How To Know What Hair Structure You Have

Download Article

Determining your hair type will help you figure out how to handle, cut and mode your hair more finer. Pilus blazon involves understanding different qualities of your hair, including density, texture, porosity (your hair'south ability to concur moisture), elasticity, and curl design. A pilus stylist can employ your pilus type results to recommend the all-time hair styles, colors, and styling products for your pilus.

Hair Blazon Guide

1

Expect in a mirror and part your hair in the heart. Use your fingers or a comb to office your hair. Carve up it into two sides. It might help to pin down one of the sides to proceed it out of your way.
2
Hold a chunk of pilus on one side of the function. Move this chunk around a piddling fleck so you can see the roots of your pilus from a few dissimilar angles.
- Turn on a good light in your bathroom so you tin get a good look at your hair. Alternately, have someone hold a lamp or flashlight above your head to give you lot more light.
Advertisement
three
Guess your pilus density. Your hair density is basically how many strands cover your head. Await at your pilus roots and your scalp. How much of your scalp tin can you lot run across in an area the size of a square inch?
- You're non counting individual strands, but you can get a sense of how dense your pilus is by how much pare you can see.
- Thick density: If you don't see much scalp at all, yous accept thick hair density.
- Medium density: If you see some scalp, you have medium density.
- Thin density: If you encounter a lot of scalp, you have thin hair density.
iv
Test another spot on your scalp. Go through this same process at another spot on your scalp. Your pilus density may exist dissimilar at other spots on your caput.
- Get a friend to help yous wait at the dorsum of your head. Enquire them to take a moving-picture show so you can see it more clearly.

ane
Wash your pilus. Using your regular shampoo and conditioner regimen, launder your pilus as you lot normally would. Rinse your hair make clean of shampoo and conditioner.
- Cull a time when you lot will not be exercising or creating a lot of actress sweat in your hair, which can change your results.
2

Let your hair air dry. Using a hair dryer might change the way your hair reacts in a certain amount of fourth dimension, and then using a towel and air to dry your hair is the best method.
3

Cut a length of sewing thread about 6-8 inches long. Cull regular thread instead of a thicker thread intended for sewing heavy-duty fabrics.
iv
Pull out a strand of dry hair. Attempt to go the total strand, rather than having information technology break in the eye. You lot want to see how thick your hair is, so cull a strand of pilus that is nearly representative of your entire head of pilus. The crown of your head is the best area to get the strand from.
- Your hair should be dry out, and have no styling products in it. Information technology is best to go out styling products out of your hair while you're testing it to get the near authentic results.
5

Place the thread and hair strand side-by-side on white paper. Employ a sheet of white newspaper to aid you lot clearly see the hair strand and the thread so that you can compare them more than easily.^[1]
6
Compare the hair strand to the thread. Take a shut look at your hair, such every bit past using a magnifying glass or magnifying mirror. If it is really curly, stretch information technology out a bit before you compare it to the thread. It might help to tape down the strand and thread ends so they stay put.
- Thin hair: If the pilus strand'southward thickness is thinner than the thread piece, you accept thin hair.
- Medium hair: If your hair strand is nigh the aforementioned thickness as the thread, you lot have medium pilus texture.
- Thick hair: If the hair strand is thicker than the piece of thread, you have thick hair.

Advert

1

Launder your hair. Using your regular shampoo and conditioner regimen, launder your hair as you normally would. Rinse your hair clean of shampoo and conditioner. Make sure all chemicals and products are rinsed thoroughly out of your hair.
2

