Woman smiling, showcasing voluminous curls, against beige background.
Hair health and science

What's Your Hair's Curvature?

1 minute

Unlock the mystery of your hair with a simple test! Determine your hair curvature with just a strand, ruler, and water. Whether your locks are curly or straight, find out how to best care for them and keep them looking their best.

A simple test to learn more about your hair

What this is testing:

Hair curvature

When you have very curly hair, the hair strands’ twists and turns require special care

What you’ll need

A hair strand, a ruler, a small cup of water

what is your hair curvature

Hand dips hair into a bowl of blue liquid.Hands stretch thin line above a yellow measuring tape.

How to conduct this experiment

Step 1: Take a hair strand from the middle to back of your head.

Step 2: Wet the strand of hair with water. Stretch out the hair strand and measure it, while it’s still wet.

Step 3: Let the hair strand dry naturally then measure it again.

Step 4: When is the hair strand longer—when wet or dry?

Curly hair measured straight, above two yellow rulers; comparison.

Results

When dry, if the hair strand is shorter than the original wet length, your hair curvature indicates your hair is very curly, and therefore needs moisturizers that help seal and smooth cuticle edges to define curls and control frizz. When dry, if hair is about the same as the original wet length, your hair curvature indicates your hair is mostly straight and needs conditioning that helps to align and protect hair from damage.


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