Texture is the circumference of your individual hair strands which is defined as either fine, medium or thick (coarse) in width.
Fine
Fine hair has a smaller circumference to the hair strand and feels silky and soft to the touch. Fine hair is usually oilier than other hair textures because there are more hair strands per square centimeter with each hair having its own sebaceous oil gland therefore producing more oil. Fine hair can be easily weighed down by using products that are too heavy for it, which can make the hair and curls look stringy.
Medium
Medium hair has a circumference that is in-between fine hair and coarse hair strands and is silky to the touch. It is stronger than fine hair and is generally fuller than fine hair, covering the scalp. Medium hair usually has a nice balance of natural oils that are produced at the scalp and moisture retained in the hair unless the hair is low or high porosity or it has been color or chemically treated.
Thick/Coarse
Thick (coarse) hair has the largest circumference of the hair strand types and is strong. It can feel both silky and rough to the touch depending on how much moisture it has. Coarse hair usually has a lot of volume due to the size of the strand and has the tendency to require extra hydration and moisture because it may lose hydration from the inner layers of the hair strand more quickly than the other hair textures.
Texture Test
Texture Test 1
Hold a single strand of hair between your thumb and index finger. If you can barely feel the strand between your fingers you have fine hair. If you can feel the hair strand slightly, you have medium hair. If you can distinctly feel the hair strand then you have thick (coarse) hair.
Texture Test 2
Another way to determine your hair texture is to compare your strand of hair to sewing thread. Place a hair strand along the length of a sewing thread. If your hair strand is thicker than the thread then you have thick (coarse) hair. If your hair strand is more or less the same thickness as the thread then you have medium hair. If your hair strand is significantly thinner than the thread then you have fine hair.
