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GlassEyes
May 6th, 2009, 01:29 PM
Since I've been on LHC, my strand texture has changed a lot as far as determining my hairtype. I've listed myself as Coarse, M/C, and F/M most recently.

I'm actualyl kind of confused as to what it actually is. Using the hair-typing system that's lingering around here somewhere, if I take a single strand and rub it between two fingers, I can just BARELY feel it in most areas on my head. The ends are rougher, but that's because of damage, the main reason I think I typed my hair as Coarse before.

However, most people who say they have fine hair say their hair is slippery. My hair is ANYTHING but slippery, so that makes me think it's Medium. However, it snaps really easily and is as fragile/delicate as rice paper, as proven by my halo that's been popping up ever since I got a satin pillowcase.

When I use product, my hair feels just as soft as normal, but it feels rougher when rubbed between two fingers. However, if I use NO PRODUCT and just CO, all the strands feel as if they're not there at ALL. And it IS slippery, somewhat, but nothing near anything that would slip out of a ponytail like some people here.

Another factor might be that I went off my sister's hair as a judgement for fineness, but in actuality, it's M, but slippery.

So help? I relaly -can't- tell. xD; I rellize I can't just mail pieces of my hair to people, but is there anything else I can do to figure it out? It doesn't -really- matter, but it's bugging me. XD;



Edit: OH ******MIT, I HAD TO SCREW UP THE TITLE. AGAIN. D<

rhubarbarin
May 6th, 2009, 03:57 PM
LOL your description sounds EXACTLY like my hair!

I can't tell if I am medium or fine either. I do know I have one section of coarse hair on my head.

Arctic
May 6th, 2009, 04:04 PM
I don't know what type I am either. I used to have very fine hair and it is definitely thicker now (both individual strands and over all) and much much less slippery than it was before. I have been jumping between F, F/M often and have been concidering also M category but it's difficult to say, I can't really go and touch peoples hairs to compare :D

spidermom
May 6th, 2009, 04:33 PM
If you go to a long hair meet, you might want to get some feedback. If there were an option for F/M/C, that would be my hair,

flapjack
May 6th, 2009, 05:50 PM
^ Same. I have F hairs on top, M hairs along the sides and the whole bottom half is mostly C. Hence, I just wrote M for mine, hahaha. Most people have variation, though... with finer hairs being more towards your face.

AnneAdeline
May 6th, 2009, 07:36 PM
For the past year, I've switched from F to M to F/M and all around so many times. Just now I decided that I was a F again.
The slippery-ness might happen more to the fine and straighties. Since your hair is curly (oh, what wonderful curls *envy*), that might be the reason for not slippery hair.

(I hope that all made sense. I had a 4-hour math test today and my brain is a tad fried.)

GlassEyes
May 6th, 2009, 07:53 PM
That might be true....because thinking on it, the last time my hair was straightened, the hair tie that I put in when it annoyed me DID slide out rather easily...but I don't know. :shrug: I may just have to like, wait for a meet to be classed or something.

It really isn't important. xD

florenonite
May 7th, 2009, 07:16 AM
It's possible your hair's not slippery because it's so curly. I have fine, wavy hair and it can be either slippery or not, depending on the product I use and whether or not I comb it when it's wet. And it's never slippery past DD2 or so. However, it's so fine that I can neither see nor feel individual strands most of the time.

rhubarbarin
May 7th, 2009, 07:45 AM
My hair is not slippery and in fact has very good hold for styles because of the curl. But I always have products in it. Like yours, without product it is just gossamer soft. Mine practically floats and I can run my hands right through it (which turns it into a giant puffball of course).

One of my good friends has extremely coarse hair, but it is very slippery (it's virgin and very moisturized) and is always falling down. The fact that she's iii and it's very heavy contributes..

Tornerose
May 7th, 2009, 09:27 PM
I have very fine hair. If I take ONE strand of hair between my fingers, I can't even feel it. But I don't thnik my hair is slippery either, so don't worry about it. I'm sure some hairdresseers has said something about it before?

Are you prone to fairy knots, btw?
When I braid my hair, I have to constantly brush ot the 3 sectios, because they keep tangling.

