Why do some black people wear silk bonnets to bed?

People wonder why black hair seems not to grow, and yet any healthy person from other races can simply breathe oxygen and have regular growth (and I mean this in the most respectful way). The reason? Our hair is unlike any other. It is extremely fragile and requires a little more love. It has bends and twists that make it even more vulnerable to manipulation. There are things I simply should not put my hair through.

Hair growth measurements using phototrichograms found that:

• African hair is characterized by both slow hair growth and low hair density

• Chinese hair also has a low density but grows very fast

• Caucasian hair grows at an intermediate rate per day and is very dense

Photos and Quote from Diversity of Hair Types - L’Oréal Group

Our scalp's natural oils are called sebum. For people with straight hair, the sebum can easily glide down the hair shaft. However, curly hair has a harder time maintaining moisture and kinkier hair has an even harder time because it is much more difficult for the sebum (which is a thick waxy coat) to travel down the twists and coils of our hair to the ends. It's not only sebum that has troubles traveling the hair's shaft, it's also moisture.

Unnourished/Un-moisturised ends lead to breakage, so while Caucasians and Asians feel the need to wash their hair often because it feels "greasy," most of us wished we had that problem, it's never "greasy" enough (though as a person with kinky hair, I know that applying oils or creams to my dry hair will make it greasy but not the kind of greasy I'm referring to here). Products aside, the hair's natural "greasiness" or "oiliness" is usually what keeps the hair strands shiny and protected from outside elements (sun, friction, etc) and aid in preserving the ends, thus preventing breakage. Anything dry breaks really easily.

So it's already harder for me to maintain moisture, but what can worsen the dryness? Rubbing my kinky hair on the cotton pillowcase, leaning on the cotton sofa, leaning on my husband's shirt, drying my wet hair with a regular towel, using excessive heat, not moisturising often, etc. I almost stayed in one day because my hair cloth came off while I was sleeping and my hair was so dry, the pillow case had sucked all the good moisture. This reminded my husband to invest in silk sheets and pillowcases. A good technique we have found that helped with protecting our hair are cornrows, twists, braids, buns and other protective styles.

The way silk is (e.g. straight and sleek), it can prevent the moisture from escaping the silk cap and it reduces hair friction.

Its secondary benefit is that we, black women, love to style our hair, and in most cases it helps to preserve the style of the previous day.

A few men use it when they have texturizers in their hair to protect their hair and to prevent moisture loss, as well as to flatten their hair. Some men with longer hair may do so for the same reasons women do.