What at-home tests can be done to figure out hair type?

[WoolSweater]

Recently I've had some conflicting comments about my hair (not from here!) that has me wondering if I have my hair type pegged wrong. I would love to do some at-home things to help figure out what exactly is coming out of my head. I do know of the test you can buy on Etsy, but for right now, I need free ideas. :( Where I am really confused is I was helping a friend dye her hair, and even though she had much more hair than me, our hair felt the same. And her hair is not fine, she says. Then I was talking with a coworker, and she said her hair is thin with no volume, and I thought how my hair does not look like hers. I realize all people are different! But there seems to be universal hair type figures, and I'd like to get mine right so I can get on with proper hair care.


I've already done the porosity test by running my fingers up the hair shaft, and the ponytail circumference measuring. Any other nifty tricks to help figure out hair type?

Thanks!

[walterSCAN]

Hi! :waving: Have you been through this thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=116252) yet?

[WoolSweater]

Oops no, I read it though and to be honest I am still lost at the fine/coarse bit. I do heavy work with my hands so my fingers are rough, I can't accurately tell how it feels. :( Also, I've always thought silky=fine. But I heard someone call Asian hair silky, and I've been corrected on here that Asian hair is coarse. ?? Haha, totally lost!

[torrilin]

A lot of hair typing is about being realistic.

I see posters here describe their hair as like "spiderwebs" or "cotton candy". I can never really work out what they mean by that, since not all spider silk is the same thickness, and cotton candy is not really like hair at all... if your hair melts together if you squeeze it, or changes color if you squeeze it, or tears from gentle touches, you have problems. And your hair type is probably not one of the problems, tho the way you treat it might be. So whatever someone means by cotton candy... it's probably not a useful descriptor for hair typing.

If you're not sure about F vs M vs C, M is a safe bet. Most people will have a mix of some coarse hairs, some fine hairs and some medium hairs, with the overall feel being medium. There's a lot of variance here. We're not sheep, and we don't breed ourselves for fancy hair. If your hair is extremely coarse, chances are you'll know that it survives rough handling way better than anyone you know, and you might show up here wondering why we're suggesting wearing hair up to make it to tailbone when you always wear your hair loose. A fine haired person might wonder why their hair breaks off at a certain length, or why they have an eternal battle with split ends, or why it looks like they have so little hair at tailbone. (me, I have the amazing disappearing hair!)

A lot of hair vs a little is usually a thickness thing rather than a texture thing. There are a few posters here who have straight hair, F texture, and iii thickness. So where my hair makes tiny buns and is really good at making me look balding, they look like they have some hair. Not a lot, but some. But they generally share the 1/f moans about no volume. Since you measure your thickness as ii, chances are your friend's ponytail is just plain bigger, even if the overall type is similar.

I don't particularly like thin or volume as a descriptor. Objectively, my hair is a normal thickness, with a ponytail that measures 2.5-3". It doesn't look normal, because it's fine and straight. So I spent years imagining my hair was "thin". And well, it ain't. Generally what people mean by volume is "your hair looks fashionably straight or wavy". And fashionably straight hair is um... straightened. Usually with heat. My hair is never going to look like that. It grows out of my head this flat! Anything I do to try and convince it to be less flat results in my hair taking about 5 minutes to go back to obeying gravity and heading for the floor as fast as possible. My hair also is never going to look fashionably wavy, because well, at the waviest, most people call it pin straight :P. Attempting to distract my hair from the plunge straight down results in the curl falling out unless you use the strongest chemicals possible... and chances are you'll risk melting my hair off instead of making it curl.

