question for the internet brain

[kaigou]

someone on my flist has got to know this one: what's the average amount/type of care if you've got thick, v. coarse, curly-to-kinky hair and want it to look like this or this? (Pam Spalding is the first; Rep. Cynthia McKinney is the second.) I know that thick, v. coarse, and straight is the usual for Asian hair, and I've been told that historically Asian women used an oil (kind of like a pomade, I'm guessing) to condition their hair, sometimes nightly, to keep it healthy. Would something similar be done for thick, coarse, kinky African hair?

Not requiring anyone to give me a dissertation (though I wouldn't complain if you can/would), but even a website that has basic facts about how to get the look(s), how to take care of them, what kind of upkeep is required -- that would be really awesome. There's got to be something out there, I'm sure, but my google-fu seems to be lacking on this. (Mostly because the top 300 hits on any search are all blog posts about Michelle Obama. Not that I'm complaining, but I know her style requires chemical processing, and I'd like to find info on styles that do not require processing.)

Any ideas, advice, sites with reliable info?

Comments

[multitudeofm]

Umh, heads up.

Asian hair is very different from African hair -- I lived with a Nigerian girl for a year, so I learnt a lot. Coarse and straight and thick are typical attributes of Asian hair, but not usually all on the same head.

Indians and other Asians from the subcontinent tend to have coarse hair, and usually, with a bit of wave to it.

Straight and thick tends to be East Asian, from China, Japan and Korea etc. Sometimes you get someone with relatively coarse hair, but most of the time it's quite fine. Frankly, I'd liken it to European/Caucasian hair, but with no curl and a lot less frizz.

Oil, as far as I know, is a very Indian thing, usually coconut. That said, I believe that Korean women used to use a particular oil for the same purpose -- I want to say it's sandalwood but I'm also pretty sure it's not. If Chinese women did this, I have no idea what they used -- I use coconut and sometimes almond myself, though I've heard that you can use shea or cocoa butter for this, as well as olive.

You use it in two ways. One, you properly oil it so much that you have to sleep with a towel on your pillow or just leave it in whilst you do housework for a few hours. Or two, you use it like a leave-in conditioner, applying just enough to leave an softening layer of oil on your hair without making it look oily -- I never learnt the knack of this one.

Umh, I hope you don't mind the 'lecture.'

[kaigou]

(sorry for so belated)

I almost always go for stylists who do at least two kinds of hair (anglo, asian, african), if not all three -- I find they'll have more versatility and flexibility in general. That's how I learned that the biggest actual difference between anglo and asian is... the direction of the hair. Highly unscientific version here, but IIRC the explanation was, roughly, that caucasian/anglo hair grows in whorls, coming out of the head at a severe angle, sometimes with a twist, which is where you get cowlicks.

Asian hair comes out of the head at 90' angle, and thus some styles that look great on Asian hair will never work on my hair, because my hair just doesn't grow in the right direction to get the same results from that kind of cut.

On the other hand, this a) explained why so many animanga characters have bangs that look like some (slightly smaller) variation of Sephiroth's hair... and, uhm, for that matter, why CP's hair is, well, like Sephiroth's. Yes, bangs and all -- that would be thanks to having a Filipino grandfather, even if CP is 6', blond hair, and blue eyes (all the Germans on the other side of the family). But now at least I know why his hair does that!

Or two, you use it like a leave-in conditioner, applying just enough to leave an softening layer of oil on your hair without making it look oily

That's how both of my Chinese friends did their hair -- basically some kind of leave-in pomade or oil. One friend said she used the same as her mother had used, until she came to the states and couldn't get it anymore. Seems like no matter who you are or where you come from, when you move someplace new, there are two things you'll miss the most and/or have the hardest time finding a good replacement: your family doctor, and your stylist. Hell, sometimes the first is the easy one, but the second, never!

[multitudeofm]

If we don't use leave-in stuff, it generally tends to frizz.

I'm in the UK: family doctor = impossible and hair stylist as easy as walking down the road.

LOL.