ten strands-hair thickness comparison pics

[Brethil]

There is a discussion of hair thickness going on in the https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=153365 thread where a number of us were complaining about the difficulty in comparing and measuring hair thickness. It's just too fine to get a good measurement of. Then AmaryllisRed shared a picture of ten strands of her hair pulled over her finger to make a flat ribbon, and I realized that I could do it too. I don't know about everybody else, but I'd love to be able to compare hair strand diameter.

How to do it:
Count out ten strands of hair. I found it easier to pinch a bit of hair and then pull strands one by one to the side as I counted them before getting rid of the extras. Then wrap the strands over your finger and run a fingernail along them so they are laying flat next to each other. Put a ruler next to them with the mm side against the hair. You'll want it actually touching the hair so that the distance doesn't distort the measurement. I found it helpful to hold it in place with a scrunchie while taking the picture.

To convert to microns, for a fairly rough estimate, multiply the width in mm by a hundred. (remember to measure from the same side of one mm marker to the same side of the next, since the lines themselves are pretty wide) My hair was about half a millimeter, so 0.5 x 100 = ~50 microns. Human hairs are said to vary between 17 to 181 microns in diameter.

If you have a better diameter measurement, with a micrometer or something of that nature, it would be a helpful comparison as well.

https://i.imgur.com/ZbKHj2Zl.jpg

[Shorty89]

Ooh, fun idea! I'll take one in the morning. Should we try to get straights from closer to the tops of our heads since hairs can naturally taper a bit?

[Brethil]

Ooh, fun idea! I'll take one in the morning. Should we try to get straights from closer to the tops of our heads since hairs can naturally taper a bit?

I took mine from near the bottom, because that was easiest to grab. I have no idea if it makes any difference.

[lapis_lazuli]

I took mine from near the bottom, because that was easiest to grab. I have no idea if it makes any difference.

It can make a difference, definitely. Not long ago I made a braid out my shed hairs, all the same length, and the taper was quite noticeable (for reference (https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/entry.php?b=139099)). Although that was on 50" hairs that had a lot of time to get worn down.

Good idea for a thread! I tried to do a loop around my finger, but no luck. I need a flat surface to not overlap them so I'll have to stick with my tape on a wall method:

https://i.imgur.com/Wq1u9Zam.jpg

10 hairs = 1 mm = coarse hair (supposedly). I am still processing this information, although some things about my hair are starting to make sense now :laugh:

[Bat]

I want to do this too, but first I need some shed hairs

[Brethil]

I want to do this too, but first I need some shed hairs

I was going to tell you to just use the hair that's still on your head, then I remembered that it's not actually possible unless you already have fairly long hair! Shows you how long I've been growing out my hair.

(Raid your hairbrush for sheds.)

[lakhesis]

I was going to tell you to just use the hair that's still on your head, then I remembered that it's not actually possible unless you already have fairly long hair! Shows you how long I've been growing out my hair.

(Raid your hairbrush for sheds.)

:D I needed to read your response to realise you can't do this with shorter hair. I will participate too, I will take the pic when my hair is done air drying.

[jane_marie]

I had trouble getting mine to not stack when holding the strands on the fleshy part of my finger so I had to use my nail.

This is 9 hairs not 10 (I apparently cannot be trusted to count to ten today :lol:)

https://i.imgur.com/gwOwiVY.jpg?1

Oh and I'm apparently not coordinated enough to hold a tape measure steadily while simultaneously taking a photo and holding these strands. However, previous measuring has taught me that it takes between 8 and 11 strands to make 1mm when using the virgin end of my hair... usually the number is 8 or 9. I think the higher numbers are due the hairs at my nape which seem extremely fine by comparison.

Interestingly, if I flip the hair around and measure at the ends (which were bleached then hennaed) it goes up to around <s>15</s> 14 hairs per 1mm.

:shrug:


It can make a difference, definitely. Not long ago I made a braid out my shed hairs, all the same length, and the taper was quite noticeable (for reference (https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/entry.php?b=139099)). Although that was on 50" hairs that had a lot of time to get worn down.