Apply a towel to partially dry your hair. Comb through your hair first and then gently squeeze your hair using a make clean t-shirt or microfiber towel. Do not dry it too much, or else y'all may not be able to make up one's mind the porosity, or how well your hair retains moisture, very well.
3
Experience your pilus in your easily. Accept chunks of hair in your hands and feel them from the roots down to the ends. Gently squeeze your hair to feel the moisture.
- Low porosity: If your hair feels almost dry, your hair has not retained much moisture and you have low porosity.^[two]
- Medium porosity: If your hair is pretty wet but not mucilaginous, so your hair retains a medium amount of moisture and you accept medium porosity.
- Loftier porosity: If your hair feels viscous, every bit though the water will take a long time to get out your hair, so you lot accept high porosity. Your pilus retains a lot of wet.
4
Float your hair in a big basin of water. Pull out a strand of hair and bladder it in a large bowl of water. The basin needs to be large enough so that the hair strand will not impact the sides. Discover what happens with the strand of hair.^[3]
- Low porosity: If the strand floats and does not sink at all, y'all accept low porosity.
- Medium porosity: A strand that sinks later on a while will indicate medium porosity.
- High porosity: If the strand sinks to the lesser of the basin quickly, you lot have loftier porosity.
5

Test your hair again on a different day. The weather may bear upon your hair; if it is very boiling, for example, your hair may react slightly differently than on a drier day.

i
Wash your hair. Using your regular shampoo and conditioner regimen, launder your hair every bit yous normally would. Rinse your pilus clean of shampoo and conditioner.
- Choose a time when y'all will non be exercising or creating a lot of extra sweat in your hair, which can alter your results.
2
Let your hair air dry out. Using a hair dryer might modify the manner your hair reacts in a certain amount of fourth dimension, and so using a towel and air to dry your hair is the all-time method.
- Do non add any products to your hair, as this tin alter your results.
3

Let your pilus sit overnight. Give your head and hair time (about 8-12 hours) to produce oils, which you will and then be able to bank check.
4
Check for oiliness. In the morning, press a tissue to your scalp at the crown of your head. Do not rub the tissue effectually; merely a gentle press against your scalp will suffice. Printing it confronting your head behind your ears besides.^[4]
- Oily hair: If there is oil remainder on the tissue, then you have oily hair.
- Medium hair: If yous run across a trace of oil on the tissue, you have medium hair.
- Dry hair: If there is aught at all on the tissue, then you have dry out hair.
- Combination pilus: If there was no oil from one spot, but a lot of oil from some other spot on your scalp, then yous have combination hair.
5

Test your hair again on a different solar day. The weather may affect your pilus; if it is very humid, for example, your pilus may react slightly differently than on a drier day.

Advert

one
Pull out a strand of dry hair. A strand of freshly washed, towel dried hair volition requite you the best results. Try to get the full strand, rather than having it break in the middle.
- Your hair should be dry out, and it can have styling products in it. Information technology is best, nevertheless, to leave styling products out of your hair while you're testing it in social club to get the nearly authentic results.
ii
Stretch the strand of hair. Concord the strand of hair with your hands on both ends and pull. Stretch it gently.
- Don't stretch information technology quickly or else it will break likewise soon. The strand of hair volition snap eventually, but yous want to see how much it will stretch before it breaks.^[5]
iii
Discover what happens to the strand of hair when y'all stretch it out. Sentinel how information technology begins to stretch like a rubber band and pay close attending to when it breaks. Highly elastic hair volition stretch when it is wet by up to l% its original length before it snaps.
- High elasticity: If you can stretch the strand a long way before it breaks, y'all have loftier elasticity and very strong hair.
- Medium elasticity: If yous tin can stretch the strand somewhat before it snaps, you have medium elasticity.
- Low elasticity: If the strand breaks almost immediately when stretching it, yous have low elasticity and your hair may not be very strong. The strand may besides stretch similar bubbly glue, and when information technology breaks it may scroll up.
4

Test a strand of pilus from some other spot on your head. Your hair may have unlike elasticity on a different part of your caput. If you pulled a strand from the crown of your caput first, for example, try pulling out a strand from behind your ear or at the base of your scalp.

i

Launder your hair. Using your regular shampoo and conditioner regimen, wash your hair as you commonly would. Rinse your hair clean of shampoo and conditioner.
2

