Measuring hair thickness

[Arwenlily]

Reading the pony tail circumference thread got me thinking. When is the appropriate time to measure hair thickness? When it is freshly washed and a little fluffy or after a couple of days without being washed? I ask this because my circumference can vary greatly depending on whether it was freshly washed or not. On wash day my pony tail circumference might be 5" but after 5 days of no washing it might be like somewhere between 4-4.5 especially if it has oil in it.

[Wosie]

This is a good question. :hmm: I'm assuming that you should measure when it's in its least fluffy state, if it differs a lot from day to day?
...I'm also guessing that the wavier/curlier hair you have, the thicker your circumference will be, or am I thinking wrongfully? %)

[Aderyn]

This is a good question. :hmm: I'm assuming that you should measure when it's in its least fluffy state, if it differs a lot from day to day?
...I'm also guessing that the wavier/curlier hair you have, the thicker your circumference will be, or am I thinking wrongfully? %)

Curly hair can lead to the impression of having thicker hair, but when you (possibly) stretch the hair, compact tightly and then measure, it's really not an issue. Wavy hair is pretty easy to compact down and get the air out, though it can be difficult for very curly and/or kinky hair.

As for when to measure, I'm not too sure about that.

[meteor]

I'm not sure about this either. I get different results on different days, too, depending on when I washed it and whether I used oils or not. So I just took the average. But now I'm thinking, we should probably take the smallest circumference we've measured, since thickness doesn't magically increase right after a wash?
Also, I just had an idea: maybe it helps to measure hair thickness when it's wet? This way we know the ponytail isn't all fluffed out and distorted by our hair textures?

[meteor]

Sorry, double post.

[darklyndsea]

I'm not sure about this either. I get different results on different days, too, depending on when I washed it and whether I used oils or not. So I just took the average. But now I'm thinking, we should probably take the smallest circumference we've measured, since thickness doesn't magically increase right after a wash?
Also, I just had an idea: maybe it helps to measure hair thickness when it's wet? This way we know the ponytail isn't all fluffed out and distorted by our hair textures?

I haven't actually measured, but I'm pretty sure my hair is thicker when it's wet.

[Singing Bird]

I always measure when my hair is dry and combed. And I always measure as tight as possible.

[torrilin]

Reading the pony tail circumference thread got me thinking. When is the appropriate time to measure hair thickness? When it is freshly washed and a little fluffy or after a couple of days without being washed? I ask this because my circumference can vary greatly depending on whether it was freshly washed or not. On wash day my pony tail circumference might be 5" but after 5 days of no washing it might be like somewhere between 4-4.5 especially if it has oil in it.

Well, it doesn't really matter since 4" is a solid iii thickness. Really, even if you varied between 3.5" and 4.5", iii is a reasonable way to type.

It's very normal for curly hair to vary in apparent thickness, and the more curly your hair the more this happens. Since you're having a lot of variation, it might be worth considering whether your exact thickness matters all that much. Everyone, even someone with super straight hair will have *some* variation in their thickness just due to measurement error. Tape measures just aren't all that precise, y'know? And even straight hair can easily have 1/2" of variation from how you did the ponytail, even on very blunt hair, with very tight ponytails and being super fussy about not accidentally including the hair tie in the measurement and and and. Given your measurement variation, you might be a bit curlier than you think, or have hair that would really benefit from more moisture or less handling... No matter what, your hair will never get down into a range where buns will be easy to do with short hair :D. OTOH, curls are awesome :D.

[Kherome]

My personal opinion is to measure at least 24 hours AFTER a wash as the hair shafts are swollen with water for quite awhile as it dries. If I measured mine right after a wash I'd likely be into or close to iii, but 24 hours of drying later I am solidly ii at 2.75". That is the true measurement IMO.