Take Our Hair Quiz to Discover the Best Products for Your Needs
What is Your Hair Pattern?
Let’s begin with your hair pattern. It’s a key factor in determining the hair care products you need based on texture, moisture, and volume. Also known as hair type, hair pattern can be assigned a number for straight (1), wavy (2), curly (3), and coily (4) plus a subcategory letter (A, B or C). For this hair care quiz, the curly type has two subcategories: 3A-3B and 3C. Choose one of the five hair patterns that best matches your hair.
What is Your Hair Density?
Next, we’ll consider your hair density. This is important for a hair quiz because it helps determine whether your hair care products should be on the light or heavy side. Not to be confused with thickness, density refers to how many hairs grow per square inch of scalp – but you don’t have to count individual strands! To determine if your hair density is low, medium or high, look at your natural part in a mirror and see how closely it matches one of the illustrations below.
What is Your Hair Texture?
Hair texture is the thickness of an individual strand of hair. It’s very helpful to know if your hair is fine, medium or thick because many products are formulated to give your hair more or less body. For example, the best hair care regimen for a thick head of curls will not work well for someone with straight thin locks. To determine your hair texture, gently roll a single strand between your fingers and match a description below.
What is Your Main Hair Care Goal?
It’s normal to have multiple hair care goals at once, but this hair quiz focuses on your top priority. For example, your color-treated hair may be both dry and frizzy – but your first objective is to hydrate. Choose one from the following: smoothing frizz, moisturizing dry hair, daily cleansing, protecting hair color, repairing damage, fortifying weak hair, thickening fine hair, rebalancing greasy scalp/dry ends.
FAQ
The most widely used method for determining hair type is the Andre Walker Hair Typing System. It has four main categories – 1 for straight, 2 for wavy, 3 for curly, and 4 for coily – and each one has three subcategories (A, B, and C). Other characteristics like density (concentration) and thickness (width) will help further tailor your routine.
Those with a curly hair pattern (2A through 4C) should also consider porosity, which refers to how open the cuticles are, thus how well they let in moisture and nutrients.
What does it mean if my hair floats in water?
If your hair floats in water, that means it has low porosity and the cuticles are closed. This makes it hard for moisture and nutrients to penetrate to the inner cortex of the hair, so it tends to get dry quickly.
Because low-porosity hair doesn’t absorb heavier products well, it benefits from lightweight water-based hair care products that won’t weigh it down. Adding heat when deep conditioning is also highly recommended to soften and help open the cuticles.
You can test the porosity of your hair by dropping a single strand of hair into a glass of water. Hair with medium porosity hovers in the middle of the glass, while a high porosity strand will easily soak up the water and sink to the bottom.
Is my hair curly or wavy?
Sometimes it’s not easy to tell the difference between Type 2 waves and Type 3 curls. Whereas wavy hair tends to be looser and S-shaped, curly hair is typically more defined with visible loops, corkscrews or ringlets. Wavy hair also generally has a finer texture than curly hair. To test if you have natural waves or curls, apply a curl-defining product to damp hair and let it air-dry.
Is frizzy hair high or low density?
Contrary to popular belief, frizz is not related to how dense your hair is. Frizzy hair is usually a sign of low porosity, dryness or humidity and can usually be treated with hydrating hair care products.
On the other hand, density refers to how many hairs grow per square inch of scalp. But don’t worry, you can determine your hair density without counting each strand! To determine if your hair density is low, medium or high, look at your natural part in a mirror. High-density hair shows little to no scalp, while the scalp is clearly visible on low-density hair.