[WoolSweater]

torrilin, your post makes so much sense. Your thoughts are exactly mine about the descriptions of hair, and why I am so confused in the first place. My pony tail measures three inches, a teeny bit more if we include my bangs. I don't understand rolling a hair between your fingers, because yes I can feel a hair strand, but it neither feels like a silk thread or a cotton thread. I've felt both those things before and neither one feel like hair! I guess I'm not thinking abstract enough. :laugh: Thanks for explaining volume. I forget that fine hair can be super thick! And while I use thin to describe my own hair, I do agree the term isn't favorable. And even though I've always thought of myself as having very thin, fine hair, I was shocked that my ponytail is considered average and well, from there, different people have said different things about my hair type and I feel like I have it soo wrong. Haha. Thank you though for writing that post, it clears up a lot of misconceptions I had.

[walterSCAN]

Oops no, I read it though and to be honest I am still lost at the fine/coarse bit. I do heavy work with my hands so my fingers are rough, I can't accurately tell how it feels. :( Also, I've always thought silky=fine. But I heard someone call Asian hair silky, and I've been corrected on here that Asian hair is coarse. ?? Haha, totally lost!

Heh, understandable to still be lost on F/M/C if you can't feel it... and yeah, 'silky' isn't a very useful descriptor in my opinion either, because it usually refers to softness rather than diameter of fibre, although silk itself is pretty fine. I think torrilin is right that you are probably M-- I think you'd know if you were F or C, but you could be F/M or M/C too.

Ok, so I think the best way I have to describe it is in terms of animal hair/ fibres. I have F hair. I cannot feel it between my fingers if I pick up a single strand; the strands are pretty easy to see, but that's because they're really shiny and henna red. If I hold a strand of my hair up next to a strand of my cat's shed under-fur, the cat hair is thicker than mine. His top coat is WAY thicker than mine. (Kitteh is your run-of-the-mill, pudgy, domestic, mutt-type cat... but don't tell him that.) Can you see/ feel a difference between an animal's top coat and under coat? Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd say that that's the difference between M and C hair. F is finer than the under coat. (And I guess for some animals, it's F and M and C is coarser than the top coat... depends on the animal. That's why I was trying to go with plain domestic cat for my example. This is all me typing as I think, so my apologies if it doesn't makes sense!)

Would your friend be too weirded out if you asked to look at a strand of her hair compared with yours? I think it might help if you could see the difference instead of trying to feel it. Heh, if you lived near me I'd let you come over and compare mine! :rollin: Also, keep in mind that she could be wrong that her hair isn't fine. In my experience, people who aren't on LHC aren't as aware of things like that as we tend to be...

[WoolSweater]

Let me go find my cat....:laugh: I'll report back if I find him.

[walterSCAN]

Hehheehehe... I sure did pet my cat vigorously before typing that up so I'd have some test strands! :rollin: Hope you find him!

[stachelbeere]

sorry to slightly hijack this thread - I never understood the concept of a 'body wave' in 1b hair; I still sort of don't...? I assume mine is 1b because it's neither pin straight (it lifts slightly at the roots and curves in at the ends) nor wavy. But what is a body wave?! is it what my hair does? -hijack over-

I agree with torrilin - you have to see what your hair can endure and judge by that.
Let me add one more thing: You can type your hair by comparing it to others. My BF is Indian and has beautiful thick, jet-black hair. His hair strand is objectively more coarse than mine. Therefore my hair is not coarse (apart from a few coarse hair strands). My 4-year-old niece has baby fine hair. My hair strand is thicker than hers so I have to be inbetween Fine and Medium - or I am Medium if baby fine is considered the same as 'regular' Fine - I'm not too sure about that. I don't think I've ever seen any adult with baby fine hair. I hope this helps.

[WoolSweater]

I found him, but only got a quick pet because he's still upset at me (He was in big trouble earlier). I'd say my strand of hair is thinner than his... but he has his winter coat. I'm thinking maybe I am fine? But (and I don't mean this as rude), when I see photos of user's hair when they label their hair as fine and thin, I always think that I am pretty sure my hair does not look like that; even though my hair is flat and oily, I think it looks like I have more hair. Ugh! :confused:

[WoolSweater]

sorry to slightly hijack this thread - I never understood the concept of a 'body wave' in 1b hair; I still sort of don't...? I assume mine is 1b because it's neither pin straight (it lifts slightly at the roots and curves in at the ends) nor wavy. But what is a body wave?! is it what my hair does? -hijack over-

