My hair is iii but nobody sees it

[Gothic Lolita]

This is kind of strange. My hair is iii and layered but I think it doesn't look thinned out, since the layering cut is two years old and was a decent one.
Nevertheless many people tell me that my hair looked really fine. Hello?! It's iii and m/c. Why can'T they see that? And I really didn't ask for their opinion how it looked.
Funny thing is that only people with exeptionally dry and frizzy hair (so their hair looks thicker than it acutally is) tell me this.

[Juliet's Silk]

Fine Hair Does Not Equal Thin Hair.

Maybe it's meant as a compliment, as fine hair seems to look "softer" in many cases than coarse (well, not my hair, but others :lol:). Especially if their hair is dry and frizzy and therefore doesn't look soft at all, they might think that they have coarse and you have fine hair.

If they tell you that your hair looks thin (=dünn)... yeah well, rude I guess? Or they don't know that Fine Hair Does Not Equal Thin Hair and confuse the two. Which is understandable, as even LHC members tend to do that so we should excuse it if other people do it I guess... ;)

[aisling]

I could also add that people might be used to extensions instead of "real" long hair, you often get a bigger look with them. Many tease, spray etc their roots a little with extensions to hide the seals ;) A natural hair, especially if it's straight (and worse, fine as well), is often considered thin then, people just don't see how much hair there actually is.

[Aibell77]

I think it could be your hair type 1a/b. Because your hair is straight, it looks less full even though you have layers. I have 1b and people think / see my hair is thin, while it is normal thickness (ii).

I don't care anymore what they think, I want to have long hair and no I'm not going to cut to have someting 'new' and 'fun'. - end of rant :)

[FrannyG]

I agree that it's probably more about your hairtype. Being a 1a/1b, your hair is sleeker than most peoples'. There are some people with i/ii hair who have 2a or wavier hair, and it's somewhat voluminous so it gives the impression of "more hair". I'm sure if you were to braid that thick hair of yours, it would definitely show otherwise.

I wouldn't let it get me down. You know that your silky hair is thick and healthy. That's all you need. :flowers:

[darkwaves]

Fine Hair Does Not Equal Thin Hair. Yes, I think people get confused with descriptions. And who knows what they meant by fine? Silky? Sleek? Not dry like theirs?

[liseling]

Up until about a year ago I washed with shampoo every day, used cone conditioners, and mousse which has drying alcohol in it (a fairly common routine for anyone with any amount of curl who doesn't know better). I have 3b hair, and this routine made it really poufy so I thought it was much thicker than it is (it's still iii and very thick, but now that my hair is more moisturized and in better condition, it's much smoother and doesn't take up as much space). The frizzies who think you have thin hair perhaps have always followed a routine similar to my old one and also have the misconception that "big" hair is thick hair.

[Lady Godiva]

This is a common misperception. Most people aren't so into hair that they think these things through as we might do. It's nobody's fault.

The lower 1 types don't conceal air in the hair, as do most hair types (sometimes even 1c), but especially the 2s, 3s and 4s just look like more volume because the waves and curls need air space to be... waves and curls. That's just the nature of those hair types. Type 1 just hangs down, and especially type 1a conceals almost no air, so what you see is what you get.

When taking hair measurements, it can be startling to measure types 3 and 4 hair, as you have to squeeze out all the air so all that remains is just hair. For type 1s, this is easy to do and it's not that different from having the hair just hang down. For types 3 and 4, there can be tremendous compression, and the amount of gathered hair winds up being about the same as type 1, except for the pouf right underneath where you pull in the hair. :wink:

Consider it a compliment; they may think your hair is sleek and silky looking. :)

[Gothic Lolita]

Well thank you all, you made me smile. I didn't think about the option that they might have meant "sleek".

And of course I know that my hair is so much healthier than their, which is giving me enough satisfaction!

[Katze]

agreed, many people have misconceptions about hair.

I'm a solid ii, but because my ends are thin (layers, natural taper) people think my hair is thin, and it isn't! It really bothers me.

We were recently comparing hair and a couple of straighter, finer longhairs were comparing their hair to mine and to that of another woman with VERY thick hair. "Oh, my hair's so thin!" they both kept complaining. One even has thicker hair than I do! But they seem to have a misperception about their own hair, as many of us do.

Your hair looks thick to me because of its thick hemline; that makes a huge difference, I think, to the casual interpretation of hair's thickness.

[Phalaenopsis]

Also an iii with fine hair.
I know how you feel. Once me and my classmates were comparing the thickness of hair and nobody said mine was thick. They even said about a girl with ii hair (in my eyes) that she had thicker hair than me. But she has 3a curls :) So when looked at closer I could see that she hadn't that much hair.