Let your hair air dry. Using a hair dryer might change the fashion your hair reacts in a sure corporeality of time, so using a towel and air to dry out your pilus is the best method.
3
Determine your hair'south roll design. Andre Walker, hairstylist for Oprah Winfrey, created a system for determining hair type primarily based on curl size and design.^[6] This includes a range of hair types from straight to coily.
- one (direct): Hair has no curve in it at all.
- 2 (wavy): Hair is wavy but does not curl much.
- 3 (curly): Hair is curly with an S shape and holds a definite curl blueprint even when unstyled.
- 4 (coily): Hair is tightly coiled or kinky, often with a definite Z pattern. It can be stretched out and will return to its curled shape when released. Type four hair might shrink up to 75% of its actual length.
4
Find your hair subcategory. Have a expect at a representative chunk of your pilus. Observe the thickness and pattern of the curlicue (if you have curls). ^[7], ^[8] These are besides based on the Andre Walker system that categorizes hair into 4 types and three subcategories per type.
- 1A: Hair is soft and cannot hold a curl.
- 1B: Pilus does not scroll simply has more volume.
- 1C: Hair does not curl and is rather coarse.
- 2A: Hair is wavy, resembling the letter S, and is coarse.
- 2B: Hair is often frizzy with a definite wave.
- 2C: Hair is very frizzy with thick waves, and is the coarsest of this category.
- 3A: Curls are virtually the same diameter as sidewalk chalk, or pretty loose curls.
- 3B: Curls are about the same bore as a sharpie, or medium-sized curls.
- 3C: Curls are about the same diameter as a pencil, or corkscrew curls.
- 4A: Curls are very tight, almost the same diameter as a needle.
- 4B: Curls resemble a zigzag pattern, looking like the letter Z.
- 4C: There might not be a curl blueprint to this pilus blazon. Information technology has a tight zigzag with an uneven pattern, so it is harder to define.
5
Compare your hair to the LOIS system. The LOIS system is a curl typing arrangement that considers strand texture and thickness as well. It compares a strand of your hair to the letters Fifty (Bend), O (Gyre), I (Directly) and South (Wave).^[9] Take a unmarried strand and concord information technology upward with 1 hand. Compare your hair to the shapes of the messages L, O, I and S.
- L: Your strand looks like the letter L, with right angles, bends and folds. This is kinky, zigzag pattern hair.
- O: Your strand resembles the letter of the alphabet O or spirals into several Bone.
- I: Your strand is straight with fiddling to no curves or waves, resembling the letter I.
- S: Your strand is wavy and curves dorsum and along like the letter S.
- Combination: Your strand might have a combination of 2 or more than of these letters. If this is the case, bank check a few more strands of hair from all over your head to see if i of the messages is more dominant.
Expert TIP

Bianca Cox is a Hair Stylist, Licensed Cosmetologist, Owner of The Hair Throne, and Co-Possessor of Bianchi Salon. Her salons pride themselves on their modernity, individuality, art, and professional person services. Yous tin check out The Hair Throne and more than of Bianca'southward hairstyling on Instagram @hairthrone and on her personal Instagram @biancajcox.

Bianca Cox
Professional Hair Stylist

If you're however not sure what type of pilus y'all have, talk to your stylist. It tin be really hard for someone to determine their hair type themselves, so it can be helpful to make an appointment with a stylist. Then, they can appraise your hair, and they can besides advise y'all on the types of products to use, how to style your hair, and what kind of haircut will arrange your pilus type.

Add together New Question

Question

What is kinky hair?

Laura Martin is a Licensed Cosmetologist in Georgia. She has been a hair stylist since 2007 and a cosmetology teacher since 2013.

Licensed Cosmetologist

Expert Answer
Question

What are the different hair types?

Laura Martin is a Licensed Cosmetologist in Georgia. She has been a hair stylist since 2007 and a cosmetology teacher since 2013.