I agree with torrilin - you have to see what your hair can endure and judge by that.
Let me add one more thing: You can type your hair by comparing it to others. My BF is Indian and has beautiful thick, jet-black hair. His hair strand is objectively more coarse than mine. Therefore my hair is not coarse (apart from a few coarse hair strands). My 4-year-old niece has baby fine hair. My hair strand is thicker than hers so I have to be inbetween Fine and Medium - or I am Medium if baby fine is considered the same as 'regular' Fine - I'm not too sure about that. I don't think I've ever seen any adult with baby fine hair. I hope this helps.

By your explanation, it makes sense that I'd be f/m. While some hairs are thin, others feel more rough, and my hair is not as fine as a youth's, although it does seem as unwilling to go in any kind of style other than down. :/


I don't understand body wave, either. Maybe someone can help us, and hijack away! :)


Edit: I went through your photo album. On a good day, my hair looks very similar to yours in shine and thickness! But I have many bad days, probably a misuse of shampoo or whatever, where my hair looks flat and ugly. But, I'd say from your photos, I'm pretty darn close, so I'm going to say I'm F/M. And if I'm wrong, well, I give up. :shrug: :laugh:

[stachelbeere]

By your explanation, it makes sense that I'd be f/m. While some hairs are thin, others feel more rough, and my hair is not as fine as a youth's, although it does seem as unwilling to go in any kind of style other than down. :/


I don't understand body wave, either. Maybe someone can help us, and hijack away! :)

yeah, I also have finer and less fine hair strands growing from my head and even a few coarse odd ones so F/M is a safe bet ;) I understand that you want to be as thorough as possible in hair typing, I really do :D

and yes - that body wave thing really bugs me! :P My best friend has INCREDIBLY pin straight hair that are just super super straight, as if straightened but this is what her hair naturally does. She has to be a 1a. My hair is straight too - but not 'perfectly' straight, my ends curl in a little and I have that lift at my roots. Okay. I am a 1b - I have to be. I just wish someone defined what a 'body wave' is supposed to be exactly.

[walterSCAN]

sorry to slightly hijack this thread - I never understood the concept of a 'body wave' in 1b hair; I still sort of don't...? I assume mine is 1b because it's neither pin straight (it lifts slightly at the roots and curves in at the ends) nor wavy. But what is a body wave?! is it what my hair does? -hijack over-

That's what I've always understood a 'body wave' to be, but what do I know, I'm 1a! ;) No 'body' here!


I found him, but only got a quick pet because he's still upset at me (He was in big trouble earlier). I'd say my strand of hair is thinner than his... but he has his winter coat. I'm thinking maybe I am fine? But (and I don't mean this as rude), when I see photos of user's hair when they label their hair as fine and thin, I always think that I am pretty sure my hair does not look like that; even though my hair is flat and oily, I think it looks like I have more hair. Ugh! :confused:

Aww, poor kitty. ;) Were you looking at a strand of top coat or under coat? Top coat will usually be pretty straight, while the under coat might be a little kinky, depending on what kind of cat you have.

Remember that fine and thin don't describe the same thing. Fine is the diameter of the strand, thin is the overall number of strands. Based on what you've said in this thread, I'd say you are either F/M or M.

In case of academic interest, my hair is the same width as my infant son's hair. It is possible for adults to have 'baby' fine hair, it's just not very common.

[stachelbeere]

Edit: I went through your photo album. On a good day, my hair looks very similar to yours in shine and thickness! But I have many bad days, probably a misuse of shampoo or whatever, where my hair looks flat and ugly. But, I'd say from your photos, I'm pretty darn close, so I'm going to say I'm F/M. And if I'm wrong, well, I give up. :shrug: :laugh:

why thank you :o but I assure it, it's the super flattering bathroom lights I have hehe ;) when I feel I need some encouragement about my hair I look at it in my bathroom mirror - it always works :D
if you're interested in comparing our hair thicknesses here (http://s1299.photobucket.com/user/stachelbeere/library/hair/ash%20brown%20roots%20and%20henna?sort=3&page=1) are some pictures I took with the macro setting in my camera, I think it shows the thickness quiet well. what do you think?


