Hair typing help, please?

[xoChesleyy]

Hi fellow LHCers! :) I'm still trying to find out a routine that works well for my hair but I figure that finding out my exact hair type first would be a good start! :p Any ideas on what my hair type is?

http://i68.tinypic.com/nfr3sy.jpg

My hair is CO washed and air dried-- No additional products added or anything. My hair is frizzy at the moment and it normally isn't this bad.. Any suggestions on this? A couple years ago I used to blow dry my hair which made it less frizzy and look a lot better than being air dried. I'm thinking about towel drying until damp then blow drying only on the cool/cold shot settings since that isn't supposed to be very damaging?

http://i66.tinypic.com/2s7vr0p.jpg

http://i67.tinypic.com/20h6j3q.jpg

(I'm not sure why this flipped so I apologize!)

http://i66.tinypic.com/nohqi9.jpg

Strands beside toothbrush bristles for thickness comparison.

http://i66.tinypic.com/2954fpe.jpg

Thanks again and any help is appreciated! :D

[endersworld]

I'd say it's in the 1b range for waviness, F/m for coarseness. I'm not sure what thickness would be - I suggest pulling it up like you would for a ponytail then measuring the circumference. That measurement determines whether your thickness is a ii or iii. :D

[lapushka]

I would say 1b. Possibly 1b/c. But 1b would be my estimate. If that's almost as thick as a toothbrush bristle, then I'd say it's M/C. The thickness is for *you* to figure out. Make a ponytail and measure around the ponytail for your circumference. Post it here and we'll tell you what category you're in.

[xoChesleyy]

I'd say it's in the 1b range for waviness, F/m for coarseness. I'm not sure what thickness would be - I suggest pulling it up like you would for a ponytail then measuring the circumference. That measurement determines whether your thickness is a ii or iii. :D

Thanks for your response! Also, I see you live in Boone. I love it there! It's actually not far away from where I live so that's pretty neat. :)



I would say 1b. Possibly 1b/c. But 1b would be my estimate. If that's almost as thick as a toothbrush bristle, then I'd say it's M/C. The thickness is for *you* to figure out. Make a ponytail and measure around the ponytail for your circumference. Post it here and we'll tell you what category you're in.

I always thought my hair was a 1b but I wasn't sure! When I feel my hair it doesn't really feel coarse so I do think it's a medium! Thank you for your input. :)

[gustavonut]

Your hair looks like a similar texture to mine. I'd say you are probably the same as me but I'm not sure.

[endersworld]

Woo High Country area! I love living in Boone, honestly. It's a gorgeous place. I like Asheville a lot too, though, so I go down there sometimes on the weekends. Really, this entire area is great. :D Let me know if you're ever up in Boone - I love meeting other longhairs!

[bunneh.]

Seems like we have similar hair... I'm bad at hair typing but oil helps with my frizzyness. I usually spray it with water to dampen it then oil lightly and braid it at night and during the day I just use oil if it gets out of control.

[Wosie]

I would personally guess 1c/M/ii. There are clearly waves in your hair, albeit loose. It also looks to me as if you could coax them and turn them wavier with a little help. :D

[meteor]

I agree with other posters... I would say somewhere between 1b and 1c, if your hair was air-dried in those pictures.

About thickness/density, you could measure the ponytail circumference, to figure that out.

About thickness of individual strands... I'm not too sure, but I would imagine if hair strands are as thick as toothbrush strands, wouldn't that qualify as "C"? Or is it still "M"? Does anybody know? Are there any other reference points (e.g. silk fibers or something) to figure out if hair is F/M/C?

Gorgeous hair, btw! :D

[jupiterinleo]

Very nice hair! I love the color.

I'd agree with 1b/1c for sure.

I just compared my F hair strands to a bristle on a toothbrush like in the above picture and my hairs are MUCH smaller, maybe 1/8th of the thickness. You can barely see even the darkest hairs. You're M minimum, probably more of a C. Either way, from that point of reference you're likely not a fine.

[Arctic]

I'd say strands of tooth brush bristle thickness are C, no doubt. Coarse hair does not mean that hair neccessarily feels coarse/rough/wiry to the touch, it just refers to the wideness/thickness of individual strands. Coarse hair can be smooth and silky (although it always feels different from fine hair, stronger and more substantial).

I think you might be about 1c (IMHO 1b is straight with body, and maybe bendy ends - you have visible, stretched waves yet the overall look is straight, so 1c), but maybe with moisturizing regime you might find more waves. Frizz is often an indicator of being wavier/curlier than it seems.

