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Factors Influencing Hair Volume
Why is it so hard for some women to keep great volume? Why are some of us struggling with lank, limp head-hugging hair while others seem to have full, bouncy hair all the time? The answer is physiological in nature - we inherited a genetic tendency toward fine or limp hair.
The key physiological factors affecting volume are:4
A. Diameter - the size of each hair strand
B. Density - how much hair you have all over your head
C. Stiffness - ability of hair to hold itself away from the scalp
D. Curvature - how much natural bend/wave hair has
E. Friction - how slippery each strand of hair is
F. Cohesion - how much hair strands stick to each other
A. Diameter
Human hair diameters range from 40 microns to 120 microns. Hair texture is usually classified as follows:5
Fine less than 60 microns
Medium 60-80 microns
Thick greater than 80 microns
Unfortunately, there is very little you can do to permanently increase the diameter of your hair shaft, but you can maximize what you do have by making sure your hair is as healthy as possible. Maintain a nutritious, well-balanced diet, as illness and malnourishment can reduce your hair’s diameter.
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Fact: If you have thick hair, your ponytail can be up to twice as thick as the ponytails of your thin-haired friends!
Dianna’s Science Advice:
Styling products like mousse or gel can temporarily give the sensation of increased diameter by coating your hair with a polymer film
Danilo’s Style Advice:
Get the volume that nature didn’t give you by using a regimen of styling products that work together to achieve the look you want to keep
B. Density
Density is the number of hairs per square centimeter on your scalp. On average, most adults have 100,000 to 150,000 hairs on their head6 or 175-300 hairs per square centimeter. This is a big range that represents a lot of variation – depending on age and genetics, some people can have almost twice as many hairs on their head than others.
Why Density Is Important
1) if you have greater density, you have more hair and a thicker ponytail.
2) when hairs are very close together they help hold each other up straighter (think of being in New York’s Times Square on New Year’s Eve - it would be virtually impossible to sit or lay down there).
Fact: Did you know your hair density actually peaks in childhood and decreases as you age? Peak density is achieved in childhood and around age 16 begins to decline steadily until the age of 50, when a sharper decrease occurs.7
Dr. Gray’s Medical Advice:
The easiest thing you can do to maintain hair density is to keep your hair and scalp healthy. Avoid pulling out hairs by vigorous combing or too much tension on ponytails and braids. Use anti-dandruff shampoo if necessary to keep your scalp healthy and prevent itching and scratching. Severe hair loss, called alopecia, should be treated by a dermatologist.
Danilo’s Style Advice:
When choosing a product for thin hair, mousses are a good choice because they are lightweight and easy to spread down to the roots. Avoid heavy or waxy products that can cause thin hair to clump at the roots and give the appearance of even less hair.
C. Stiffness
The technical term for stiffness is "bending modulus." This is a way of measuring the “limpness” of your hair or its ability to hold itself away from your scalp. Unfortunately, stiffness is a direct function of hair thickness. The thinner your hair, the lower the stiffness measure.
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