That's what I've always understood a 'body wave' to be, but what do I know, I'm 1a! ;) No 'body' here!

In case of academic interest, my hair is the same width as my infant son's hair. It is possible for adults to have 'baby' fine hair, it's just not very common.

problem solved then :P I *do* have a body wave then and it means that I have some lift and that it curls in or out a little. This is the definition from now on :D

as for your infant son's and your hair... hmmm... Sara's hair is literally as fine as the feathers of a baby chicken! It's incredibly fine, sort of like the hair that grows on my arms (then again there are different types of arm hair as well...), finer than my finest temple hairs. I can barely feel it when I touch it.

This is the type of hair she has. (http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7135/7464283218_bf9e7e5628_z.jpg) It's a picture I found on the Internet, I didn't take it.

[walterSCAN]

problem solved then :P I *do* have a body wave then and it means that I have some lift and that it curls in or out a little. This is the definition from now on :D

I can go with that! :thumbsup:


as for your infant son's and your hair... hmmm... Sara's hair is literally as fine as the feathers of a baby chicken! It's incredibly fine, sort of like the hair that grows on my arms (then again there are different types of arm hair as well...), finer than my finest temple hairs. I can barely feel it when I touch it.

This is the type of hair she has. (http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7135/7464283218_bf9e7e5628_z.jpg) It's a picture I found on the Internet, I didn't take it.

My hair on my head is almost the same as my arm hairs. :shrug: My arm hair looks like the hair on that baby. The rest of it's not quite as fine as that anymore, though-- it's a bit thicker since the many applications of henna I've done, but I think it was just about that fine beforehand. I have a little more of it and it doesn't stick up like that either, though! :laugh:

[Naiadryade]

Gosh, now this has me questioning whether I might actually have F/M hair. I've always gone with M because I don't think I've ever not been able to feel or see a single strand... but I certainly have the eternal battle with splits that is "supposed to be" a fine-hair thing. And looking at stachelbeere's pictures, the strands look very similar to my own strands. But could I really tell that from a picture? I don't know what to think anymore.

How do you tell the difference between M and F/M hair? Seems like this might be a relevant question to WoolSweater as well.

Incidentally, I've also always been mystified by the phrase "body wave." I thought perhaps it meant a single long S-pattern through the entire length of hair. But maybe that's a misconception coming from the perspective of a wavy... (At 30" I have 4-6 waves, so I imagine that but stretched out. Maybe that's not how 1-type hair works though.)

[stachelbeere]

My hair on my head is almost the same as my arm hairs. :shrug: My arm hair looks like the hair on that baby. The rest of it's not quite as fine as that anymore, though-- it's a bit thicker since the many applications of henna I've done, but I think it was just about that fine beforehand. I have a little more of it and it doesn't stick up like that either, though! :laugh:

oh wow - that is fine - I had no idea adults could have this baby fine hair - I will pay more attention. I'm pretty sure Sara inherited her hair from her Mum who has very fine i hair. Next time I'll try feel her hair hehe :D or steal a stray strand and compare it to mine (creepy!)


Gosh, now this has me questioning whether I might actually have F/M hair. I've always gone with M because I don't think I've ever not been able to feel or see a single strand... but I certainly have the eternal battle with splits that is "supposed to be" a fine-hair thing. And looking at stachelbeere's pictures, the strands look very similar to my own strands. But could I really tell that from a picture? I don't know what to think anymore.

How do you tell the difference between M and F/M hair? Seems like this might be a relevant question to WoolSweater as well.

Incidentally, I've also always been mystified by the phrase "body wave." I thought perhaps it meant a single long S-pattern through the entire length of hair. But maybe that's a misconception coming from the perspective of a wavy... (At 30" I have 4-6 waves, so I imagine that but stretched out. Maybe that's not how 1-type hair works though.)