Yes you can blow dry without a fear, as long as you use cool to warm air (nothing that is uncomfortably warm/hot to your skin), don't use the highest speed setting (because it created more friction), and don't use agressive brushing or strecthing as you blow dry.

[Wosie]

I agree with OP's hair being more of a C than I wrote in my previous post. Probably M/C or a C light. ;) My hair is a M/C in my eyes, and only my thickest strands would be the size of a toothbrush bristle.

[Arctic]

Here is one test to maybe give some idea about strand thickness: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=37763

To be honest, I don't think it's very good test, I just post it for curiosity's sake. I tried it in the past just for fun, and even my coarsest hairs would have been categorized as fine, which I don't think is true (because I used to have actual fine hair and I know what it's like. I currently have a mixture of F, M and C to the best of my own judgement). I also tested with 3-ply thread (this test stated to be needing 2-ply thread) and that seemed more accurate to me (1-ply of 3-ply thread is thinner than 1-ply of 2-ply thread). Also the poll results imply to me that the test isn't accurate, there are too big majority of fineys - although I noticed many people never even bothered to do the actual test.


ETA: Here's another test, which I haven't tried myself: http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.fi/2012/06/is-your-hair-fine-medium-or-coarse-how.html


ETA2: Here's the descriptive categories from LHC's hair typing guide:


Second classifier - Individual strand thickness

Many people have a mixture of fine, medium and coarse hair, just pick the classifier which applies to most of the strands.


F - Fine: Thin strands that sometimes are almost translucent when held up to the light. Shed strands can be hard to see even against a contrasting background. When rolling a strand between your thumb and index finger, fine hair is difficult to feel or it feels like an ultra-fine strand of silk
M - Medium: Strands are neither fine nor coarse. When rolling a strand between your thumb and index finger, medium hair feels like a cotton thread. You can feel it, but it isn't stiff or rough.
C - Coarse: Thick strands that where shed strands usually are easily identified against most backgrounds. When rolling a strand between your thumb and index finger, coarse hair feels hard and wiry. As you roll it back and forth, you may actually hear it.

[bunneh.]

I tried doing the method on sciency blog but it seemed too hard to me. It's not easy arranging hairs that way without any overlaping or extra spaces.

[meteor]

Here is one test to maybe give some idea about strand thickness: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=37763

To be honest, I don't think it's very good test, I just post it for curiosity's sake. I tried it in the past just for fun, and even my coarsest hairs would have been categorized as fine, which I don't think is true (because I used to have actual fine hair and I know what it's like. I currently have a mixture of F, M and C to the best of my own judgement). I also tested with 3-ply thread (this test stated to be needing 2-ply thread) and that seemed more accurate to me (1-ply of 3-ply thread is thinner than 1-ply of 2-ply thread). Also the poll results imply to me that the test isn't accurate, there are too big majority of fineys - although I noticed many people never even bothered to do the actual test.


ETA: Here's another test, which I haven't tried myself: http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.fi/2012/06/is-your-hair-fine-medium-or-coarse-how.html


ETA2: Here's the descriptive categories from LHC's hair typing guide:

What a great post! :thumbsup: Thanks a lot for sharing that information, Arctic! :D

I remember trying the Science-y Hair Blog method a while ago and I was also having problems with arranging and overlapping strands, just like what bunneh. is describing. Also, I'd get different results when there was a wave/kink or when the strand was cut high up or at the end of the strand - the results were all over the place.

I really like the toothbrush bristle comparison, because it's easy to perform. :D

Here is what I found on thickness of toothbrush bristles and, though the numbers are a bit different in different sources, they still demonstrate that hair that's as thick as a toothbrush bristle would be considered "coarse" from the point of view of thickness/diameter (if we assume that "coarse" hair is 80 microns or thicker, as Science-y Hair Blog mentions (http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.fi/2012/06/is-your-hair-fine-medium-or-coarse-how.html), though there are different numbers for this, e.g. here: http://hypertextbook.com/facts/1999/BrianLey.shtml):


Diameter of commonly used bristles are:
Soft = 0.007 inch (0.2mm)
Medium = 0.012 inch (0.3mm)
Hard = 0.014 inch (0.4mm)
http://www.ijdr.in/article.asp?issn=0970-9290;year=2006;volume=17;issue=4;spage=167;epage=1 70;aulast=Sasan
^ 1 mm = 1000 microns, so even hair comparable to soft bristles (0.2 mm or 200 microns) would be considered thick hair strands.



850µm Paper clip
420µm Staple
300µm Toothbrush bristle
150µm Sewing thread
100µm Human hair
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/wasco/sites/default/files/smallfarms/featured-articles/pesticides/DriftManagement0904.pdf

I also found an interesting discussion on the LHC, complete with some useful photos, for example...
"Strand Thickness Criteria - Is it a bit vague or is it only me?" - http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=97134

I think if your hair is as thick as sewing thread, it's coarse, not medium. I don't know anyone whose hair is near as thick as sewing thread. That's thick!

