This is a guide to determining your nappy, napptural, or natural hair type at home. Most people classify hair in terms of fine or coarse, good or bad. In short, most people, regardless of race, do not have a clue about determining hair type. There are actually many factors that determine hair type: hair dimensions, hair patterns, hair texture, hair density, hair porosity, and hair elasticity.

Hair Structure

Your hair is made up of a protein called keratin. As you may remember from science class, your nails and skin is made up of keratin, too.

Each individual hair is made up of three layers:

• 1. The Medulla is the innermost part of the hair. Hair strands that are fine do not have this layer.
• 2. The Cortex is the middle layer which gives hair its color, texture, and strength.
• 3. The Cuticle is the outer layer of flat, colorless scales that protects the cortex.

Hair Dimensions

When most people refer to hair in terms of fine or coarse, they are usually talking about how well the hair covers the head. This amount depends on two things:

1. The number of hairs on the head.
2. The diameter of the individual hair strands.

Hair Patterns

Your hair leaves the follicle in a specific and predetermined angle which determines how the hair will lie on the head. To find your hair pattern, identify the pattern that take up a least 70% of your head. Clip one long strand. Wash the strand with shampoo, then rinse it with cold water. Put the strand on a paper towel, let it dry, then note its shape.

To simplify things, hair generally display one or more patterns:

• The S Pattern – The strand resembles a sine wave.
• The I Pattern – The strand resembles a flat line.
• The L Pattern – The strand resembles right angles (with little or no resemblance to a sine wave).
• The O Pattern – The strand resembles one or more spirals.

MANY people will have a combination of these patterns. In other words, you can be an S, I, L, O or IL, OS, LO, and so forth. No hair pattern is better than the other!

Hair Texture

Hair texture is the measure of the thickness of a hair strand. These measurements are classified as coarse, medium, or fine. Coarse is the thickest diameter and fine being the thinnest diameter. Having coarse, medium, and fine textures is NOT race specific. It differs per individual. Many people of many ethnic groups may have all three textures on one head! This is not unusual.

Hair Density

Hair density is the number of hairs on your head per one square inch. These measurements are classified as thick, medium, and thin. Hair density is not dependent on hair texture.

Having thick, medium, or thin hair density is NOT race specific. It differs per individual. Interestingly, blondes appear to have the most hair density and redheads seem to have the least.

Hair Porosity

Hair Porosity is the amount your hair can absorb moisture. These measurements are classified as high, normal, and low. Porosity is determined by the position of the cuticle. The cuticle is the outer layer of flat, colorless scales that protects the cortex, or middle of your hair shaft. Hair with high porosity have cuticles that are open, therefore, allowing too much moisture to move in and out of the hair shaft. Hair with medium porosity have cuticles that lay together and keeps moisture from moving in or out of the hair shaft. Hair with low porosity have cuticles that are packed very close together, therefore, it keeps moisture out.

Hair Elasticity

Hair elasticity is the amount a hair strand will stretch and then return to its beginning length, without breaking. These measurements are classified as high, medium, or low. Usually, a hair strand with medium elasticity will stretch up to half of its length and then return to its original length. A hair strand with low elasticity will stretch up to one third of its length and will often break during this process.

Tags: cortex, cuticle, hair density, hair dimensions, hair elasticity, hair patterns, hair porosity, hair structure, hair texture, keratin, medulla, nappy hair care, natural hair types, SILO
Filed under: Nappy Hair