Why is Curly Hair Curly?

Video Transcript

"Hi I'm Lauren and I'm here to share with you why curly hair is curly. Scientifically is the best way to give an explanation as to why your hair would grow in curly and usually it goes through a genetic gene as to where your proteins are lined up. Your hair is made out of proteins and it's the interlocking of proteins which actually form your hair cuticle and your hair structure from root to shaft. Actually your entire body is made up of protein bonds. Two sulfur atoms that come together in those proteins are called a disulfide bond. As your proteins attach, they attach into this disulfide bond. Now the further that your atoms are away from each other, the easier it's going to be to curl. So if your atom, if your one sulfur atom is a few inches away from your other sulfur atom, what it's going to do is wind the hair in order to bring those two closer together so that way they may connect and form that disulfide bond. Straighter hair, usually your disulfide bonds are one right after the other and that's why you don't really need to get much bend in order to bring those two atoms together in order to create the bond. Perming hair is going to basically force that disulfide bond the waving motion actually takes the bonds and rearranges them and it breaks up the bonds from your straight hair, rearranges them and makes them further apart so that way those two sulfur atoms actually have to connect with each other by winding around the rod. So curly hair is ultimately just in the placement of your sulfur atoms and how far in length they need to go in order to meet and create the disulfide bond which your hair is made out of. And that is why curly hair is curly."