This is really where natural hair falls. There is a distinct difference between a curl where hair can form spirals and kinky curly hair where hair does not tend to clump up. The more your hair can clump up, the shinier it appears because the hair fibres follow in the same direction and direct the light falling on them back in a uniform way. However, hair that does not clump up will direct light in different directions leading to less shine. Therefore straight, wavy or curly hair where hair fibres tend to align with each other look shinier. Kinky curly hair which tends not to clump up appears less shiny.
No it is not. A very high shine means that your hair is clean, darker, elliptical and not very kinky. For naturals who straighten their hair, they may find that their hair appears much shinier and darker when straightened compared to when unstraightened.
If you are seeking extra shine to your hair and your hair is very kinky, the artificial way (i.e oil) may be the path for you. Castor oil is a noted oil for giving hair sheen as are silicones including amodimethicone (J. Cosmet. Sci, pp 335-351,2003)
Ladies, do you associate shiny hair with healthy hair? Do you seek to achieve shiny hair?
33 Responses
no wonder. my hair is a very light brown. it’s not as shiny as i wanted it to be, which sucks :
my hair does NOT shine. ever. It used to drive my mom crazy when I’d go to the salon (when I was relaxed) and I’d leave with my hair soft and flowing and straight, but still not shiny.
My hair has always had a lustrous shine to it even before I went natural. When I relaxed my hair I could tell when my hair was damaged because the ended were dead looking & didn’t have the same shine as the rest of my hair before I greased my scalp or slapped moisturizer on my tresses. If the lack of luster wasn’t a clue the brownish or gray color of the ends was always a dead giveaway because my hair is a beautiful jet black. Now that I’m natural my hair always looks healthy and has a nice natural shine to it. I can equate shine with healthiness for my hair because I know my hair & luster is a natural characteristic of my hair. I wouldn’t say the same for others because I don’t know their hair & I’ve used shiny polisher oils on other peoples damaged hair & made that hair look just as lustrous as mine is naturally.
I’m pretty sure split ends can shine with the right mix of products. Lol…shine is not the whole story.
That’s why my sister’s hair (she’s relaxed) is unbelievably shiny! It’s blinding.
when my hair is cut short, it’s shiny. but now that it’s long, not so shiny. it’s healthy, but does not have the same sheen. it doesn’t bother me. i remember when i last straightened my hair in ’73… my hair was long, and shiny. but now that it’s been natural, it’s not had the same shine. it looks fine. shine is in the eye of the beholder. 🙂
This is a good topic. My daughter’s hair is this light dusty brown texture and for the life of me no matter what I put in her hair it would not shine, and also it never felt soft. Thinking about it I was probably putting in too many products trying to make it shine. I would see other little girls whose hair would just glisten, but my daughter’s hair always looked dull. I started to deep condition it this month and I use two products on her hair and I seal with “olive oil”. It still doesn’t shine, but her hair is the softest its been since birth. I tell her everyday how soft and silky her hair feels. (I don’t know if it’s just one product contributing to the softness of her hair or the combination of products but I love my regimen…)
When I see shiny hair, I usually assume that it’s healthy, but I don’t assume if there isn’t shine that someone’s hair isn’t healthy. I just notice when someone’s locks have sheen, cause it looks nice.
This makes me feel better: my hair is a light brown, and even on its healthiest days, it isn’t shiny. My mother, who come fro a time of hair grease being slathered every which way over a child’s head often worries about my “dry” hair and tells me to spray oil sheen on it.
I’m still trying to explain that the oil just coats my NOT dry hair, but doesn’t (by itself) moisturize it. Besides, when my hair is shiny it makes my skin look uneven and sallow.
You can advertise here. Your products seem good. I like. Very reasonable to advertise.
Black ‘Afro’ hair always shines in the sun/light, like a million diamond droplets..beautiful. Atleast that’s what I’ve observed.
Im reading a lot of people not associating shine with health, but I have seen the exact opposite.
I can’t remember if it was discussed on this site or another but there was this whole discussion about a picture of a woman’s hair that was 4b-like and out and people were commenting on it looking extra dry. That might have not been the case and we would never been able to tell but people where using some sort of judgement scale to come to this conclusion and I think shine contributed to it.
