Hair Science
Everything Iman wishes
you already knew
Trichology is the study of hair and scalp. Most of what circulates about hair care is half-remembered advice passed between people who were guessing. Here is what is actually happening on your head — the parts worth knowing, in plain language.
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The Scalp
Your scalp is your face — it just has hair on it
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The Scalp
You carry around 100,000 follicles on your head
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The Scalp
Your curl pattern is decided by the shape of the follicle
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The Scalp
Your scalp makes its own conditioner — it just cannot always deliver it
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The Scalp
A happy scalp sits on the acidic side
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The Scalp
A protective style does not protect the scalp
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The Scalp
On the scalp, a water-based serum beats an oil
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The Scalp
Oiling your scalp does not make hair grow
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The Scalp
Scalp massage is not just pleasant
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The Strand
The hair you can see is not alive
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The Strand
Every strand is wrapped in overlapping scales
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The Strand
Wet hair is significantly weaker than dry hair
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The Strand
Healthy hair stretches and comes back
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The Strand
Keratin starts changing permanently under sustained heat
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The Strand
A split end travels upward
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Growth & Shedding
Hair grows about half an inch a month
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Growth & Shedding
Every follicle runs its own three-phase cycle
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Growth & Shedding
Losing 50 to 100 hairs a day is normal
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Growth & Shedding
Your maximum length is set by how long your growth phase lasts
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Growth & Shedding
Hair is the second fastest-growing tissue you have
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Growth & Shedding
Around 90% of your hair is growing right now
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Growth & Shedding
Your eyelashes never need trimming for a reason
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Growth & Shedding
You shed more in autumn, and it is not your imagination
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Growth & Shedding
The same hormone that thins the scalp thickens a beard
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Growth & Shedding
What DHT actually is, and why it only affects some of your hair
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Growth & Shedding
DHT blockers, and the ones you can actually buy
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Growth & Shedding
You notice it in a photograph before you notice it in a mirror
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Growth & Shedding
Tension at the hairline is a common and avoidable concern
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Moisture & Porosity
Porosity is the single most useful thing to know about your hair
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Moisture & Porosity
The glass-of-water test does not really work
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Moisture & Porosity
Porosity is partly inherited and partly earned
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Moisture & Porosity
Water-based products are the meat and potatoes. Oil is the foil.
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Moisture & Porosity
Emollients belong on the lengths, where nothing else reaches
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Moisture & Porosity
Humectants pull water from wherever they can find it
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Moisture & Porosity
Hard water leaves minerals behind on every wash
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Moisture & Porosity
Protein and moisture are a balance, not a competition
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Care & Habits
Cotton is quietly undoing your work every night
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Care & Habits
Terry towels rough up the cuticle
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Care & Habits
Detangle from the ends up, always
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Care & Habits
When nothing works any more, suspect buildup first
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Care & Habits
Gentle warmth makes a deep conditioner work harder
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Care & Habits
The order Iman layers products in, and why it is that order
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Care & Habits
Layer it, then twist it away — that is how length gets kept
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Care & Habits
A protective style you cannot reach is not protecting much
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Care & Habits
Tuck it away — and keep watering it
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Care & Habits
Iman’s first choice for protective styling is a glueless wig
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Care & Habits
UV degrades hair the same way it degrades everything else
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Health & Hair
Your body treats hair as optional — because it is
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Health & Hair
What happened to you in March shows up in your hair in June
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Health & Hair
Ask for the bloodwork before you spend money on products
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Health & Hair
Ferritin is the iron number that matters for hair
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Health & Hair
The thyroid sets the pace of the growth cycle
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Health & Hair
Rapid weight loss reaches your hair a few months later
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Health & Hair
Your hair keeps a diary of your body
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Health & Hair
You had every follicle you will ever own before you were born
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Health & Hair
Not every thinning is hormonal — rule the rest out first
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Health & Hair
Chronic stress is not a figure of speech here
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Myths, Retired
Trimming does not make hair grow faster
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Myths, Retired
A hundred brush strokes a night is a Victorian idea
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Myths, Retired
Hair does not "get used to" a shampoo
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Myths, Retired
Cold water does not permanently seal anything
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Myths, Retired
An oily scalp is not a dirty scalp
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Myths, Retired
Plucking one grey hair does not summon more
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Make it about your hair
General knowledge only gets you so far
Two people can read this whole page and still need opposite routines. Your curl pattern, texture and porosity decide which of these facts actually apply to you.
This page is general education about hair and scalp care, not medical advice. Iman is a licensed California cosmetologist, not a physician. Anything persistent, painful or changing quickly — sudden shedding, sores, or a hairline that is moving — belongs with a doctor or a licensed trichologist.