Jae6
May 7th, 2009, 09:49 PM
From what I've gathered, fine/medium/coarse describes the strand thickness, not how rough it may feel.

I think the best way to determine your hair thickness is to compare it to someone else's. for instance, a lot of people w/ 4-type curls have fine hair. LOL I actually got into an argument w/ a coworker once about it. I kept telling her coarse = thick, not coarse = rough. She was trying to tell me her hair was rough feeling, and I kept telling her it's really just her hair being in tight-tight curls...point proven: my hair was triple the thickness of her hair, but her hair had a curl diameter of 5mm. Pfft.....=P (for the record, her hair was really soft, too...sheesh) Anyway, on my own head, I have some fine and medium hairs, and it's pretty obvious when you compare a fine hair to a coarse hair.

OR, you can just think of it like this--fine ~ spiderwebs, coarse ~ dental floss, medium ~ somewhere in between? Someone else on here suggested thinking about it like ground pepper.

GlassEyes
May 7th, 2009, 10:35 PM
I'm pretty sure it's the texture of the hair that results from individual strand thickness.

Flynn
May 7th, 2009, 10:39 PM
I don't know... surely the hair structure, not just its thickness, would have to contribute significantly as well...? Like, if my hair has really "rough scales", it's likely to feel less silky regardless of how fine or coarse it is?

GlassEyes
May 8th, 2009, 04:04 AM
I'm pretty sure that if it has 'rough scales' it can be classed as coarse. Or damaged. xD;

Flynn
May 8th, 2009, 05:54 AM
Why would that make it coarse? Coarseness has to do with individual hair diameter.

GlassEyes
May 8th, 2009, 09:56 AM
Because the texture of the hair is how we determine strand thickness. Coarse hair is hard and wiry, fine is barely felt, and medium lies in between.

'Coarse' defines texture by definition. Though strand thickness helps determine this, it is the texture which it is defining. On LHC, there isn't much of a method for measuring individual strands, just the whole (i.e., the i-ii-iii system).

Flynn
May 8th, 2009, 03:43 PM
I still disagree; my understanding remains that fine-medium-coarse are based on strand thickness only, not hair structure. The "rub beetween your fingers" test is also only an indication of thickness, if you stop and think about it.

There was a proposed method for measuring individual strands posted up: it involves a laser, and using the diffraction pattern. The reason we don't measure the thickness of our hair is because we actually can't in most cases. Do you have a ruler that will measure microns?

ETA: I'm standing by my impression of what it means. Other sources use it and state it expicitly. For example, here (http://www.hairfinder.com/hairquestions/hairtexture.htm):

"Hair texture is the measure of the circumference of the hair strand itself. Professionals classify the texture of hair as being "coarse", "fine", or "medium". Coarse hair has the largest circumference, and fine hair has the smallest."

...and Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair#Texture)

"Hair texture is described as fine, medium, coarse or wiry, depending on the hair diameter."

Among others. If you want more, ask Google.

I fail to see why I can't have rough, fine hair, or silky coarse hair for that matter.

Arctic
May 8th, 2009, 03:53 PM
I still disagree; my understanding remains that fine-medium-coarse are based on strand thickness only, not hair structure. The "rub beetween your fingers" test is also only an indication of thickness, if you stop and think about it.

There was a proposed method for measuring individual strands posted up: it involves a laser, and using the diffraction pattern. The reason we don't measure the thickness of our hair is because we actually can't in most cases. Do you have a ruler that will measure microns?

ETA: I'm standing by my impression of what it means. Other sources use it and state it expicitly. For example, here (http://www.hairfinder.com/hairquestions/hairtexture.htm):

"Hair texture is the measure of the circumference of the hair strand itself. Professionals classify the texture of hair as being "coarse", "fine", or "medium". Coarse hair has the largest circumference, and fine hair has the smallest."

...and Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair#Texture)

"Hair texture is described as fine, medium, coarse or wiry, depending on the hair diameter."

Among others. If you want more, ask Google.

I fail to see why I can't have rough, fine hair, or silky coarse hair for that matter.


Yes, fine-medium-coarse refers to the thickness of individual hairs.