Good idea for a thread! I tried to do a loop around my finger, but no luck. I need a flat surface to not overlap them so I'll have to stick with my tape on a wall method:


https://i.imgur.com/Wq1u9Zam.jpg


10 hairs = 1 mm = coarse hair (supposedly). I am still processing this information, although some things about my hair are starting to make sense now :laugh:

Up close your free hanging stands look like my own! :)

[MusicalSpoons]

Fascinating, and an excellent idea for a thread! I shall try to remember to do this when my hair is clean (I don't know if heavy oiling will make any difference but I don't want to take that chance).

[Bat]

I was going to tell you to just use the hair that's still on your head, then I remembered that it's not actually possible unless you already have fairly long hair! Shows you how long I've been growing out my hair.

(Raid your hairbrush for sheds.)

The joys of having short hair xD

[Bri-Chan]

Mine! It was way more complicated than I thought... ten strands from my hair at BSL. Not my most damaged area (at all) but my strands at roots are relatively coarser . Around 2 strands were finer than others.

https://i.imgur.com/SW2rfrl.jpg?2

[lapis_lazuli]

Up close your free hanging stands look like my own! :)

Good to know :D I think I'll reclassify myself as M/C, as even though those pictured represent the majority, there are some M's mixed in too. Plus, the hair at my ends are definitely only M, so a transition happens somewhere in between.

[jane_marie]

Good to know :D I think I'll reclassify myself as M/C, as even though those pictured represent the majority, there are some Ms mixed in too. Plus, the hair at my ends are definitely only M, so a transition happens somewhere in between.

I was thinking I should reclassify as m/c as well since most of my strands are wide but I have some so may weird fine hairs at my nape. Coarse seems more than a little inaccurate if I consider those tiny hairs.

ETA: oh look at that, I guess I must have changed it prior to today and forgot all about it. How silly. :lol:

[Bat]

I think the majority of the hair on the person's head should be considered more, nape hairs on everyone are usually more fine than hair else where so to me including those finer hair leads to a more inaccurate result

[lapis_lazuli]

I was thinking I should reclassify as m/c as well since most of my strands are wide but I have some so may weird fine hairs at my nape. Coarse seems more than a little inaccurate if I consider those tiny hairs.

If you go with M/C we could be hair twins! :gabigrin:

[jane_marie]

Generally if you are measuring things samples should be randomized. If outliers are not included results become skewed. To obtain an accurate measurement multiple samples should be taken then you calculate an average based on those results.

In my case it seems like I have enough of them to move my average to the cusp. See photo:
https://i.imgur.com/BF1vMi7.jpg

So that’s what I’m going with.

[jane_marie]

If you go with M/C we could be hair twins! :gabigrin:

I guess we would wouldn’t we?

[The Lizard Wife]

I couldn't coordinate my hands/didn't have enough nails...so here's the setup where I used the edge of my desk for tension, taped it down, and checked for gaps. Featuring terrible lighting.

https://i.postimg.cc/c1jfzxJt/20201208-220510.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

I used hairs randomly selected from one of my cut off ponytails from last year, while going "Ahhh these hairs are all so fine, where are my thick hairs? Well I can't find them so it's probably going to look like I have M hair after all..." So I guess I have no idea how wide an average hair is supposed to be!

[illicitlizard]

Fine hair confirmed, this is my 10 strands (so difficult to separate out, and photograph!), I pushed them down with my nail near the measuring tape to make sure there was no overlap
https://i.imgur.com/XCgm0zHm.jpg

[mary_whitney]

Here's mine! I have shorter hair, so I used shed hairs and stuck them to the counter top with water. They're not my thickest or thinnest hairs but probably a good representation of most of them. I have baby hairs around my nape and every now and then some bizarrely thick hairs, but I'm considering them the odd man out. It looks like I'm in the medium/coarse range too.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50698111653_2e1c2e528e.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2kf25ik)PXL_20201209_143654063.MP (https://flic.kr/p/2kf25ik)

[lakhesis]

So I knew I had really baby fine hair thanks to every hairdresser that ever touched my hair, but what a difference. I think it's somewhere between 0,25 and 0,5 mm.