I'm afraid it is something we fine iii'ers have to live with.

But on the otherhand, there are also people who DO notice it ;) "you have fine hair, but so much of it!" etc. "your hair is silky but still so thick..."

[noelgirl]

I kind of get the opposite - everyone says to me that I have so much hair, and that it's really thick, when in fact I fall just shy of a solid iii and most of the individual strands are actually fine. Even my mom says, "Where did you get all this hair?", when hers is thicker and curlier than mine! It must be the waves, especially on humid days, when I get some curls in there.

[brok3nwings]

I´ve always been told from my friends that i had a lot of hair, even my hairdressers say, "you have a lot of hair". But my hair is M its not course at all... when i layered my hair to prevent a mushroom look when it was short it took me a LOT of volume and some friends came to me saying... your hair is thinner now, your hair has changed. And it hasnt! I still have my hair but the thing is...i have bangs, my hair is a lot layered at my front and it is also layered at my back. This means that about 1/5 of my hair toutches my back, 1/3 doesnt even go to my back! I think that layered hair gives you volume at your crown ? (i dont know if this is the name) but takes you a lot of volume at the midle and ends. Normally when a hairdresser "thinks" you have a lot of volume, a lot of hair, course hair etc...they advice you to layer your hair to take about half of your hair and make it look thinner... also, (this is the confusing part) when someone has thin and straight hair they ALSO advice to make layered hair (but a different kind...) they cut thinking that the layers around the face will push the hair up and give it some "movement" ...
I dont know about your friends but it is possible that they have a perception of your hair different of what really is because of your haircut ;)

[brok3nwings]

Phalaenopsis i understand perfectly what you are saying! My sister has about 1b and i am 2a or something... also my hair looks to be a bit more M and hers between F and M. We both have a lot of hair but everyone things i have more, and that my hair is stronger...and so on. (Used to, at least, im talking about my hair when it was long ..)
I have a friend that has the most shiny hair. REALLY!!! shinny shinny shinny... her hair is F to M it is super straight naturally (she let it airdry), it has the most beautiful colour (between golden blond to light brown...with redish and golden reflexions) and one time i was using a hairtoy to hold my hair and i told her, why dont you try it ? (i was holding about half of my hair but it does hold a lot of hair..) and she said " i wont be able because i have a lot of hair" the hairtoy did it job (i knew it already because it could hold the most coarse and heavy hair) but it was the first time that i looked at her hair and though that she was right, she had a lot of hair. It was true!
I also have a friend with curly hair, and even so she has volume because of her curls i can see she doesnt have that much hair. Do you know how i can tell? By looking into the scalp. If you look into a scalp and you see a lot of white...there is not that MUCH hair

[Ursula]

This is a common misperception. Most people aren't so into hair that they think these things through as we might do. It's nobody's fault.

The lower 1 types don't conceal air in the hair, as do most hair types (sometimes even 1c), but especially the 2s, 3s and 4s just look like more volume because the waves and curls need air space to be... waves and curls. That's just the nature of those hair types. Type 1 just hangs down, and especially type 1a conceals almost no air, so what you see is what you get.

When taking hair measurements, it can be startling to measure types 3 and 4 hair, as you have to squeeze out all the air so all that remains is just hair. For type 1s, this is easy to do and it's not that different from having the hair just hang down. For types 3 and 4, there can be tremendous compression, and the amount of gathered hair winds up being about the same as type 1, except for the pouf right underneath where you pull in the hair. :wink:

Consider it a compliment; they may think your hair is sleek and silky looking. :)

For comparison purposes, Lady Godiva, her husband and I met a few years back, when they were traveling through my city. We took some pictures, of course, and they're up in the archive. I can't remember the actual thread title, but it involved pancakes.

Our hair has about the same ponytail thickness at the nape. But her hair is honest. The thickness you see is the thickness that is there. My hair, with its wave and curl, is all fluff and air, and looks much thicker than hers, through puffery and deceit.

[noelgirl]

I´ve always been told from my friends that i had a lot of hair, even my hairdressers say, "you have a lot of hair". But my hair is M its not course at all... when i layered my hair to prevent a mushroom look when it was short it took me a LOT of volume and some friends came to me saying... your hair is thinner now, your hair has changed. And it hasnt! I still have my hair but the thing is...i have bangs, my hair is a lot layered at my front and it is also layered at my back. This means that about 1/5 of my hair toutches my back, 1/3 doesnt even go to my back! I think that layered hair gives you volume at your crown ? (i dont know if this is the name) but takes you a lot of volume at the midle and ends. Normally when a hairdresser "thinks" you have a lot of volume, a lot of hair, course hair etc...they advice you to layer your hair to take about half of your hair and make it look thinner... also, (this is the confusing part) when someone has thin and straight hair they ALSO advice to make layered hair (but a different kind...) they cut thinking that the layers around the face will push the hair up and give it some "movement" ...
I dont know about your friends but it is possible that they have a perception of your hair different of what really is because of your haircut ;)

That is possible, although I get told that either way. When I was a kid it was all one length most of the time (except when I went a long time without cutting and it started to fairytale), and I was a bit prone to the "triangle head" so it probably was a factor. But now it's more layered, and I still get that. I think that no matter what, I just have hair that won't lie down flat, so it will always look thicker than it is.

