What’s My Hair Type and How Do I Treat it?

From dry to oily, thick to fine … being able to determine your hair type and density can be a little complicated. Although I personally don’t think it’s the end all and be all (finding out your skin type is more important I think!), it’s good to know what the heck it up with that crowning glory of yours and how to take care of it.

Famed hair expert Antonio Prieto sent a hair tip called the “ponytail test” to find out our hair density, and I thought I’d be a great topic to post on – that e-mail inspired this post! Antonio tells us about a hair test where you can find out your hair type in a few seconds! With this easy “ponytail test”, you can find out density with just one easy twist of the hair.

With an average hair elastic, put your hair in a ponytail and count how many times it wraps around your hair: 1 time is thick, 2 – 3 times is medium, and if you can wrap your hair 3 or more times, it is fine hair.

After figuring out your hair density, think about what your concerns are.

So how do you find your hair type? I personally didn’t really know there were so many hair types until I did my research! Here’s what I found.

• Normal Hair: It is fairly easy to manage, not greasy and not dry either.

• Oily Hair: Often has problems with dandruff and looks oily after a day of washing. Hair normally feels heavy and dirty.

• Dry Hair: This is not to be confused with damaged hair that are a result from intense styling and heat. Instead, dry hair looks dull, lifeless, and well … dry. It feels like all moisture and life has been sapped from it. Dry hair can break off easily and your scalp can feel itchy at times.

• Combination Hair: Just like combination skin, this hair type has characteristics from both dry and oily hair. Normally, your scalp is oily and your ends are dry. After shampooing, your hair looks great but the ends still look very dry.

• Damaged hair: Lifeless, split ends, rough textures – all the result from backcombing, styling products, and heat. In other words, my hair!

After determining your hair type, it’s time to take care of it! A dirty scalp and hair shaft is not conducive to supporting hair health, so shampooing is important. Plus it just feels good to give it a good wash! (My post Shampoo Myths and Facts may be of interest too.)

Here’s how to shampoo your hair with your certain hair type.

Remember though – don’t overdose with the shampooing!
Due to the strong ingredient sodium lauryl sulfate in most shampoos, overusing it can cause your hair to be stripped, dried out, and damaged.

If your hair is…

• Dry: Dry hair should be shampooed every other day. Using a lighter conditioner will allow you to keep your hair from getting oily, letting that shampoo bottle take a bit of a rest. This goes for chemically altered or color treated hair as well.

• Normal: Normal hair can be shampooed every day, or every two days depending on the circumstances surrounding the hair.

• Combination: Wash the scalp with shampoo made for oily hair/dandruff, and condition the ends only.

• Oily: Oily hair should be shampooed according to how oily the hair is, however every day is usually necessary. If you notice your hair is oily even when it is washed every day, it might be necessary to contact a dermatologist since oily hair comes from a scalp function.

• Damaged: Damaged hair needs a lot of deep conditioning (my post on how to do a deep conditioning hair mask at home may help). I really recommend this product, I love it! Also, the only real way to get rid of all those dead, lifeless ends is to have a good haircut.

Those are some simple tips on identifying your hair type and how to treat it, hope they were helpful! From the ponytail test, I have medium hair (although on the thin side, I think) and normal but damaged hair thanks to constant updos and backcombing it all the time. What’s your hair type? :D