Shine = Health is just another social conditioning effect that we have to become aware will not always apply to natural hair.
I think this is the issue… And I think we as naturals would like to believe we are free from societal conditioning, when in fact, we are not. My cousin is natural and her hair literally refuses to shine, but touch it and you can’t deny that it is moisturized. I don’t think shine is a good enough determinant of moisturized hair to be considered on its OWN. Some have hair that shines when it is moisturized, some don’t.
Thanks for this post! I never had my natural hair looking shiny. Always thought there was something wrong with that, specially when watching youtube videos, or looking at other naturals pics (I know, I know! Everyone is gonna be different!). Thanks for clarifying!
I have never really thought about hair shine – mine or others. Good information for those seemingly hung up on shininess.
Thanks for sharing this b/c my hair is very healthy but doesn’t always look shiny…so I figure people think it’s just dry and unhealthy which it isn’t. But I do have to manipulate it with shea butter or something to give it a shine.
[img]https://bglhonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/IMAG0107.jpg[/img]
Your hair looks very soft…not dry at all. Anyway, I feel you girl. My hair doesn’t have natural shine (or even very much of a velvety sheen) either.
The only thing that made my hair shine was grease.
Same here, and I’m not going back to those days.
“Shine” and “swing” (or, as some say, “swang”) are two words that left my hair vocabulary within a year after my going natural. I do not associate either of these with my natural Afro-textured hair and I don’t feel my hair is “less than” health-wise because it doesn’t do or have either of these. I don’t actively go looking for them either; if my moisture game is correct then my hair has a nice healthy-looking sheen.
I know that people who are programmed to view shiny, swinging hair as the ideal are still going to look askance at my “sheeny,” gravity-defying ‘fro. It is what it is. *shrug*
+1
Sadly, a lot of us are walking around with dusty looking heads!
lol!! I consider my hair to be a dusty brown, especially towards the ends, so I don’t really worry about shine. I’m satisfied with it feeling soft and moisturized. 🙂
I believe shiny tresses can be possible for all hair textures just like moisture retention is possible and it’s not a refection of the magnitude of healthiness of the hair. Just depends on the products and haircare regimen. I use to feel my hair is just shine resistant until I had my first hair shining in your face result. Ok maybe not shining in your face lol…but it had a shine to it I was so excited. So I do believe its possible you just have to do trial and error to know what works for your hair.
I do (or shall I say did) associate shiny hair as healthy hair. When I see someone with shiny hair, and this person has curly or kinky curly hair I think “wow, her hair is really healthy and pretty.” I thought that hair that shines is well moisturized, I still concur, ie: coconut oil, castor oil. I’m a girl, I’m naturally attracted to shiny things, lol. So yes, I do seek to achieve shiny hair. I use Vatika Oil on my hair on top of my Leave-in (which sometimes contains Argon Oil) and my hair has great shine or sheen. My hair is not extremely dark, like Jet Black, but it is a dark brown. When stretched and even clumped up, without product, my hair does have a shine.
I love shiny hair! That’s why I dyed it pitch black. Also since trying curl activator spray my hair has been extra blingy. One of the reasons why I want to do henna is because of it’s shine factor.
No I don’t associate it with health unless the person has a straight texture. I do have a sheen because my hair is naturally very black (like pitch black), but I would not call it shiny so I don’t really find ways to make it more “shiner”, because I’m happy the way it is.
i just don’t care about shine. i always hear people talk about how something gave them added shine when reviewing a product, but to me, it doesn’t make hair any more or less attractive. *shrugs*
+1
I don’t really think, “OMG WAO THEIR HAIR IS SO HEALTHY” when I see someone with shiny hair, I just think it looks nice. Usually. You can have some naaasty hair and it’ll still be shiny. I don’t really go out of my way to have bling-blong hair, because, at the end of the day, my hair just naturally is not as blindingly shiny as someone else’s, even though it may be just as healthy if not healthier.
/Kanye shrug
LOL!!
This is very timely and interesting. I once found a thread on a particular site bashing a blogger’s hair because it wasn’t “shiny” and that apparently equated to her hair being dry and unmoisturized. Not everyone’s hair will “shine” the same way.
Cosign!