But what happens if you don’t know your hair type. Then you probably waste your money for products, which simply do not work on 100% for you! That is the reason why I decided to create one blog post which will help you to identify your hair type in terms of its thickness, porosity, density, moisture, and protein balance. And if you want to figure out your hair type according to its natural texture, you can check out our other article “How to Identify Your Natural Hair Type? [ According to Texture ]“
Let’s get started
Hair thickness
By “hair thickness,” I do not mean the number of hairs that you have on your head, but the actual thickness of one hair. To identify your hair type, you can use the following test:
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If you don’t feel the hair between the fingers, you have thin hair.
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If the hair feels like a thread between your fingers, you have medium-thick hair.
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If you can definitely feel the hair between your fingers and it feels sustainable and tough, you have thick hair.
Hair density
A lot of people are deceived by the terms “dense” and “thick,” and often think that if someone has thin hair, he/she also has low hair density. That is not true, because the two terms refer to very different things: thickness is the strength and size of individual hairs, and density is the number of hairs that you have on your scalp. Your hair can be either with low or high density.
Hair porosity
Hair porosity is the ability of the hair to absorb, retain, and lose moisture (both water and conditioners). Keep in mind that the level of porosity may be different in the different parts and sections of the hair. There are three types of hair, in terms of porosity:
- Low porosity hair.
This type of hair absorbs moisture difficultly, retains it easily and loses it difficultly. If you have low porosity hair, you often experience product buildup (from conditioners, masks, oils, etc.). You also wait up to 6 hours for the hair to air dry.
- Medium porosity hair.
This is the dream hair. It absorbs, retains, and loses the perfect amount of moisture so that the hair is healthy and easy to style. It is balanced in moisture but takes a bit more than 2 hours to air dry.
- High porosity hair.
It absorbs, retains, and loses moisture easily. You will recognize that your hair is with high porosity if it air dries for less than 2 hours.
Protein-moisture balance
The balance between moisture and protein is essential for healthy-looking, beautiful hair. Unfortunately, it is challenging to achieve the perfect balance, but the closer you are to perfection, the more beautiful your hair looks.
How to identify is your hair lacks moisture or protein? There is a quick test that you can do. Take a single hair from your head and pull it like you try to break it in two.
- Lack of moisture. If the hair has no elasticity when you pull it, it lacks moisture. You can break this type of hair very easily. It feels hard, dull, frizzy, and difficult to style. It also lacks shine. To balance this lack of moisture, and introduce it to the hair, use products rich in oils and nourishing ingredients.
- Lack of protein. If you face difficulty to break the hair because it is very elastic, then most probably it is in lack of protein. This type of hair often feels heavy and oily and is prone to product buildup. It is extremely difficult to style. To compensate for the lack of protein, use products with protein content (e.g., keratin), avoid deep conditioners and oil-based products.
The hair is very pretentious part of our bodies, which requires extra time for pampering and grooming. In order to take good care of your hair, you need to know it well, and you need to understand its needs and wants. And if you provide it with everything needed, it will become your best friend and not the enemy that you have to style with heat and scissors.