Licensed Cosmetologist

Proficient Answer

Back up wikiHow by unlocking this practiced reply.

In that location are a number of different factors that brand up your hair type. These include density (the number of hairs on your head), texture (how thick your individual strands are), and curl pattern (how direct or curly your pilus is).
Question

Practise I have thick or thin hair?

Laura Martin is a Licensed Cosmetologist in Georgia. She has been a pilus stylist since 2007 and a cosmetology instructor since 2013.

Licensed Cosmetologist

Expert Answer
Question

What is Type ii hair?

Laura Martin is a Licensed Cosmetologist in Georgia. She has been a hair stylist since 2007 and a cosmetology teacher since 2013.

Licensed Cosmetologist

Proficient Reply

Support wikiHow past unlocking this expert reply.

Co-ordinate to Hair Rules, a method of identifying curl type devised by a professional person stylist, type two hair is wavy hair. This is hair that has natural motility but is also easy to straighten.
Question

I actually don't know what hair type I take. my hair looks straight when I rummage it out into an afro merely when I look closer, its actually curly. What blazon is this?

Laura Martin is a Licensed Cosmetologist in Georgia. She has been a hair stylist since 2007 and a cosmetology instructor since 2013.

Licensed Cosmetologist

Adept Reply
Question

My hair appears good for you and it is L-shaped. If you pull downward i strand it Kinks up like a Z fifty and goes in dissimilar directions. Why is this?

Laura Martin is a Licensed Cosmetologist in Georgia. She has been a hair stylist since 2007 and a cosmetology teacher since 2013.

Licensed Cosmetologist

Expert Answer
Question

I have thin hair density, medium hair texture, medium-low porosity, dry hair, highly elastic and O resembling. How do I choose a shampoo?

Laura Martin is a Licensed Cosmetologist in Georgia. She has been a pilus stylist since 2007 and a cosmetology teacher since 2013.

Licensed Cosmetologist

Expert Answer
Question

My pilus is very frizzy and lilliputian curly or wavy. I want to grow my hair long, but information technology gets very frizzy and oily when I grow information technology for 1-2 months

Laura Martin is a Licensed Cosmetologist in Georgia. She has been a pilus stylist since 2007 and a cosmetology teacher since 2013.

Licensed Cosmetologist

Skilful Respond

Support wikiHow by unlocking this expert respond.

If your hair seems oilier when its longer, it may be that your shampoo isn't reaching your scalp when you wash. Massage shampoo directly into scalp, working in from the hairlines: top, sides, and underneath.
Question

I still can't figure out my hair type, because it is always soft, thick, and wavy. What tin can I do?

Laura Martin is a Licensed Cosmetologist in Georgia. She has been a pilus stylist since 2007 and a cosmetology teacher since 2013.

Licensed Cosmetologist

Expert Answer
Question

My pilus is medium, only I desire to know if my hair was coarse or oily, wavy, curly or straight. What do I practise?

Laura Martin is a Licensed Cosmetologist in Georgia. She has been a pilus stylist since 2007 and a cosmetology teacher since 2013.

Licensed Cosmetologist

Expert Answer

Support wikiHow by unlocking this expert reply.

Medium hair ways that you take lots of options. Most haircuts and styling products volition work on your pilus. You may want to schedule a consultation with a professional stylist who tin give you lot a professional assessment.

Bear witness more than answers

Ask a Question

200 characters left

Include your electronic mail address to become a message when this question is answered.

Submit

Video

About This Article

Commodity Summary X

To determine hair type, start by looking at your roots and scalp to determine hair density. Compare a strand of your pilus to a piece of string to determine texture, so use touch to determine your hair'south porosity while information technology's damp. Determine oiliness past checking how oily your roots are the morning after washing your pilus. Stretch a strand of dry out hair to decide elasticity, and then notice your curl pattern to determine how curly your hair is. To learn about specific tests y'all can employ to determine your hair type, read on!

Did this summary aid you lot?

Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 631,075 times.