What's your hair's wavelength and/or curl diameter?

[earthnut]

I'm trying to understand hair typing and trying to figure out a more exact way of measuring it. It seems to me, except for stick straight hair, that it's a combination of wavelength of the hair's wave and curl diameter. So I'm asking all you lovely people to measure your hair's wavelengths and diameters for me, so I can see what the correlation is.

Wash your hair as you usually do and let it airdry, just as if you were hairtyping yourself. In a mirror, or with the help of a friend, hold up a ruler to your hair. Holding the ruler vertically, measure the average wavelength (pitch in the curl diagram below) of your hair. Holding the ruler horizontally, measure the average diameter (amplitude in the wave diagram below) of your waves or curls.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Crest_trough_wavelength_amplitude.png http://www.springhouston.com/images/compression_spring_drawing.gif
(Yes I know amplitude is really half the measurement that diagram shows, but for the purposes of this exercise, this diagram is clearer than a correct diagram. )

Please tell me what hair type you think you are (if you don't have it under your avatar), what your hair's wavelength is, and what your curl diameter is.

Thank You!!

[earthnut]

I have 2c or 2c/3a hair, my wavelength is 2.5-3.5 inches, and my curl diameter is 1-1.5 inches.

[ariesfairies]

Aghh, getting a sample hair was so difficult, I kept getting crinkled ones! :P
My Wavelength is 7cm or 2.75 inches
Curl diameter is 3.8cm or 1.5 inches

So pretty similar to you as a 3a!

May I contribute some other diagrams? I found these in the university database, thought they were interesting. It was for an experiment on hair diversity and ethnicity.
http://i45.tinypic.com/35n0im0.jpg
http://i48.tinypic.com/28kszk3.jpg
No way am I gonna strain my eyes to work out the twists, but for anyone who's interested - here it is :P

[HairStickler]

I used hairs shed in the shower because I damp bun, which straightens the hair on my head.

Diameter: 1 inch
Wavelength: ~1.5 inches

The diameter was pretty consistent, but the wavelength varied a lot. Maybe that is why people tend to use diameter to describe curls.

[earthnut]

Oo interesting diagram! Do you lave a link to the study or study results?

FYI, I got different results when I measured hair samples laid flat than when I measured the hair on my head. (The wavelength measured flat was 3.5-4.5 inches) I think you should use whatever method you think is best, but be aware that they may be different.

[Charybdis]

Typical wavelength on me is 2" - 3", with curl diameter about 1". Overall my hair makes very long, loose waves and spirals. However, I get some freak 3c/4a hairs mixed in (usually rather fine) and the occasional 1b hair (usually on the coarse side). But if you look at the larger wave pattern, the 2" - 3" wavelength is probably about right.

[silverthread]

I'm trying to understand hair typing and trying to figure out a more exact way of measuring it. It seems to me, except for stick straight hair, that it's a combination of wavelength of the hair's wave and curl diameter. So I'm asking all you lovely people to measure your hair's wavelengths and diameters for me, so I can see what the correlation is.

Wash your hair as you usually do and let it airdry, just as if you were hairtyping yourself. In a mirror, or with the help of a friend, hold up a ruler to your hair. Holding the ruler vertically, measure the average wavelength (pitch in the curl diagram below) of your hair. Holding the ruler horizontally, measure the average diameter (amplitude in the wave diagram below) of your waves or curls.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Crest_trough_wavelength_amplitude.png http://www.springhouston.com/images/compression_spring_drawing.gif
(Yes I know amplitude is really half the measurement that diagram shows, but for the purposes of this exercise, this diagram is clearer than a correct diagram. )

Please tell me what hair type you think you are (if you don't have it under your avatar), what your hair's wavelength is, and what your curl diameter is.

Thank You!!


Hey, Earthnut: I believe I have 2a hair, the wavelength is about 3.5-4, and pitch is about 1.

[CurlyCap]

For a perfectly formed ringlet:
Pitch: 3-5mm
Diameter: 1-2cm

I call myself 3b/3c, although I think my diameter is bigger than what most people think of for 3b.

