The answer to this is simple: the excessive amount of bonds in the Cortex and Medulla (more so then most other cultures) is partly the cause of kinky or curly hair, help causing the hair to retract like a stretched rubber band when released.  The Cuticle layer backs up on each other as a result of the excessive amount of bonds in the Cortex and Medulla, resulting in Afro hair having up to twice as many overlapping cuticle layers than Caucasian straight hair.  This causes the cuticle scales (they are called scales because they resemble the overlapping scales of a fish), to stack tightly against each other and flair out.  This is the reason for the kinky appearance of Afro hair.  Pressing, curling and flat ironing forces the flared cuticles flat against the hair shaft to create the appearance of being straight.  When a Black baby is born, the bonding in the Cortex and Medulla layer of the hair shaft has not yet been formed.  Sometimes it takes up to a year and a half for the bonds to become apparent, thereby forming hair’s permanent structure and texture.  You cannot train a baby’s hair to stay baby hair.

\nWHAT IS A SAFE AGE TO RELAX A CHILD’S HAIR?\n

Usually after the age of seven (7), this is because a child hair does not mature until about that age, or at about the same time that there permanent teeth come in.  At that time the hair will have developed its full cuticle, cortex and medulla structure.  When an afro baby is born, the hair is usually very soft and slightly wavy.  This is because the bonds and other internal structures of the hair have not yet developed.  Over a period of seven years the hairs development is complete and strong enough to with stand the chemical change.  However, the longer you postpone relaxing a child’s hair, the better for the hair and the child.

\nWHAT TO CONSIDER PRIOR TO DOING A FIRST TIME\nRELAXER ON NATURALLY WAVY OR SLIGHTLY CURLY\nHAIR.\n

This type of hair that is not really “kinky” when relaxed with sodium or “no lye” relaxer will over come the natural wave or curl however, the new growth will many times grow out curlier than it was before it was relaxed.  When the scalp starts to burn from the relaxer, this is an indication that the relaxer has penetrated the scalp, and is seeping down the Follicle and to the Papilla.  The Papilla reacts to this by drawing up into a tighter curve in an effort to resist this foreign matter.  This new tighter curve remains permanent, resulting in the new growth hair being curlier then it was previously.

\nTHE PAPILLA\n

This is at the base or bottom of the hair shaft and serves as the seed and root of the hair.  It is located deep in the scalp and serves to supply nutrients that it gains from blood flow derived from the Papilla roots that dip into the blood stream.  Due to heredity, the papilla has a shape that is straight or curvy; a straight papilla will produce straight hair.  A curved papilla will produce wavy or curly hair.  The tighter the curve, the curlier the hair.

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Relaxers that are designed for use on children are No Lye type instead of Sodium.  The REASON IS BECAUSE THE No Lye relaxers are milder then the Sodium and do not penetrate as deep into the hair, however they do have a tendency to revert a little requiring new growth (retouch) sooner.  Most professional Cosmetologist do not use No Lye relaxers for this reason.

\nWHY MANY BLACK CHILDREN AND ADULTS DO NOT HAVE\nHAIR ON THE TEMPLE AREA.\n

Many people who suffer this malady cannot remember ever having hair on the temple, so it is passed off as being hereditary and/or one of the traits of being Black.  Actually this situation is cause by persons who unknowingly and with good intentions attempt to train the hair when the person was an infant.  As mentioned in the last segment explaining why a Black baby is born with straight or wavy hair, this type of hair structure may not be comparable to that of the infant’s parents who may have extremely curly or kinky hair.  Realizing this, the mother, big sister, babysitter, etc., will start to smooth the hair from the forehead back by tying it down with rubber bands, barrettes, tight braiding that pulls the hair and roots out of the scalp permanently, or caking it with heavy oils in an attempt to train the hair to stay straight or wavy.  This is a futile practice because it is impossible to train baby hair to stay baby hair.  Once the Cortex and Medulla has matured, causing natural retention in the hair, it then causes the overlapping of the Cuticle scales.  The hair will, for then and evermore, maintain its natural curl or kinky pattern.  Exception:  When the hair is changed by such as relaxers and rearrangers.

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Manipulation of the hair as described above causes a great deal of the papilla (the seed and root of the hair shaft) to become permanently destroyed.  It is destroyed by pulling and crushing due to the tender Papilla, at the young age, being mashed between the scalp and skull due to the pressure applied during this futile training attempt, or is pulled out of the scalp.  What results is permanent baldness in the temple area, high foreheads, thinning hair and bald spots throughout the rest of the scalp that last a lifetime (Tension Alopecia).  None of these conditions are natural or inherent for the most part.  They were caused unintentionally by people who thought they were doing the right thing on behalf of the child.  Also, kinky hair is flat hair that grows from a somewhat flat follicle.  By manipulation of the hair as just described you are rendering the follicle even flatter, resulting in even kinkier hair when it matures then it would have been if simply left alone.  Normal grooming and care is fine but do not try to force it to be what it is not.