10 Second Healthy Hair Test

[Maelyssa]

I'm currently reading a Yahoo article about hair care. At the end of the article, it suggests doing the following to 'test' how healthy your hair is. I'm curious to see what other LHC members think of this concept, especially those who may be more scientifically inclined than myself. I'm also curious about anyone results anyone else cares to post.

"Pluck a strand from your head and drop it into an eight-ounce cup of water. The faster and deeper it sinks, the less protein and moisture it has. If your hair floats, it's healthy."
~By Jill Percia, Women's Health


Below are my attempts at doing this. I used tepid water in a glass goblet. I may be very VERY hard to see but my strand is just floating away at the top. I gave it a full 5 minutes & it didn't sink. So by their standards of protein & moisture I guess all is well. I didn't really have to pull a strand either....just ran my hand through it a few times & got a loose one.

I've never posted a picture in a post before so hopefully it works. Fingers crossed!

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd510/_Melyssa_/IMG00587-20111110-1144.jpg

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd510/_Melyssa_/IMG00589-20111110-1146.jpg

[Maelyssa]

LOL so WOW those are some HUGE pictures! So sorry. I'll have to work on figuring out how to decrease the size in future posts. But considering I'm trying to show something so darned hard to see in the first place maybe it's not such a bad thing.

[kanaka]

Wow! i will try this now :) guess i need to get a strand, will run my fingers as you said. i like this test. nice pics

[melissa-bee]

The first picture really scared me. I thought it was an eye.

[FluffSpider]

that's a porosity test. True, hair becomes more porous, the more damage it gets, because the cuticle doesn't lay flat anymore... BUT there are people who have naturally porous hair, so if it floats, it's somewhat healthy, but the contrary need not be true-virgin, no heat-styled, moisturized hair CAN sink because it's naturally porous. I believe African Americans have rather porous hair( if I recall correctly).

[ladonna]

I tested a strand of my highlighted hair and my not as processed hair and they both floated!

[HairFaerie]

OMG, I am a dork! I thought the pics were of a hugely microscopic image of a cross section of a hair! I was amazed! Then I realized they were hairs floating in a glass! Hahahahahahaha!

[jesis]

It makes me wonder, too, if heavily oiled hair will come out with different results.

[PinkyCat]

LOL! I was freaked out by the picture too at first! I was like "Yuck! What the heck is that??" :p Derp.

[Amber_Maiden]

I'm definitely going to try this!

[racrane]

Good idea! :D

[jacqueline101]

It does sound interesting.

[Elysium]

I've heard of this before. Even at its most damaged, when it was breaking off in chunks as soon as I touched it, my hair still floated. So I don't know how accurate this is.

[hendricks82]

for what it's worth, mine floated.

[NotInPortland]

I remember this being discussed in another thread before, it tests porosity of the hair more so than overall health because someone's hair can naturally be more porous than another persons, just because it sinks doesn't mean it's necessarily damaged and unhealthy. Knowing your hairs porosity can help in figuring out a suitable hair routine.

[jeanniet]

Hair is so light that I don't see how any one strand would have enough force to break the surface tension of the water, even if it were quite porous and absorbed water. There must be a scientist among us who could verify this, or maybe someone with hair they know is damaged can try it out and see if it sinks.

[Slinks]

The first picture really scared me. I thought it was an eye.
:lol: too funny it does look like an eye eh ??

I undid my braid and ran my fingers thru, got a couple of loose strands popped them in the water waited a full 5 mins = floating ..

k .. I did get to read others post and see that this test is not really reliable .. oh well it was a bit of fun :-)

[isabelx]

I'm not sure any strand of hair would be heavy enough to sink in water?

[JaneinMarch]

I've done this before; my hair floats.

[julliams]

Mine does too and when I was swimming in my parent's pool, it was bizarre because my hair was floating all around me which I had never thought about or considered why before.

[SunnyRainStorm]

Hair is so light that I would think a single strand would always flat due to the surface tension on top of the water. :hmm: