Alopecia

What Is It?It is an autoimmune disorder that causes your hair to come out. The amount of hair loss is different for everyone. Bald patches of skin are smooth, with no rash or redness. But you may feel a tingling, itching, or burning sensation on your skin right before the hair falls out.

How to Identify it?How to Measure/Test it?

• -The main symptom of alopecia areata is hair loss.
• -Hair usually falls out in small patches on the scalp. These patches are often several centimeters or less.
• -Hair loss might also occur on other parts of the face, like the eyebrows, eyelashes, and beard, as well as other parts of the body.

Atopic Dermatitis (Eczema)

What Is It? A condition that makes your skin red and itchy. It’s common in children but can occur at any age. Atopic dermatitis is long lasting (chronic) and tends to flare periodically.

How to Identify it?How to Measure/Test it?

- Dry skin Itching, which may be severe, especially at night.

- Red to brownish-gray patches, especially on the hands feet, ankles, wrists, neck, upper chest, eyelids, inside the bend of the elbows and knees, and in infants, the face and scalp.

- Small, raised bumps, which may leak fluid and crust over when scratched.

- Thickened, cracked, scaly skin. - Raw, sensitive, swollen skin from scratching.

Dandruff

What Is It? A common chronic scalp condition marked by flaking of the skin on your scalp. Dandruff isn’t contagious or serious.

How to Identify it?How to Measure/Test it?

- White, oily-looking flakes of dead skin that dot your hair and shoulders, and a possibly itchy, scaly scalp.

- Worsened condition during the fall and winter, when indoor heating can contribute to dry skin, and improved conditions during the summer.

- Fresh new skin found underneath the dandruff

Elasticity

What Is It?The hair’s ability to stretch and return to its original shape. Elasticity has three ways of being rated: low, normal, or high.

How to Identify it?How to Measure/Test it?

• To test: Make sure your hair is wet before testing. Select strands of hair from four different areas on the head. Hold the strand securely and stretch the hair. Determine the elasticity here:

  -Low Elasticity - The hair does not stretch. Feels straw-like and breaks quickly.

  -Normal (Good) Elasticity - The hair stretches and returns to its original shape when released.

  -High Elasticity - The hair stretches too much and does not bounce back properly.

Frizz

What Is It?Is hair that does not align with the surrounding hairs. Frizzy hair will stand up or curl independently, and create a fuzzy or irregular texture.

Hair Density

What Is It?Looks at how thin or thick strands are collectively, in a group.

How to Identify it?How to Measure/Test it?

You can estimate your hair density by measuring the circumference of a ponytail.

Hair Texture

What Is It?Also known as Hair Width, refers to the thickness or circumference of a single strand. There are three types of hair texture: fine, medium, and coarse.

How to Identify it?How to Measure/Test it?

• Three types of Hair Texture:

  -Fine: Strands that have a small circumference and width and when held up to light appear thin and barely there.

  -Medium: Strands that have a circumference between that of fine and coarse strands.

  -Coarse: Strands that have the largest circumference and width and the most strength.

Hair Width

What Is It?Refers to the thickness or circumference of a single strand hair. This can also be referred to as Hair Texture, however, it should not be confused with the way the hair feels.

How to Identify it?How to Measure/Test it?

There are two ways of methods to measure the width of your hair.

The Thread Method

1. Gather sheds hair strands from your comb or brush to examine. Use tape to stick the strands to a piece of white paper on either end ensuring that they are stretched out and pulled tight.

2. Next, take a strand of thread and pull it apart to separate it into two strands. Do the same as above and stick one of those strands to the paper on either end, ensure it is stretched out and pulled tight.

3. Compare your hair strands to the strand of thread. If your hair is thinner than the strand of thread then your hair is fine. If it is around the same thickness then your hair is of medium width and if it is thicker than the strand then your hair is referred to as coarse.

The Light Method

1. Gather sheds hair strands from your comb or brush to examine.

2. Hold the hair up to the light.

3. If the hair is very wide and easily visible, then you have coarse hair. If it's so thin that you can hardly see it, you have fine hair. If your hair appears neither thin nor coarse, you have medium width hair.

Humectants

What Is It?Are ingredients used in moisturizing products to draw moisture from the air to retain it in the hair's cortex.

How to Identify it?How to Measure/Test it?

Natural humectants include: Honey, Aloe Vera, and Glycerin; which are used in a lot of Essations Hair Care products.

pH

What Is It?The measure of how acidic, alkaline, or neutral a solution is. It is measured on a scale between 0 and 14. Neutral is 7, anything greater than 7 is more alkaline, and anything less than 7 is more acidic.

The pH of hair is between 4.5 and 5.0. Maintaining this normal pH balance helps to seal hair cuticles, prevent unwanted breakage and lock in natural oils. It acts as protection against bacteria and fungus.

How to Identify it?How to Measure/Test it?

• To measure the hair products pH balance, you will need pH Test Strips. pH Test Strips can purchased at any local food and drug store.

Porosity

What Is It?Is how easily your hair is able to absorb and retain moisture. Hair porosity is identified by three categories: low, medium, and high.

How to Identify it?How to Measure/Test it?

The Float Test

To determine the category of your hair’s porosity, take a few strands of hair from your comb or brush and drop them into a bowl of water. Let them sit for 2-4 minutes.

-Low porosity: If the strand floats at the top before sinking.

-Normal porosity: If the strand floats somewhere in the middle of the glass.

-High porosity: If the strand quickly sinks to the bottom of the glass.

Psoriasis

What Is It?A common skin condition that speeds up the life cycle of skin cells. It causes cells to build up rapidly on the surface of the skin. The extra skin cells from scales and red patches that are itchy and sometimes painful.

How to Identify it?How to Measure/Test it?

- Red patches of skin covered with thick, silvery scales and a thick crust on the scalp most often extending just past the hairline.

- Dry, cracked skin that may bleed. Itching, burning or soreness.

Relaxer

What Is It?Similar to textuizer, a relaxer is a processing cream designed to help loosen tightly coiled hair. However, the difference between a relaxer and a texturizer is the amount of time the processing cream is left on.

Seborrheic Dermatitis

What Is It?A common skin condition that mainly affects your scalp. It causes scaly patches, red skin and stubborn dandruff. Seborrheic dermatitis can also affect oily ares of the body, such as the face, sides of the nose, eyebrows, ears, eyelids and chest.

How to Identify it?How to Measure/Test it?

- Skin flakes (dandruff) on your scalp, hair, eyebrows, beard or mustache.

- Larger, thick patches of greasy skin covered with flaky white or yellow scales or crust on the scalp, face, sides of the nose, eyebrows, ears, eyelids, chest, armpits, groin area or under the breasts.

- Moisture underneath the flakes - Red skin and itching

Sebum

What Is It?A natural oily, waxy substance constantly produced by your body’s sebaceous glands.

Silk Press

What Is It?A chemical free technique used to straighten coarse/textured hair. Silk presses emphasize body and sleek shine.

Achieve a Naked Silk Press with the following Naked by Essations products:

Naked Moisture Repair Sulfate-Free Shampoo

Naked Honey & Almond Moisture Whip Conditioner

Naked Infusion 365

Naked Satin Silkening Glaze

Texturizer

What Is It?Also known as a Texlax. A texturizer is a processing cream designed to help loosen tightly coiled hair. The difference between a texturizer and a relaxer is the amount of time the processing cream is left on.