| Hair: Hair Texture |
| Karen Marie Shelton |
| Revised 2/19/07 - Original Publication Date: 2/11/1998 |
Introduction
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Sharon Stone
Famous Female Celebrity
With Fine Tresses |
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DailyCeleb.com
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As I reported in article on
Hair Profiling hair texture for humans is measured
by the degree of fineness or coarseness of your hair,
which varies according to the diameter of each
individual hair.
Hair experts (although not all) generally agree that
there are four major types of hair texture which are:
1. Fine
2. Medium
3. Coarse
4. Wiry Within the four defined
texture ranges (fine, medium, coarse and wiry) hair can
also be of thin, medium or thick density and it can be
straight, curly, wavy or kinky.
Thus human hair can range in texture from stick
straight with absolutely no bend whatsoever or it can be
naturally curly. If you look at the different
textures of human hair under a microscope you will
discover that straight hair has a rounded shape while
curly hair is more oval.
Tightly curled or coiled hair has a flat, ribbon like
shape and is most commonly found in people with African
American heritage. Asian hair often has a
different shape than Caucasian or African American hair.
Hair texture can vary for individual sections of your
scalp at the same time. It is possible to have
multiple textures in play for a single head of hair.
Hair condition will also ultimately alter the ultimate
equation and can be healthy, normal, oily, dry, damaged
or a combination. Hair Texture
Variations Hair texture can vary by:
1. Actual diameter of the hair. Coarse
hair has the widest diameter and very fine hair has the
narrowest.
2. How hair actually feels. Coarse hair feels
harsh and rough to the touch. Fine hair is usually
very soft unless the hair has been previously damaged
through chemical abuse.
Coarse hair traditionally contains three
layers which includes the medulla, cortex and cuticle.
Coarse hair quickly absorbs moisture because the scales
on the outside layer of coarse hair (unless damaged)
tend to be tightly connected or overlapped and raised up
and away from the shaft.
Medium textured hair is the most common type
of texture. Medium textured hair may or may not
have the same three layers as Coarse hair. This is
considered to be normal hair and is thought to be the
most easy to manage and process with chemicals and color
treatments. Medium hair can be damaged but it
takes more effort than with fine hair.
Finely textured hair usually only contains a
cortex and cuticle and thus requires special care.
Fine hair generally is more difficult to curl and tends
to lay flat, even if there are a large number of hair.
Fine hair tends to be fly-a-way and weightless.
Fine hair may be easier to process but can also be more
easily damaged from chemical applications.
Wiry textured hair tends to have a hard glassy
feeling. This is because the cuticles lay flat
against the hair shaft. Although wiry hair can
exist in all races, it is somewhat more common for
people with African American ancestry. Not only is
African American hair often wiry, it is also coarse at
the same time. Wiry hair is often tightly curled.
Combination hair is a cross between curly and
straight and can also be fine and coarse. Mixed
race individuals may be more likely to have combination
hair than those that are not of mixed racial heritage.
Hair Texture Shapes
Different hair textures when viewed under a microscope
have different shapes. The shapes of the different
textures are:
Extremely Curly Hair grows in long twisted
spirals. When looking under a microscope curly
hair tends to have an oval shape and vary in shape and
thickness along the length of different strands.
Curly hair is quite irregular unlike wavy and straight
strands.
Some extremely curly hair tends to form into a shape
like a coil or tight wire hence the name wiry.
Coiled hair tends to be fine. It also tends to
wrap around each other, breaks easily, has low
elasticity and tangles, especially on the ends.
Wavy hair tends to be oval and have a fairly
regular uniform diameter along a single strand.
Wavy hair tends to possess a regular and uniform
diameter along a single strand.
Straight hair tends to possess a fairly
uniform diameter along a single strand.
Hair Texture Altered By Natural & Chemical Means
Hair texture can be altered through a variety of natural
and chemical conditions.
After undergoing chemotherapy some people who lose
all their hair will be surprised to discover that the
hair grows back with a completely different texture.
If before chemo the hair texture was fine, in some rare
cases, the hair may grow back as coarse or wiry.
Or vice versa.
Summary After undergoing
chemotherapy some people who lose all their hair will be
surprised to discover that the hair grows back with a
completely different texture. If before chemo the
hair texture was fine, in some rare cases, the hair may
grow back as coarse or wiry. |