For many of us, hair care is nothing more than brushing, combing, shampooing and conditioning. If you don’t know how the human hair works and what each part of it does, it may be hard for you to maintain the shiny, healthy and strong tresses you’ve always wanted. Instead of continuing your old hair care habits, try learning about how your hair operates and what you can do to keep it in its best shape.

Like the human nail, human hair is made up of proteins called keratin. It is said that the average human head contains 100,000 hair follicles. It is from these follicles that the human hair is able to grow and develop. The follicles are found within the skin on top of our heads, known as the scalp. Just below the skin’s surface is the hair root. The hair that extends beyond the head/scalp is the hair’s shaft/stream. At the end of each hair root is the hair bulb, which is responsible for receiving the nutrients needed for new cells to be formed.

The dermal papilla is a part of the hair that is located inside of the base of the hair follicle and works to feed blood and nutrients to the hair bulb. Like our skin, the hair uses sebaceous glands (oil glands), which lubricates and keeps the human hair shiny and healthy. The arrector pili are small muscles that are attached to each hair follicle. These muscles react to any stimulus, which causes the hair to stand up straight.

The actual human hair itself is made up of three layers: the cuticle, cortex, and medulla. The cuticle is located on the outside of the hair shaft and is covered with overlapping layers of keratin scales. The cortex layer is the second part of the hair shaft that is made up of keratinized protein fibers, and the inner most core of the hair shaft is where the round cells of the medulla can be found.

The state of your hair dictates the hair type you have. The most common hair types are normal/balanced, oily and dry. Normal human hair is by far the most desirable because it has the perfect blend of shine, moisture and health. This hair type is encouraged by a good, well balanced daily diet and proper hair care that avoids too much heat and chemicals. Oily human hair types are often associated with oily skin types. With oily hair, the scalp produces too much oil, which can attract dirt, resulting in a greasy and hard to manage appearance. Oily hair usually needs to be washed often. Those with oily hair should avoid eating too many oily foods and load up on green fruits and vegetables. Dry hair lacks the oil needed to keep the hair shaft and scalp properly moisturized. The inactive oil glands of dry hair types may be caused by a number of factors such as over exposure to the sun, chemical treatments, using shampoo that irritates the scalp, or blocked pores that keep the sebaceous glands from producing oil naturally. Dry hair types need plenty of nourishment in order to function properly. Try massaging your scalp with herbal oil twice a week and each a diet rich in zinc. Also use mild shampoos made for dry hair types and avoid electronic curlers and hair dryers as much as possible so you won’t fry your hair.

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