I know...maybe I'm a M then since I barely got any split ends in the last couple of years - but then again I hardly have any damage left to cut away - I do get some breakage though. On the other hand I have a mixture of thicker and thinner strands, the thicker strands could be M strands, the thinner ones F - because the thicker ones are definitely not C.

As for that body wave thing - I think it's more like this: 1a hair looks as if it was straightened with a hair straightener, it's just perfectly straight. 1b hair looks as if it was blown dry with a round brush with the ends flicking in or out and lifted at the roots - obviously it'll never look as perfect as if you actually blew dried it that way ;) btw all my wispy regrowth has the tendency to flick in or out as well depending on what side I part my hair :P
and 1c hair has one or two super loose, stretched out waves.
I think I actually have a small section of 1c hair - it's my nape hair, I discovered it when I was typing my hair. My boyfriend loves this one piece of hair in my nape that forms a tiny curl when I have my hair up - I've never see it though ;)

[WoolSweater]

Oh so split ends factor in? Whenever I go in for a trim, my hair stylist marvels that I don't have any split ends. In fact I didn't really ever know what one looked like until seeing photos. From shed hair, for the entirety of my hair care, I've seen maybe two hairs with a tiny split on the end, but that's all...?

[Naiadryade]

Now I'm even more confused. Maybe splits don't factor in, and it's just a damage/dryness thing? :confused:

At least the "body wave" thing has been cleared up, though. Thanks!

[stachelbeere]

yeah, I think split ends shouldn't count... I think that it is an external factor or maybe it's a structure thing.
Actually, your hair is a lot longer than mine and WoolSweater's - maybe it's that?

WoolSweater, I measured my hair thickness and I have a little over 3" - so it seems that we have a similar hair structure. Apart from the wavy/ body wave thing :)

[walterSCAN]

I agree that splits shouldn't necessarily factor in to hair typing-- there are too many other variables that can affect whether or not your hairs split for it to be useful.


oh wow - that is fine - I had no idea adults could have this baby fine hair - I will pay more attention. I'm pretty sure Sara inherited her hair from her Mum who has very fine i hair. Next time I'll try feel her hair hehe :D or steal a stray strand and compare it to mine (creepy!)

Hehehe... :laugh: It's only creepy if she notices! ;)

The Booger (LO)'s hairs are already starting to thicken a little from what they were at birth. They're about the same as my henna-ed hair now. I'm not sure what texture he'll end up with-- DH has M/C hair, so it could really be anywhere on the spectrum.

[Johannah]

Is it possible that strand thickness can change? :/

[Juniper.]

Well now I'm confused! I always considered myself an F because although I do have some medium hairs (and even the odd coarse kinked hair), the majority are fine. They're not, however, those really, really fine hairs that babies have. Is that the level of fineness people mean when they put themselves into the F category?

I'm also confused about whether I'm a 1A or a 1B. My hair does naturally flick a little at the ends but it has very little body and is for all intents and purposes, straight. Do those flicked ends put me in the 1B category? (I wish I had more of a body wave to put me in there firmly!) That flick surely doesn't count as a body wave?

[WilfredAllen]

http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/curly-hair-care-methods/quick-easy-hair-porosity-density-tests

[torrilin]

Gosh, now this has me questioning whether I might actually have F/M hair. I've always gone with M because I don't think I've ever not been able to feel or see a single strand... but I certainly have the eternal battle with splits that is "supposed to be" a fine-hair thing. And looking at stachelbeere's pictures, the strands look very similar to my own strands. But could I really tell that from a picture? I don't know what to think anymore.

Splits are a fine hair thing because at least some fine hair structures just don't work the same way as larger ones. Protein molecules are pretty large, and at some point you have to have the physical structure of the hair change because the molecules are too big. I'm not sure there's been a lot of analysis of this on human hair where the sample sizes are constructed in such a way where the full range of humans are represented. I know for various fiber animals, it's a matter of industrial interest. And well, fortunately for us human hairs don't do things like the hook structures on wool.

