Getting to Know Your Hair

Your hair has a personality

Before buying a single product, it helps to understand what you’re working with. Most hair advice online goes wrong because it was written for someone else’s hair. Once you know your hair’s four basic traits, you can ignore 90% of the noise.

1. Pattern: what shape does it make?

Wash your hair, let it dry with no product, and look at the shape of the strands. Hairdressers often use a 1–4 scale:

type	looks like	tends to be
1: straight	falls flat, no bend	gets oily quickly (oil slides down easily)
2: wavy	loose “S” bends	can go frizzy or flat depending on the weather
3: curly	springy ringlets or loops	loves moisture, hates rough brushing
4 (coily	tight zig-zags or coils	the most delicate) needs lots of moisture and gentle handling

Each number has an A, B or C for looser to tighter. Lots of people have a mix - wavy underneath and straighter on top is very common.

2. Texture: how thick is each strand?

Take a single hair and roll it between your fingers.

• Fine - you can barely feel it. Fine hair is easily weighed down, so lighter products work best.
• Medium - you can feel it, but it’s soft.
• Coarse - feels like a thread. Coarse hair holds styles well but can feel dry.

3. Density: how much hair is there?

Density is how many strands you have, not how thick each one is. Pull your hair to one side: if you can easily see your scalp, you have lower density; if not, higher. Density can vary across your head - it’s very common to have less on top or at the temples and more at the back.

4. Porosity: how thirsty is it?

Porosity is how easily your hair absorbs and holds on to water.

• Low porosity - the outer layer (the cuticle) is tightly closed. Water beads on top, products sit on the surface, and hair takes ages to dry. Use lighter products and a little warmth (a warm towel or shower steam) to help conditioner get in.
• Medium - the easy-going middle.
• High porosity - the cuticle is open, often from bleach, heat or sun. Hair drinks water fast, dries fast and frizzes. Richer conditioners, leave-ins and heat protection are its best friends.

You’ll try a simple porosity test in the next seed.

The scalp counts too

Your scalp is skin. Some scalps get oily in a day, some can go a week. That (not a rule like “wash every day”) decides how often you wash.

Your hair profile

By the end of this bed, you’ll be able to say something like: “I’ve got fine, wavy, medium-density, low-porosity hair and an oily scalp.” That one sentence will make shopping, salon visits and YouTube tutorials so much easier.