How can you tell if you have thick or thin hair?

[musicforsmorks]

Or whereabouts on the spectrum of hair thickness you are?

I know mine isnt very thick, it is quite porous so can expand like a giant sea creature, but not sure it's thin either?
And is fine the same as thin, or are they different things?
And if you have fine hair, but lots of it, does that place you at the thicker end of the hair spectrum?

How can one tell? Is there a way to find out?

I'm not sure. I've always known mine is fine but when I was a young teen at the hairdressers she told me I had fine hair and lots of it - so it's not thicker I suppose but it may look it.

Not sure I have really thick curly hair, and loads of it. I know because every hairdresser I've ever been to comments and when I wake up in the mornings I look like a hirsuit lion who's been dragged through a hedge

i love big poofy hair it needs to make a dramatic comeback!

If you don’t know, you probably don’t have either especially thin/fine or thick hair. I’ve had fine hair all my life and there’s no mistaking it unfortunately. Same with thick hair as it can be hard to manage, takes ages to dry.

Fine refers to diameter of hair shaft (and you can have a lot of it and it can look quite full) and thinning hair refers to hair loss. That can affect people with any type of hair. ‘Thin’ hair I would take to mean any type of hair that is just not very voluminous. Not a lot of it - if you put it in a ponytail, it would be a very skinny one. So could be hair that’s thinning or fine or both. For me, the acid test would be whether standard hair grips contain your hair. If you need an xl version, your hair is thick. If it slips through and you need a small grip, it’s either very fine or thinning or possibly both.

Yeah I think you’d probably know if it was on one extreme or the other. I have fine hair - as in the individual strands are fine - but lots of it, so it looks quite thick!

thanks.
my hair tends to be big at the top and mid lengths but gets thinner towards the ends, so it actually looks thicker cut shorter. I love braids and this annoys me.

There is a thickness test, got this from naturally curly

Smooth out your hair as much as possible with a comb or your fingers, and then gather and tie it into a ponytail. Measure the circumference of your ponytail (with a tape measure or string).
Low density hair will be less than two inches
Medium density hair will be two to three inches
Thick hair will be four or more inches

I have fine hair but medium density. As it's wavy and frizzy it often poofs out and looks thicker than it is, but I know it really isn't.

I’d be interested to know too.

What is a standard hair grip and how do I know if it would contain my hair?

@xfgdhfgnhkk007

There is a thickness test, got this from naturally curly

Smooth out your hair as much as possible with a comb or your fingers, and then gather and tie it into a ponytail. Measure the circumference of your ponytail (with a tape measure or string).
Low density hair will be less than two inches
Medium density hair will be two to three inches
Thick hair will be four or more inches

I have fine hair but medium density. As it's wavy and frizzy it often poofs out and looks thicker than it is, but I know it really isn't.

Surely this depends how tight the hairband is?

@EmmaH2022 yeah you're supposed to smooth it down and do a fairly tight (but not hurting) ponytail with a simple hair band, not a scrunchie or anything

My mum had an issue in old age where her hair became very thin and patchy. It really upset her:(
To my mind i might say thinner hair shows more of the scalp, whether this is natural or due to some other reason.

My hair is unfortunately both fine (thickness of individual hairs) and thin (number of hairs). Dd's hairs are fine like mine, but she has umpteen times more hairs than I do (lucky thing), so overall her hair is thick even though the hairs are fine.

are there certain updo's or styles that wont work for fine or thick hair?

for instance, could someone with fine hair have two french braids? A bun?

and would thick hair be more difficult to wear in a bob?

You'd know if you had thick hair. Mine takes 3+ hours to dry

Mines porous and not particularly thick I don't think, but I have a lot of it. My DF and GF still had full heads of hair in old age so maybe it's genetic.
I could wash it now and it wouldn't be fully dry by bedtime.

I can't really do a bun, as I don't have enough hair. I guess I could if I could grow it really long, but mine basically stops growing when it gets just below shoulder length. Even one French braid look silly on mine, as it's too thin. Two wouldn't work at all!

Ditto you'll know if you have thick hair. It will be commented on by hairdressers and, in my case, by random people (I'm 50). Blonde with lots of grey, wavy, shoulder length and, as a PP said, from damp can take a good 24hrs to air dry.

Fine hair means each strand of hair is narrow. Thin hair means there isn't much of it. I think thick can be used as the opposite of either/both of these.

Unfortunately for me, my hair is both fine and thin, if I put it in a ponytail its barely there. My daughter on the other hand has very thick hair - in a ponytail there is lots of it.

Hair grips and clips just slide out of my hair. Those octopus claws, haha NOPE. Even fabric headbands slide off. It is stupidly fine and.straight as well.
I used to have a Pat Butcher crop but it didn't half take some upkeep, hair clay and monthly salon visits.

Anyway all that babble didn't answer your questions. I say ask your hairdresser next time you are in?

One plus of thin/fine hair is it dries quickly. Mine will be dry about half an hour after washing.

I think I have thin hair but my hairdresser always says it's thick - I think it has no volume

I washed mine last night before bed and it was still wet this afternoon at work.

No hairdresser has commented on it being thick but they may have said there is lots of it, but that may be related to length. I have only been to a hairdresser a handful of times as an adult so they haven’t really had chance to say much.

I still want to know what a standard hair grip is - my head says one of those things like a pin?

Im going to try the ponytail thing.

@xfgdhfgnhkk007

There is a thickness test, got this from naturally curly

Smooth out your hair as much as possible with a comb or your fingers, and then gather and tie it into a ponytail. Measure the circumference of your ponytail (with a tape measure or string).
Low density hair will be less than two inches
Medium density hair will be two to three inches
Thick hair will be four or more inches

I have fine hair but medium density. As it's wavy and frizzy it often poofs out and looks thicker than it is, but I know it really isn't.

I’ve no idea how accurate this is but hairdressers always remark about my hair thickness and I just measured mine as 5.5 inches.

That test doesn't work if your hair isn't long enough to put in a ponytail. Having said that if you have hair at either extreme you'll know about it. DH always has hairdressers commenting on his hair, he has lots of hair and the individual hairs are very thick, they stick straight out and are like bristles.

@OldTinHat

Ditto you'll know if you have thick hair. It will be commented on by hairdressers and, in my case, by random people (I'm 50). Blonde with lots of grey, wavy, shoulder length and, as a PP said, from damp can take a good 24hrs to air dry.

@OldTinHat - actually you’re right! A friend of mine had had long thick blonde (she almost looks Scandinavian) hair for years and it’s really easy to put up etc. She says it can be a pain as she often has to wash it the night before to dry it.

She had one mishap where she got it cut really short into a layered wedge cut when she was 18 and regretted it for ages and grew it straight back afterwards. For some strange reason she loved putting it in a high ponytail when we were 14/15!