I deliberately skipped over the "feel the hair" thing, because different people can sense different things. It's common to hear posters here complain that they "can't feel individual hairs". A typical human hair is 40-60 microns. Sheep's wool that is used for clothing can range from under 15 microns on up to maybe 30 microns. And well, hand spinners can definitely develop the skill to tell 15 micron wool fibers from 60 micron, and they can feel individual 15 micron fibers. And that isn't the upper limit, since humans have historically spun fibers that are finer yet. I do spin, and I definitely can feel individual hairs. But if I compare my hairs to wool fibers of a known micron count, I seem to compare well with around a 25-30 micron wool. Well for diameter anyway, human hair is really brittle compared to wool. Also pretty damn scratchy and stiff. No way would I spin the stuff off my head! And most hand spinners go through a period of wanting to spin everything they can, so I know most spinners do not have hair that is anywhere near as close to wool as mine for diameter. And most spinners don't complain that they can't feel individual hairs. So my guess is most posters here haven't really spent a lot of time with different fibers, and they aren't necessarily good judges of texture just with their hands. And really, that's ok.

And honestly, since I *am* a hand spinner, I'm used to handling fragile fibers. To me, my hair doesn't feel super fragile, because it isn't compared to wool with all those hooky bits. So while I get a ton of splits, and my hair breaks easily and tangles easily for human hair... it's nowhere near as annoying as some stuff I handle. That doesn't make it M thickness tho :D.

That said, we won't speak of the kind of mess a careless person can make of my hair... which is why I tend to say if you're F you'll know it.


Incidentally, I've also always been mystified by the phrase "body wave." I thought perhaps it meant a single long S-pattern through the entire length of hair. But maybe that's a misconception coming from the perspective of a wavy... (At 30" I have 4-6 waves, so I imagine that but stretched out. Maybe that's not how 1-type hair works though.)

I generally just ignore the body wave bit. It's not something I've ever seen described clearly. If you're sure your hair is straight, 100% positive... type as a 1b to start. If you think your hair is straight but has cowlicks or weird "flicks" start as a 2b. If you aren't sure if your hair is wavy or curly, start as a 3b. If you're a type 4 super curly, you know already pretty much always. Going that way, chances are good you're getting yourself in the right overall category. And well, the difference between 3c and 4a or 4b isn't huge... they're all super curly. The difference between 2c, 3a and 3b, also not huge. They all can look curly sometimes and wavy others. And as us 1s can tell you, figuring out if you're 1a vs 1b vs 1c can be an exercise in frustration. So I think it's important to get the overall category right first even if you're maybe typing yourself as "too curly".

Once you're in the right overall category, it's a lot easier to work out the range of what your hair can do, and that's how I tend to think of the a, b and c parts. Technically, because of the structure of the keratin molecule and the physical structure of the way human hair grows, even a person who we'd class as 1a has some wave in their hair. But the wavelengths are really long, and the amplitude of the waves tend to be incredibly small. In some cases, a 1a might have a wavelength that's half their body length or more, so they may never be able to see it clearly. My wavelength isn't THAT ridiculously long, it's more in the 8"/20cm range by eyeball. (remember from math class that a wavelength is the distance from one point on a wave to the next spot that matches, so top of a bump to next top of a bump, or bottom of a bump to next bottom of a bump) The amplitude on mine is somewhere around 1/4", so a few millimeters. And if I do everything that's possible, I can almost coax my hair to be visibly wavy to someone that isn't a hair geek. Almost.

Most of the time, the average person would say it's pin straight even if I did everything possible. There is some wave there, really... but 90% of the time even a professional hair stylist won't notice. And their failure to notice generally doesn't matter. So I probably don't really belong in the 2s, and 1c is the best way to describe it.

Same amplitude as me, but a wavelength more like 1-2cm... that's type 4. My general vibe is a 2 would have more amplitude, but the wavelength wouldn't necessarily differ a whole lot.

