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Knowing as much as you can about your red hair is important for making decisions like what type of cut to get, what type of products to use, and how to treat your hair so it stays healthy and happy.
Chances are you already know your hair type because it’s usually pretty obvious. The three most common hair types for redheads are straight, wavy, and curly.
READ: How to Determine Your Redhead Skin Type
Here is our guide to help you determine your hair type, texture, and porosity using 3 simple tests:
1. Air dry test
If you’re not sure where your hair falls, or maybe your hair has changed as you’ve gotten older it’s time to do an air-dry test.
HOW TO: Wash your hair with shampoo and conditioner and let it air dry without any added products or brushing. You can squeeze some of the water out, but avoid rubbing it too much. As your hair dries you will be able to see if curls are forming or if the hair is laying flat.
Lots of people fall somewhere between hair types so you may notice your hair is mostly straight but has some waves in certain areas or you may have defined curls in some spots but waves in others. Typically this means your hair could be curly or wavy but it needs some help getting its curl structure back.
2. Strand test
Hair texture determines if your hair is fine, medium, or coarse. Again you may already be able to tell by running your hands or a brush through it but if you’re looking to test it out, try a strand test.
HOW TO: To do a strand test, take a single strand of hair and lay it down on a flat surface. Then compare it to a single sewing thread. Thin hair will be smaller than the thread, while coarse hair will be thicker. Anything in between would be medium.
Did you know that redheads actually have fewer hairs on their heads, but their strands are thicker than blondes and brunettes?
3. Water test
Lastly, you will want to know how quickly your hair absorbs moisture which is called porosity. This will determine if your hair is dry, normal, or oily.
HOW TO: Find your hair’s porosity, place a single strand in a bowl of water. If the hair sinks it absorbs a lot of moisture which means your hair is lacking moisture and may be damaged. This means you should do treatments to help heal it while avoiding the heat. If the hair floats on top of the water that means it cannot absorb the water. This typically means you have excess product build-up or a lot of oils. What you want is for the hair to float somewhere in the middle meaning it’s normal.
Rock it like a Redhead!