It was really difficult to photograph, the top is the part that was smoothed out to not overlap:
https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=43668&d=1607530944

[Shorty89]

I had a hard time getting ten hairs so this may be a few more than ten hairs. I had to wet mine to be able to grab them.

https://i.imgur.com/XPtoezj.jpg

[Bat]

I ran my hands all over my head to get samples for pretty much everywhere first photo is 10 hairs, next is 11
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/754621585465540641/786424701895180338/IMG_20201210_123503.jpg
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/754621585465540641/786425596951396382/IMG20201210122810.jpg


so course medium, I think when I get more greys I'll be more closer to coarse

[MusicalSpoons]

I ran my hands all over my head to get samples for pretty much everywhere first photo is 10 hairs, next is 11
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/754621585465540641/786424701895180338/IMG_20201210_123503.jpg
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/754621585465540641/786425596951396382/IMG20201210122810.jpg


so course medium, I think when I get more greys I'll be more closer to coarse

Does your ruler have mm/cm on the opposite side? I can't quite work out what fraction of an inch that is or how it corresponds to mm.

[Bat]

Does your ruler have mm/cm on the opposite side? I can't quite work out what fraction of an inch that is or how it corresponds to mm.

oops I think its 1.5 mm but math isnt my strong suit, and typical of me to do it wrong z guess I'm more coarse then?

[Crystawni]

10 hairs? 10. Oooookaaaaaay. Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Well, it took a bit (understatement of the year), but the end pic shows my results. I chose darker hairs, as my whites are practically invisible as shown in my other two pics (middle pic is just a crop of the first to show how many invisi-hairs are really lurking there).

https://i.imgur.com/g9mYjwY.jpg

^^Blame my daughter for the added buddy there. I was showing her a pic (https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=145974&p=3530140&viewfull=1#post3530140) I took for a previous thread (https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=145974&p=3531223&viewfull=1#post3531223), and this is how the pic came back to me... :rolling:

[Bat]

Fine hair but lots of it :3

[Crystawni]

Fine hair but lots of it :3

:agree: When my hairdressers used to say I had loads of fine hair, they weren't kidding. Cuts, perms and highlights took twice as long as other clients, too, even though my hair was waaaay shorter than now. I think it would take maybe three or four of my strands to be as thick as one of yours, Bat! :lol:

[Bat]

:agree: When my hairdressers used to say I had loads of fine hair, they weren't kidding. Cuts, perms and highlights took twice as long as other clients, too, even though my hair was waaaay shorter than now. I think it would take maybe three or four of my strands to be as thick as one of yours, Bat! :lol:

It probably would! I used to be medium but my greys seem to be thicker

[Alexandrina]

So I knew I had really baby fine hair thanks to every hairdresser that ever touched my hair, but what a difference. I think it's somewhere between 0,25 and 0,5 mm.

It was really difficult to photograph, the top is the part that was smoothed out to not overlap:
https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=43668&d=1607530944

Haha I'm so dumb, I was looking all over the ruler, like "Where??? I don't see it" and then finally noticed they are wrapped on your finger ABOVE the ruler, lmao.

[Alexandrina]

10 hairs? 10. Oooookaaaaaay. Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Well, it took a bit (understatement of the year), but the end pic shows my results. I chose darker hairs, as my whites are practically invisible as shown in my other two pics (middle pic is just a crop of the first to show how many invisi-hairs are really lurking there).

https://i.imgur.com/g9mYjwY.jpg

^^Blame my daughter for the added buddy there. I was showing her a pic (https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=145974&p=3530140&viewfull=1#post3530140) I took for a previous thread (https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=145974&p=3531223&viewfull=1#post3531223), and this is how the pic came back to me... :rolling:

love your little spider buddy

[Alexandrina]

I had a hard time getting ten hairs so this may be a few more than ten hairs. I had to wet mine to be able to grab them.

https://i.imgur.com/XPtoezj.jpg

Good tip on wetting them! I will remember that if I do this

[Alexandrina]

I couldn't coordinate my hands/didn't have enough nails...so here's the setup where I used the edge of my desk for tension, taped it down, and checked for gaps. Featuring terrible lighting.

https://i.postimg.cc/c1jfzxJt/20201208-220510.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

I used hairs randomly selected from one of my cut off ponytails from last year, while going "Ahhh these hairs are all so fine, where are my thick hairs? Well I can't find them so it's probably going to look like I have M hair after all..." So I guess I have no idea how wide an average hair is supposed to be!

Oh wow you saved your cut off ponytail! Wish I had thought to saved mine from when I cut years ago

[ioanaxena]

Wow, this is such a great topic! I washed my hair yesterday and quite a lot of my hair fell out - when I started counting the hairs I got really discouraged because of how thin they are. I didn't want to take a picture. But I love seeing others do this :).