I looked it up. Sewing thread is around 150 microns. A toothbrush bristle is 130 microns. Not medium.

[Arctic]

Thanks for the links Meteor! This is such an interesting subject (and agreed, quite vague too. The best way I guess would be to be able to examine hairs from lot of people and form a good, hands on feel about how each type looks and feels and behaves). :)

[meteor]

^ Thank you so much, Arctic! :D Oh yes, I'm still not sure what F/M/C category to claim, all I know is that I have some fine hairs, but lots of medium and coarse hairs - when the strands are compared to each other. Also, every person's hair I've seen up close was at least somewhat different in thickness/diameter and texture from other people's, really unique and kind of hard to categorize without simply saying "coarser than X", "finer than Y". I feel bad about being so fuzzy on this issue after years on the LHC :oops:, but I remind myself that hair is organic matter, so there's a lot of variation and it's normal that it's so hard to categorize. :) But this makes it even more interesting! ;)

[Arctic]

Yeah it's very hard to categorise, especially because the 3 textures aren't boxes but a continuum, and through computer screen it's very difficult to say anything other than guesses about other person's texture.

For my own hair I also go by how you discribed your method. I have (roughly) 3 different kinds of hairs (of course lot of variation but to me they are distinct from eachother very clearly due to thickness differences), from quite thin (fine) to quite thick (coarse), so I mostly assume that the coarser ones are actually coarse (but who knows, they might be on the coarser side of medium too). I did used to have fine hair so that's more easy for me to recognize. It often has certain look and behaviour. I think most of mine are M, my hair as a whole has very different feel and behaviour and look than I had before hairtype change.

And it's because of that hair type change that this subject has become so interesting to me :) It would be awesome to have my hairs actually measured!

[meteor]

^ Oh yes! :agree: By the way, there are hair analysis services out there, but I think they can be pricey and I have no personal experience with those. For example, by Komaza Hair Care (http://www.komazahaircare.com/product/category/hair-analysis) or by GoosefootPrints (https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/GoosefootPrints)(Wendy of Science-y Hair Blog). If anybody is interested, here are examples of their reports: http://pedaheh.blogspot.ca/2013/08/goosefootprints-hair-analysis-with-my.html, http://www.naturallycurly.com/curltalk/general-discussion-about-curly-hair/163282-komaza-hair-analysis-results.html, http://relaxedhairhealth.blogspot.ca/2013/07/must-see-my-komaza-hair-analysis.html

[xoChesleyy]

Thank you all for your helpful responses as well as the hair compliments! :) endersworld, sounds like a plan! Meteor, I actually just found out about GoosefootPrints the other day and I'm hoping to get a hair analysis done within a month or so! I would like a definite answer for my hair thickness/type and just to learn more about my hair overall! I do think the thickness of most of my length is coarse, now that I know that hair doesn't necessarily have to "feel" coarse to be coarse, but the hairs around my temples vary in thickness (most of them seem kind of thin) so I'm unsure if I would still be considered a solid "C" because of this or not.. The majority of my hair strands do seem to be pretty thick, though. I guess I'll find out when I get the analysis! :p

[meteor]

Thank you all for your helpful responses as well as the hair compliments! :) endersworld, sounds like a plan! Meteor, I actually just found out about GoosefootPrints the other day and I'm hoping to get a hair analysis done within a month or so! I would like a definite answer for my hair thickness/type and just to learn more about my hair overall! I do think the thickness of most of my length is coarse, now that I know that hair doesn't necessarily have to "feel" coarse to be coarse, but the hairs around my temples vary in thickness (most of them seem kind of thin) so I'm unsure if I would still be considered a solid "C" because of this or not.. The majority of my hair strands do seem to be pretty thick, though. I guess I'll find out when I get the analysis! :p

Oh yay, sounds exciting! :D I'm looking forward to hearing about that analysis. :D I know what you mean about temple hair - it's very often finer in that area. :agree: Mine is so fine there that it looks much lighter in color than the rest of my hair and it even floats. And I really agree that coarse hair does not have to feel coarse at all. If strands are well moisturized, low/normal porosity, without any chipping cuticles and also without kinks or twists, they very often feel glass-smooth.
I think hair analysis reports give specific percentages of hair sampled, something like X% fine, Y% medium, Z% coarse, so it's worth sending a good sample taken from all parts of scalp, if it's not too hard to do. :)
Let us know how it goes! ;)