(all numbers provided here are rough approximations... even in wool that's micron tested and sorted for industrial use, that micron count is an average. the stuff on your head is going to vary a lot more than the wool on a sheep that is bred specifically to have the exact right kind of fancy hair :D)

[Quixii]

I always thought of the 1b "body wave" descriptor as if your hair as a whole has a wave. Once you get to 1c and higher, you start being able to see waves in individual strands. 1b, there's a definite "not quite straight"-ness, but an individual strand will look straight. 1a will just be straight all over.

As for telling what your strand thickness is - beats me. :shrug: When I joined I guessed F/M because it didn't feel particularly course or particularly fine, and there's some variation in the thicknesses of the strands, so I'm probably in there somewhere.

[walterSCAN]

Is it possible that strand thickness can change? :/

Maybe with hormonal changes? I mean, I know it can change for babies as they get older, but I'm not positive for adults.


Well now I'm confused! I always considered myself an F because although I do have some medium hairs (and even the odd coarse kinked hair), the majority are fine. They're not, however, those really, really fine hairs that babies have. Is that the level of fineness people mean when they put themselves into the F category?

I'm also confused about whether I'm a 1A or a 1B. My hair does naturally flick a little at the ends but it has very little body and is for all intents and purposes, straight. Do those flicked ends put me in the 1B category? (I wish I had more of a body wave to put me in there firmly!) That flick surely doesn't count as a body wave?

I don't think all fine-ies have hair quite as fine as a baby's hair. Mine + henna still counts for fine by the LHC hairtyping standards, and there are definitely gradations within F/M/C beyond the F/M and M/C classifiers. I agree that if the majority of your strands are fine, then you could consider yourself F, unless a significant minority of strands are another thickness, I wouldn't worry about them.

Regarding 1a versus 1b, as torrilin pointed out, the 'body wave' thing isn't well defined and I think you could either be a 1b or a 1a/1b based on your description and not having looked at your hair.

:shrug: It's all very subjective, and as long as you are reasonably close, your hairtype should still be helpful to you.

[WoolSweater]

So I tried to get a decent up close shot of my hair. I'm actually a little surprised? It doesn't look how I imagined it. :laugh:. There are braid waves. Can anyone take a guess at the type? Is F/M right or way off? Thank you in advance, I feel a like a pest for asking all these questions!

http://i1329.photobucket.com/albums/w552/KnitSweater/hairtype_zps5f8c9cbe.jpg (http://s1329.photobucket.com/user/KnitSweater/media/hairtype_zps5f8c9cbe.jpg.html)

[Naiadryade]

Splits are a fine hair thing because at least some fine hair structures just don't work the same way as larger ones. Protein molecules are pretty large, and at some point you have to have the physical structure of the hair change because the molecules are too big. :scissors:

I deliberately skipped over the "feel the hair" thing, because different people can sense different things. It's common to hear posters here complain that they "can't feel individual hairs". A typical human hair is 40-60 microns. Sheep's wool that is used for clothing can range from under 15 microns on up to maybe 30 microns. And well, hand spinners can definitely develop the skill to tell 15 micron wool fibers from 60 micron, and they can feel individual 15 micron fibers. And that isn't the upper limit, since humans have historically spun fibers that are finer yet. I do spin, and I definitely can feel individual hairs. But if I compare my hairs to wool fibers of a known micron count, I seem to compare well with around a 25-30 micron wool. Well for diameter anyway, human hair is really brittle compared to wool. Also pretty damn scratchy and stiff. No way would I spin the stuff off my head! And most hand spinners go through a period of wanting to spin everything they can, so I know most spinners do not have hair that is anywhere near as close to wool as mine for diameter. And most spinners don't complain that they can't feel individual hairs. So my guess is most posters here haven't really spent a lot of time with different fibers, and they aren't necessarily good judges of texture just with their hands. And really, that's ok.

