Hair thickness and density, what is it?

We curlygirls have our own language, completed with expert level terms; from porosity to curl types. But it’s time to add two new ones to your curly vocabulary. Introducing: hair thickness and density. What is it? What is the difference and how do you test it? Don’t worry, we’ll tell you everything you need to know in the blog post below. 

Hair thickness and density

What is hair thickness?

Never heard of the term hair thickness? Get ready. When we talk about hair thickness it’s exactly what it sounds like; all about how thick your individual strands are. You can have fine, medium or coarse har. But don’t jump the gun yet, because this doesn’t tell you anything about your curl pattern.  

To find out in which category your hair falls, you need to get one individual strand from your comb (or pluck it from your head, but we don’t recommend that) and hold it up against the light. Is the strand barely visible? You have fine hair. Is it very visible? Coarse hair. And somewhere in between is, you guessed it, medium hair. If you can’t determine the thickness by just using your eyes, try this. Take an individual strand of hair, keep in between your fingers and just feel. If you can’t detect it while you hold it, you have fine hair. If you can feel it well, coarse hair. And in between is medium hair.

What is hair density?

It’s good to know which hair thickness you have, but equally as important is your hair density. The name gives it away already, we are looking at the amount of hairs you have on your head. Again you can fall into one of three categories: you can have low, medium or high-density hair. 

To determine which one it is you grab a chunk of hair and look for your scalp. Is it clearly visible? You have low-density hair. If you can see it a little bit, it means you have medium-density hair and if it almost completely vanishes, you have high-density hair. It simply means you have a lot of hair on your head. Usually resulting in a fuller (more dense) fro.

Knowing your hair qualities will help you pick the right products and techniques to keep it happy and healthy. Steadily working towards the curls of your dreams. Making progress? Don’t be shy, show us. We’re here for you every step of the way and want to see how it’s going. So, get on Instagram and post those gorgeous pics. Don’t forget to tag us under #CGMLook and inspire some fellow curlygirls along the way.