What Makes Curly Hair Curly?

Curly hair is curly because it has little twists inside each strand, like a spring.

Imagine you have a piece of string that's been twisted into a spiral, that’s what happens to your hair when it grows out. Each strand starts straight, but something makes it twist as it gets longer.

Every person has tiny parts in their hair called hair shafts. In curly hair, these shafts are shaped like a circle instead of being flat. It’s like having a round pencil instead of a flat eraser, the round shape causes the strand to curl as it grows.

Inside each strand is something called keratin, which is like the building blocks of your hair. In curly hair, these keratin blocks are arranged in a way that makes the strand twist. It's kind of like stacking blocks in circles instead of lines, the result is a curl!

So next time you run your fingers through your curls, remember: it’s not magic, it’s just tiny twists working together!