Thank you for starting this thread. Hopefully we get a good survey and lots of answers to talk about.

[Windflower]

I have hairtyped myself as a 2b
My canopy: wavelength= 2.5-3.5 inches and diameter= 2 inches
The curls in my underlayer: wavelength= 1.5 inches and diameter= 1-1.5 inches

[spidermom]

I can't. My hair is all over the place, from the tightest ringlets and zig-zags to straight as a board.

[Dovetail]

Poor spidermom <3 your hair is so lovely though.

Ill try to measure later today after work :)

[domisimone]

My wavelength is 1/8-1/4" and my diameter is 1/8 inch. I'm a 3c/4a.

[earthnut]

Great info so far! Keep it coming! :D

[kitschy]

Curl diameters are 1 to 2.5 cm or about 1/2" - pitch is about 3/4" of an inch or 2.5 cm. I call myself 3B.

[PinkyCat]

Wavelength = 2"
Diameter = 1"
3a/3b

[lilliemer]

My hairtyping came out as a 2c/3a. My hair is wavy at the roots then ends in spirals. The curl diameter in the spirals is about one to one-and-a-half inches (measuring the inside diameter of the curl).

I am not sure how to measure the wavelength, it is longer up top where the waves are, but the curls kind of stack up on the bottom where the spirals are (corkscrew style). What would I be measuring there?

By the second day after a wash, my hair forgets that it is 3a; the spirals usually are gone and I have deep waves, with a wavelength of 3-4 inches depending on what's in the hair and the humidity level. I lose progressively more and more wave the longer I go after washing. Not sure if this helps you?

[jojo]

I can't. My hair is all over the place, from the tightest ringlets and zig-zags to straight as a board.

Same here, I think my hair is combination hair, my right hand side is much tighter wave pattern than my left and my fringe is more in the 3 range in places, yet in others it's bone straight. :rolleyes:

[cmg]

Been trying to figure this out. If I put the hair flat on a piece of paper, the diameter seems similar on both top of the head and at the ends. But when I leave them alone the diameter seems bigger towards the head and smaller at the ends (spirals). The frequency differs depending on weight/length. My hair has very little "spunk" or springyness of its own :)

/ CMG

[RainbowHawk]

Wavelength: 3 cm*
Diameter: 1-3.5 cm

3b

*Wavelength changes a lot; It can be as low as .5 cm or as high as 5 cm if I measure it at different places. I went with 3 cm as an average.

[Terra]

3c/4a

Diameter = 0.5" = 1.3cm
Wavelength = 0.9" = 2.3cm

My wavelength is getting larger towards my scalp...

[ariesfairies]

Oo interesting diagram! Do you lave a link to the study or study results?

FYI, I got different results when I measured hair samples laid flat than when I measured the hair on my head. (The wavelength measured flat was 3.5-4.5 inches) I think you should use whatever method you think is best, but be aware that they may be different.

I have a link, but I'm not sure if it will work for those without an account at EBSCOhost :o You can try the link anyway, who knows. (http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.usq.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=ddb2ca5b-1351-47b2-8356-ad05f7cc6343%40sessionmgr11&vid=2&hid=17)
It's 18 pages long. It's free to be printed, so I don't see it a huge problem to share it on the thread here if I'm free to show a print out to just anyone.

And if it doesn't work, I better quickly cite it - that was very rude of me not to!! :doh:


De La Mettrie, R, Saint-Léger, D, Loussouarn, G, Garcel, A, Porter, C, & Langaney, A 2007, 'Shape Variability and Classification of Human Hair: A Worldwide Approach', Human Biology, 79, 3, pp. 265-281, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 1 August 2012.

[torrilin]

I'm gonna give max values rather than trying for average or representative ones.

Wavelength of 5.4" (counted total waves of 5, measured length of clump is 27")

Amplitude of 0.5"

Most of my hair doesn't clump well or at all, so generally it doesn't look anywhere near that wavy even if it dries without me touching it.