specific place does this. I would absolutely love if someone knows why this is.

Perhaps tomorrow I'll take some pictures of it to show what I mean.

[redjuel]

I have no answer as to why your hair does that but my hair is the same way. The top layers are wavy, almost curly, and the underneath along the nape of my neck is very curly and coarse. It drives me crazy! I've also relaxed the underneath layer and, I swear, it comes back even more coarse and curly! My hair is also red. Maybe that's it?! lol

[tcrackly]

I think every one's hair varies across the scalp. I am African-American and my Dad was very fair with thick, coarse, wavy hair like someone from the Mediterrean. My mother's hair is baby fine and kinky. My hair is curly, wavy on the top and more kinky around the edges. At the nape of my neck the hair forms 1/4" kinky curls. I have relaxed my hair in the past just so its more manageable but it just looks good for a while and ends up more frizzy from damage. I inherited my Dad's thick waves on top but my mom's fine, fragile texture over all. At my age now I realize it's not worth grousing over what I can't do with my hair because God made it this way. Some people are even envious of the same hair I've wrestled with all my life.
I guess we should just be happy when our hair is healthy, shiny, soft, and THERE!

[tcrackly]

Oh, and now you've made me remember a perky, attractive Irish -American girl I went to school with. She had strawberry red,thick, waist-length locks that had the most beautiful body wave. Her hair tumbled to her shoulders in swirls. She hated it and used to iron it straight (in the 70's). I guess none of us is ever satisfied.
By the way..I've always thought that red hair was cool. I had a teenage crush on a dude with a 8" red blow-out Afro as a kid. I've even got some natural redheads in my family.

Just love your hair!!

[zonababe]

I have something similar, only my hair gets dry and course below the crown, and it is softer and finer at the nape of my neck. It has always been difficult to curl or straighten this bulk of frizz.

Perhaps the hair is similar to a the skin on the face. Many of us have a "T zone" that is prone to out breaks, where as other parts of the face is free from blemishes.

I find Wella Rosemary oil or other light oil keeps my hair calm. Don't use a heavy oil it will weigh you down and look greasy.

[tcrackly]

My problem is that my husband is allergic to the fragrances in cosmetics. Many of the products that make my hair more manageable irritate his sinuses. Let's see...marriage or hair...marriage or hair..

[Greenchili]

Cococut oil works great at softening coarse hair,I use it on mine. Just a light coating at times
or a heavy pre-wash oiling. I also use Extra virgin Olive Oil.


Greenchili