Courseness Typing Help?

[Temme]

I'm trying to type my hair, but I find the second qualifier somewhat troublesome. I can see an individual strand of my hair against probably any background, but when I roll it between my fingers I can hardly feel it. It's much thinner than a piece of thread I stole from my mom's sewing kit.

I took a picture of a strand of my hair with a piece of brown thread underneath it, on a Scrabble board for reference:
http://s31.postimg.org/d9361azpn/image.jpg (http://postimage.org/) upload gambar (http://postimage.org/)

All help is appreciated! Thank you! :)

[lapushka]

It's kind of hard to tell, but that looks normal to me. The thread against it is quite thick. So I think it's a normal hair. I have F hair and it's almost see-through.

[Temme]

Thanks lapushka! That's good to know.

[meteor]

Science-y Hair Blog describes a method for measuring strand thickness using a ruler: http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.ca/2012/06/is-your-hair-fine-medium-or-coarse-how.html but I find it rather tricky, because strands can easily overlap or leave space between each other.

There is a method I have that I described in this thread: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=136858, and it involves either an unopened stack of printing paper or a book or a notepad with pages very similar in thickness to your strand thickness - you might need to examine a few books to see which ones provide the closest match, and maybe use a couple books to give you a range (with pages both thinner than your hair and thicker than your hair).

Once you found a book/stack of papers with thickness similar to you strand thickness, if you are using a stack of papers: divide thickness (measured with a ruler) by page count (given on the cover) to find out paper caliper (i.e. paper thickness).

And if you are using a book, you need to divide the thickness of the book (without cover) by the last page number divided by 2 (since each page has 2 sides). This will give you caliper (paper thickness), which matches your strand thickness.

(Strand thickness is measured in microns (micrometers): 1 millimeter = 1,000 µm, i.e. micron (micrometer))

Some info on thickness ranges:



There isn't a standardized approach for this, since hair is organic matter and can have pretty different structures even on the same head.
I'm going to suggest Science-y's breakdown, though there are many others out there (*):

< 40 µm -> very fine (**)
40 - 60 µm -> fine
60 - 80 µm -> medium
> 80 µm -> coarse

Additionally, there can be an even more detailed (***) breakdown for coarse hair:
80 - 95 µm -> slightly coarse
95 - 110 µm -> moderately coarse
> 110 µm -> very coarse


* e.g. 17 - 181 microns (http://hypertextbook.com/facts/1999/BrianLey.shtml)
58 - 100 microns (http://www.hair-science.com/_int/_en/topic/topic_sousrub.aspx?tc=ROOT-HAIR-SCIENCE^PORTRAIT-OF-AN-UNKNOWN-ELEMENT^WHAT-WE-DO-SEE&cur=WHAT-WE-DO-SEE)
< 40 microns = fine; 70 microns = medium; > 110 = coarse (http://www.philipkingsley.co.za/hair-types)
** From a sample Goosefootprints report (https://www.etsy.com/listing/165203245/mini-hair-physical-analysis?ref=shop_home_active_2)
*** From this post (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=128902&page=9&p=2919724&viewfull=1#post2919724)

Also, all the measurements I've seen for toothbrush bristles (usually between 200 and 400 microns) are well above the threshold for coarse hair, so if your hair is comparable to a toothbrush bristle, it's probably very coarse. :)

[Temme]

Thank you meteor!!!!! I find that my hair is similar or thicker than most book pages, which typically seem to be at least 100 microns thick. This makes me think my hair might be coarse, although it's difficult for me to compare things that both basically look like lines. :/

[CosmoCat]

Wow!! My husband tested three random strands of mine at work today...39, 35 & 18 microns! I bet this is why it damages so easily.

https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=37417&d=1561360641

https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=37418&d=1561361203