And honestly, since I *am* a hand spinner, I'm used to handling fragile fibers. To me, my hair doesn't feel super fragile, because it isn't compared to wool with all those hooky bits. So while I get a ton of splits, and my hair breaks easily and tangles easily for human hair... it's nowhere near as annoying as some stuff I handle. That doesn't make it M thickness tho :D.

That said, we won't speak of the kind of mess a careless person can make of my hair... which is why I tend to say if you're F you'll know it.

That all makes a lot of sense. We all have different levels of sensitivity in our fingertips. I defnitely have some hairs that are finer than others, but I can still feel those. Maybe I'm not fine just because I don't know it. Really, I wonder what my micron range is. I suppose that's the reason to get a hair analysis done!


:scissors: Once you're in the right overall category, it's a lot easier to work out the range of what your hair can do, and that's how I tend to think of the a, b and c parts. Technically, because of the structure of the keratin molecule and the physical structure of the way human hair grows, even a person who we'd class as 1a has some wave in their hair. But the wavelengths are really long, and the amplitude of the waves tend to be incredibly small. In some cases, a 1a might have a wavelength that's half their body length or more, so they may never be able to see it clearly. My wavelength isn't THAT ridiculously long, it's more in the 8"/20cm range by eyeball. (remember from math class that a wavelength is the distance from one point on a wave to the next spot that matches, so top of a bump to next top of a bump, or bottom of a bump to next bottom of a bump) The amplitude on mine is somewhere around 1/4", so a few millimeters. And if I do everything that's possible, I can almost coax my hair to be visibly wavy to someone that isn't a hair geek. Almost.

Most of the time, the average person would say it's pin straight even if I did everything possible. There is some wave there, really... but 90% of the time even a professional hair stylist won't notice. And their failure to notice generally doesn't matter. So I probably don't really belong in the 2s, and 1c is the best way to describe it.

Same amplitude as me, but a wavelength more like 1-2cm... that's type 4. My general vibe is a 2 would have more amplitude, but the wavelength wouldn't necessarily differ a whole lot.

(all numbers provided here are rough approximations... even in wool that's micron tested and sorted for industrial use, that micron count is an average. the stuff on your head is going to vary a lot more than the wool on a sheep that is bred specifically to have the exact right kind of fancy hair :D)

Interesting! So it is what I thought, about "straight/body wave" actually being "very slightly wavy." I love your description in terms of amplitude and wavelength. I just went and measured, and my wavelength is around 4" though my amplitude is still pretty small, 1/4" to 1/2"--generally only on the higher end if I coax it out. I'm pretty sure that makes me 2a. It's the opposite of what you expected though--half the wavelength, but similar amplitude. :shrug: I bet there are other 2a's with something more like your expectations. :laugh: I love our variation, and I think I even love that our variability as a species defies simple categorization!


I always thought of the 1b "body wave" descriptor as if your hair as a whole has a wave. Once you get to 1c and higher, you start being able to see waves in individual strands. 1b, there's a definite "not quite straight"-ness, but an individual strand will look straight. 1a will just be straight all over. :scissors:

This is a great point. In fact, this is a big part of what convinced me early on in my LHC days that my hair is indeed a 2 type. Every individual hair, every random shed hair I find, has very distinct and noticeable S-waves throughout its length.


So I tried to get a decent up close shot of my hair. I'm actually a little surprised? It doesn't look how I imagined it. :laugh:. There are braid waves. Can anyone take a guess at the type? Is F/M right or way off? Thank you in advance, I feel a like a pest for asking all these questions!

First off, you are not a pest. Working out the answers to questions about hair is kind of what we're all here for, right? And anyone who doesn't want to bother with your questions has plenty of other threads to spend their time in instead.

No idea about your coarseness though. F/M sounds about right... I notice the hairs that you can't really see except for the light blurriness the impart to the hairs behind them. Maybe those are fine hairs. Or maybe that's just how the camera focused. I think it's hard to tell from pictures. It looks kind of like my hair, though, maybe.