Didn't see that coming....

I ordered a hair analysis from Live Curly Live Free several weeks ago and just received my profile. My results:

Texture: coarse
Porosity: normal
Elasticity: low

Shocked the heck out of me. I had my hair properties all wrong. I thought my texture was normal, my porosity was a little higher than normal, and my elasticity was normal to high. Most of the recommendations fit with what I've been doing based on the way my hair responds, but I will be changing a few things.

Since I have coarse hair, I'm supposed to avoid protein. Guess what? I thought my hair liked protein, and I've been doing protein treatments once a month or so! I haven't noticed a drastic difference afterward (good or bad), but my hair does tend to be very dry in general. I haven't experienced that straw-like feeling protein-sensitive curlies talk about, so I'm wondering how much of an issue it really is for me.

After taking inventory of the products I use, it turns out more than half of them are protein-free, and almost all of the ones I use most often are. Unfortunately, a few of my favorites are not, like the Gudonya shampoo and conditioner. At least my most beloved Shea Moisture products (Raw Shea Shampoo and Conditioner, and Curl Enhancing Smoothie) can stay in the rotation. Sadly, I now have two buckets of Eco Styler that are verboten. At least they were cheap.

Most of the results made sense to me: while my hair doesn't seem to conform to all the properties of coarse hair (not being able to hold a style or wet set - my hair holds an artificially-induced curl like nobody's business), most of the descriptions were spot-on.

My hair is dry (but not brittle), very thick and strong, and is somewhat resistant to coloring. I always have marathon salon appointments because it takes longer than usual for color to process, and because my hair is really dense it requires two batches of color to cover it all.

The elasticity thing is more mysterious to me. My hair isn't especially brittle as far as I can tell. I don't experience a lot of breakage, but I treat it gently. Looking at it, it seemed to me like it stretched pretty far before breaking, but I really don't have anything to compare it to. However, it does explain why my hair doesn't always hold its natural curl. I always thought it was strange, because my curls mostly vary between thumb and pencil diameter. You'd think it would hold, wouldn't you? Not so much.

According to the analysis, low elasticity is caused by over-processing and/or excessive heat styling. I color my hair, but I've never thought of it as "over-processed" since it doesn't look damaged. I have a lot of grey, which I'm not ready to embrace, so I have it dyed to match my natural color, which is very dark. I do have a few highlights (like 12). I've straightened my hair maybe five times in my entire life, but I do diffuse it every few days. I guess that and the color must cause more damage than I thought.

I'm definitely glad I ordered the analysis. While it won't cause any drastic changes in my routine, it does give me some explanations for certain things - like why I need to remoisturize between washes and why it's difficult to get my curls to boing. I will make some minor adjustments, like focusing more on emollients and avoiding protein. I'll be interested to see if I notice any changes.