[JasminxCat]

https://imgur.com/a/2DOWkmc

[MusicalSpoons]

https://imgur.com/a/2DOWkmc

You need to get the .jpg link to the actual image to be able to use the IMG tags :)
(In the quote I used the URL tags to make it clickable.)

[WyntreBlossom]

Don't own a ruler. Is there another way to do this?

[Bri-Chan]

Don't own a ruler. Is there another way to do this?

I think there should be an app for smartphones. Maybe you can't take a picture but you can count the strands...

[Brethil]

Don't own a ruler. Is there another way to do this?

It won't be at all precise, but you should be able to get a rough idea of how thick your strands are by taking a picture of ten of them without a ruler and comparing them to some of the other pictures on here.


Wow, this is such a great topic! I washed my hair yesterday and quite a lot of my hair fell out - when I started counting the hairs I got really discouraged because of how thin they are. I didn't want to take a picture. But I love seeing others do this :).

Nothing wrong with baby fine hair! It tends to be very soft and feels great to run your fingers through. There are disadvantages of course, but there are for any hair type.

[tuanyiji]

This is such an interesting test, I might need to reconsider my hair texture.

I did a random test, choosing 10 hairs from my shed today in this bucket. They range from 10 to 60cm. I have some baby hairs from around my hairline that are always fine and almost transparent. I didn’t align the hair roots for time purposes, they are roughly measured from the middle of the length.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1001725273378668557/1010099436485103646/IMG_9238.jpg
10 of them on my fingertip compared with the ruler.
It’s very close to 1mm, but obviously still not quite there and it was a tight grip on my fingers.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1001725273378668557/1010126702275465246/IMG_9257.jpg

I tried it again with the hair wet and lined up on a flat surface with the tape over it, this time I only need 9 hairs to cover 1mm.
https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1001725273378668557/1010220221954535455/IMG_9279.jpg
This is my hair close up compared with a 2-strand sewing thread.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1001725273378668557/1010099442738810962/IMG_9237.jpg

My thickest hair is the over 70cm long ones. I don’t often shed these though. I might get one in a week. These are my collection from the previous months. I checked and it only took 7 hairs to easily surpass 1mm measured from the middle of the length, if you measure closed to the roots, that’s much thicker. It seems the longer my hair grows, the thicker the roots become. That’s good news because currently 92cm is the longest in my life, I used to keep my hair BSL-MBL only for over 2 decades, and I’m looking forward to longer and thicker hair overall.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1001725273378668557/1010099424887844884/IMG_9239.jpg

[Aurora Angel]

I can't wait to try this! My hair is up in a bun right now, and I'm too lazy to take it out hahaha. But I will try this soon! :)

[SnailFarts]

Some of you have very thick hair! 10 of my hairs aren't even the width of the mm measuring line XD

Edit: Thanks for helping me figure out how to post images
https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=47909&d=1668576244

[tuanyiji]

Some of you have very thick hair! 10 of my hairs aren't even the width of the mm measuring line XD https://imgur.com/a/urocPtu
https://photos.app.goo.gl/4CA29sR5R5x7uzjt5

Edit: How do I insert the image so that it's visible here and not just a link?
There is an image button on the quick reply section, copy the link (jpg/gif/png… make sure it’s an image format, not a website link) and paste, it should work like this: image link

[lapushka]

Some of you have very thick hair! 10 of my hairs aren't even the width of the mm measuring line XD https://imgur.com/a/urocPtu
https://photos.app.goo.gl/4CA29sR5R5x7uzjt5

Edit: How do I insert the image so that it's visible here and not just a link?

Haha, what *is* it with imgur and hair; again I had to state I was over 18. That or they think I'm a yung'in.

[ArienEllariel]

Oh neat! I've got a mix of hairs on my head. The thicker ones definitely seem to have a longer growth cycle than the fine ones. Or it's just that fine hair is easier to pull out/break. I took some still attached to my head from near my ear in the front (more medium strands there than fine) and it was about 2/3-3/4 of a mm for 10 strands.

I'm not entirely sure how to get an accurate measurement and I *just* cleaned out all my brushes so no shed hairs to try this with. (Again, I shed a lot more fine hairs than not so I feel like it still wouldn't be as accurate as I'd like).

Nevermind, found some shed hairs. It seemed to be the same measurement from what I could tell.

