Estimating Circumference for those with shorter hair

[Mesmerise]

Well, today I had this idea for estimating your circumference if you've got shorter hair that doesn't all fit into one pony tail.

Now, all my hair is long, obviously, but because of shedding last year I have lots of shorter hair that doesn't fit into my pony.

My low down pony at the back of my head has a circ of about 2.5", while one I do higher up gets about 2.75".

Anyway, today I was messing around, and I got the idea to put in 4 pigtails in my hair and measure the circ of all of them so I could work out what my overall circ would be if I could fit it all in a ponytail (if that makes sense). Now it needs a bit of calculation cause you can't directly add the numbers together.

What I did was used the circumference to calculate the area of the hair, and then added all the areas together, and calculated the circumference of one ponytail with that area.

The formulas are: Circumference = pi x diameter
Area = pi x radius^2

So I basically worked out the diameter then the radius to get the area...added all the areas together, and then worked backwards to get a single circumference.

When I did this I got a circ of almost 3"... So I'm hoping for that sort of circ when my hair has grown back!

[Zesty]

Hmm, this is actually a really good idea. Why didn't anyone think of this before? I've actually been wondering about this because I've been wanting to know what DBF's volume is. I wonder if he would submit to ponytails all over his head. :lol:

[Mesmerise]

I imagine it could take quite a few ponytails for someone with quite short hair :D

Still, it seems a good way of estimating circ for someone whose hair is too short to pull back into one ponytail. And is also good for those who are recovering from hair loss like me! It's a way you can gauge if your hair is thickening up again after hair loss...and can give you an idea of your potential.

[pepperminttea]

A good idea, but don't forget about baby hairs that may never reach ponytail-able length. I have quite a few of those myself, but sadly they never get long enough to count. :(

[skraprchik]

I knew this was going to involve math :D