The New Year is coming soon. How do mothers do their hair?

The Chinese New Year is just around the corner, and we’re buying clothes, stocking up on New Year’s goods, and doing spring cleaning… Pang Ke wants to ask if everyone has made their arrangements.

In fact, in addition to the above activities, getting your hair done has become one of the necessary rituals for the Chinese New Year. Just ask, which mother has not had her hair permed into the once popular and nationwide small curls?

So, what do we need to know about perming? Please be sure to forward this article to every mother who perms her hair during the holidays.

The difference between straight and curly hair

I believe everyone has discovered that in our daily life, many people can have curly hair without perming their hair. That is the legendary natural curl.

Why is it that some hair are naturally straight while others are naturally curly?

The appearance of hair is first affected by the shape of the hair follicles. The follicles of straight hair are usually round, while the follicles of curly hair are often oval or asymmetrically curved.

Another key lies in the chemical bonds in the hair.

Schematic diagram of disulfide bonds in proteins

Our hair is made up of a protein called keratin. Keratin has a very strong structure and not only makes up our hair, but is also the main component of the protective layer on the surface of nails and skin. Keratin is rich in cysteine ​​residues, and the sulfhydryl groups in them can be oxidized to form disulfide bonds. When the two sulfur atoms forming the disulfide bond are far apart, a force that causes the hair to twist will be generated, causing the hair to become curved.

The degree of curvature of hair is also related to the number of disulfide bonds. Generally speaking, the more disulfide bonds that cause hair to bend, the greater the curvature of the hair.

Different hair, same "perm"

Now that we know about the “natural straightness” and “natural curl” of hair, how does “Tony” in the barber shop make most hair curly through artificial manipulation?

This requires talking about the two commonly used lotions for perming: softener and fixative.

The most common active ingredient in softeners is thioglycolic acid, which can break the original disulfide bonds in keratin. After losing the disulfide bonds, the hair will become soft and lose its original shape.

The active ingredient of the hairspray is an oxidant, such as hydrogen peroxide, which promotes the formation of new disulfide bonds. Under the action of the hairspray, the disulfide bonds between the cysteine ​​sulfhydryl groups are re-formed, which not only restores the original toughness of keratin, but also allows the hair to maintain its curled shape for a long time.

In the barbershop, there are so many options, such as ion perm, corn perm, and afro, and the prices are also different. But in fact, the key steps of these different "perm" methods are inseparable from softening and shaping, but the shapes of the hair are different. Even "straightening", which has the opposite effect of "perm", uses the same principle, but just fixes the hair into a straight state.

The reason why the hairstyles we make at home with curling irons can never last long is because of the lack of "involvement" of these two kinds of liquids. While practitioners are constantly developing new hairstyles, they are also improving the technology. In addition to controlling the amount of liquid used, they also need to control the temperature and duration of heating during perming, so that the hair can change as we expect.

Perming is beautiful but the frequency should not be too high

After perming your hair, you can celebrate the New Year beautifully. However, many people have had this experience: after repeated perming and dyeing, they feel that the quality of their hair has obviously deteriorated. Why is this?

The structure of hair can be divided into cuticle (hair scales), cortex (hair core) and medulla from outside to inside.

The structure of hair

Therefore, although the surface of our hair looks smooth, its surface structure is actually similar to fish scales, which will change its opening and closing state according to different conditions, making our hair look soft and shiny.

Healthy hair (left) vs. permed hair (right)

Perming not only changes the chemical structure of hair, but also opens the hair scales on the surface of the hair to achieve the purpose of deforming the hair. This change will inevitably affect the health of the hair. After repeated treatments, the hair scales will become less "obedient" and cannot close normally even when dry. Therefore, many people's hair will become rough, yellow, and dull like hay after repeated perming and dyeing.

Therefore, many people need to use hair care products such as conditioners and hair masks after perming to make the hair surface look smoother. Conditioners and hair masks contain surfactants that make the hydrophilic groups positively charged, which can attract the negatively charged hair and cover the hair surface to moisturize. The fat-enhancing agents, such as lanolin and olive oil, can fill the gaps between the scales, making the hair smoother and easier to comb.

Even with the help of various hair care products, you should still pay attention to the frequency of perming. It is best to wait 3-6 months between two operations to prevent the tiny scales from interfering with your "hairstyle freedom."

However, with the progress of society, we have more and more hairstyle choices. Regardless of age or gender, everyone can freely choose their favorite hairstyle and hair color.

So, did you perm your hair this Chinese New Year?

Creative team: China Science and Technology Museum New Media Team

Review expert: Zhang Yuhong, deputy chief physician of dermatology, Zhengzhou Central Hospital affiliated to Zhengzhou University