[kate46]

Oh gosh this thread is a little depressing for those of us who really are thinnies! ;) But to add to the false perceptions people have .... my sister and I both have exactly the same thin/fine hair, there is no difference apart from the fact that she is blonde and I am brunette (apart from the gray), people have always commented that my hair is thicker than hers :rolleyes: not true, it is just a visual thing.

[honeybunch]

IA it's very likely about your texture. I'm on the other end of the spectrum, and people assume that those with my hair type have very coarse hair. I guess super straight = fine, soft, etc. I guess it's the opposite for you. Even here some people have those kinds of misperceptions.

[Gothic Lolita]

Thing is that most of my hairs aren't even that fine, but the opposite. I guess they just don't really know about hair, but think that volume = thick hair, no matter if it's created by blow drying or frizzyness.

Sometimes I just want to pin down somewhere the basic rules of haircare and hope that people start noticing how rude it can be to always comment on other's hair in ways which scream that they don't have any clue.

[flapjack]

I have had this happen to me a few times. Most people say it looks like a lot of hair to them. A few years ago, one of my girlfriends said it looked thin. So I told her, "pick it up and see how thin it is!" and she was amazed at how heavy and dense it was. Back when I went to salons, I would get the occasional stylist who thought it was thin and then would exclaim "I need different scissors! You have tons of hair, how am I gonna cut this!" hahaha. And I would just say, "I tried to tell you, it really isn't thin..."


People don't mean bad by it, it's just that they, well, kinda don't know what they're talking about sometimes.

[LongForLife]

Your hair is so beautiful, smooth and shiny looking, and they are probably used to thinking of thick hair as "poofy".

[Rae~]

<snip> ... through puffery and deceit.

ROFL :lol: Love this turn of phrase. :D

[Curlsgirl]

Up until about a year ago I washed with shampoo every day, used cone conditioners, and mousse which has drying alcohol in it (a fairly common routine for anyone with any amount of curl who doesn't know better). I have 3b hair, and this routine made it really poufy so I thought it was much thicker than it is (it's still iii and very thick, but now that my hair is more moisturized and in better condition, it's much smoother and doesn't take up as much space). The frizzies who think you have thin hair perhaps have always followed a routine similar to my old one and also have the misconception that "big" hair is thick hair.Me!!!! This!!! My hair used to be damaged and poofy and also shorter which made it look thicker. I look at my avi and can't see a iii at all really but it is much healthier now and still very much the same thickness except all one length when I used to have layers.

Your hair is GORGEOUS honestly! Just wanted to say one thing even though you had it layered a while back, that can make a big difference when it gets as long as yours. That is why I trimmed mine and evened it all out as it grew because it looked a lot thinner at the ends even with slight layers the longer it gets. Just wanted to add that suggestion. Anyway, I adore your hair with the light layers or not!!!

[aisling]

I´ve always been told from my friends that i had a lot of hair, even my hairdressers say, "you have a lot of hair". But my hair is M its not course at all... when i layered my hair to prevent a mushroom look when it was short it took me a LOT of volume and some friends came to me saying... your hair is thinner now, your hair has changed. And it hasnt! I still have my hair but the thing is...i have bangs, my hair is a lot layered at my front and it is also layered at my back. This means that about 1/5 of my hair toutches my back, 1/3 doesnt even go to my back! I think that layered hair gives you volume at your crown ? (i dont know if this is the name) but takes you a lot of volume at the midle and ends. Normally when a hairdresser "thinks" you have a lot of volume, a lot of hair, course hair etc...they advice you to layer your hair to take about half of your hair and make it look thinner... also, (this is the confusing part) when someone has thin and straight hair they ALSO advice to make layered hair (but a different kind...) they cut thinking that the layers around the face will push the hair up and give it some "movement" ...
I dont know about your friends but it is possible that they have a perception of your hair different of what really is because of your haircut ;)

I think you're mixing things up now, if I understand you correctly.
Fine, medium and coarse is about the thickness of your individual strands of hair, not the overall thickness of all your hairs together. You can have medium hair that is thick as well as coarse hair that's thin. Read this thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=7362), it's very informative.