[Bat]

I re-measured seems like 10-11 hairs fit in a mm so I'm roughly between 90-100 micron ish, same from last time I measured. Guess that means I'm medium coarse.

[rosenester]

10 hairs:
https://i.imgur.com/ptJ5TxZm.jpg
For fun: 20 hairs, the lighting shifted so it’s harder to but just about 1mm, maybe needs a few more hairs?
https://i.imgur.com/RSsaO9Im.jpg
I have not collected hair before other than cleaning out tub or hairbrush and immediately putting hair in the trash. I felt like I was playing with spiderwebs, Halloween Fun! :pumpkin: :silly:

[tuanyiji]

10 hairs:
https://i.imgur.com/ptJ5TxZm.jpg
For fun: 20 hairs, the lighting shifted so it’s harder to but just about 1mm, maybe needs a few more hairs?
https://i.imgur.com/RSsaO9Im.jpg
I have not collected hair before other than cleaning out tub or hairbrush and immediately putting hair in the trash. I felt like I was playing with spiderwebs, Halloween Fun! :pumpkin: :silly:
Oh so fine.
Question for fine hairs, does the hair break easily?
For me coarse hair, if I try to wrap a hair around my fingers tightly, it will cut off my circulation before I can even break it.

I have two gold rings around each of my middle fingers, one of them is circle and the other can be open because there is a gap, my hair often gets caught by this openable ring and sometimes when I attempt to get away, the hair literally lifts the gap like a thread and distorts the ring.

Yesterday I noticed a hair end protruding from a book on the shelf, naturally I tried to pull it out, however, I ended up pulling three books out because the hair was sitting beneath them in some coiling manner.

[Bri-Chan]

Oh so fine.
Question for fine hairs, does the hair break easily?
For me coarse hair, if I try to wrap a hair around my fingers tightly, it will cut off my circulation before I can even break it.

I have two gold rings around each of my middle fingers, one of them is circle and the other can be open because there is a gap, my hair often gets caught by this openable ring and sometimes when I attempt to get away, the hair literally lifts the gap like a thread and distorts the ring.

Yesterday I noticed a hair end protruding from a book on the shelf, naturally I tried to pull it out, however, I ended up pulling three books out because the hair was sitting beneath them in some coiling manner.

No, it's quite strong despite being fine.

[SnailFarts]

Oh so fine.
Question for fine hairs, does the hair break easily?
For me coarse hair, if I try to wrap a hair around my fingers tightly, it will cut off my circulation before I can even break it.


My fine hair stretches and breaks very easily. If I were to coil a hair that tightly around my finger, I'm certain it would snap

[rosenester]

Oh so fine.
Question for fine hairs, does the hair break easily?
For me coarse hair, if I try to wrap a hair around my fingers tightly, it will cut off my circulation before I can even break it.

I have two gold rings around each of my middle fingers, one of them is circle and the other can be open because there is a gap, my hair often gets caught by this openable ring and sometimes when I attempt to get away, the hair literally lifts the gap like a thread and distorts the ring.

Yesterday I noticed a hair end protruding from a book on the shelf, naturally I tried to pull it out, however, I ended up pulling three books out because the hair was sitting beneath them in some coiling manner.
My hair would definitely break when encountered by either if those situations. I have to freeze and move very slowly when I am caught in anything and investigate cautiously :lol:

My fine hair stretches and breaks very easily. If I were to coil a hair that tightly around my finger, I'm certain it would snap
Mine stretches easily, too. I was playing with these sheds and noticed it stretches a lot before it breaks, and doesn’t spring back if I go too far. I think some of my hair was damaged this way through pulling roughly when I brushed, which I only learned not to do 2 years ago. Glad I’ve learned to be gentle!

A cluster of hairs combined is much stronger of course than an individual hair, so when wrapping around my finger 10 or 20 hairs they did not stretch.

[SnailFarts]

Mine stretches easily, too. I was playing with these sheds and noticed it stretches a lot before it breaks, and doesn’t spring back if I go too far. I think some of my hair was damaged this way through pulling roughly when I brushed, which I only learned not to do 2 years ago. Glad I’ve learned to be gentle!

My hair stretches just like that too! I hadn't considered that it could be a sign of damage. I had a perm years ago that really damaged my hair, and I'm still trying to grow out and cut away all of the permed hair. Hopefully it will be stronger once that's all gone!