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This post contains 2 links for testing hair thickness and porosity, an elasticity test follows. To calculate the mean thickness of your individual strands, I have a test through this link which requires good eyesight and a steady hand. ©Science-y Hair Blog 2013 If you'd like to estimate your hair's porosity , this post may help. To determine elasticity , here is a simple test. It is based on these averages:  1) A dry hair can stretch 20-30% of its own length before it breaks. 2) A wet hair can stretch up to 50% of its own length before it breaks. If your hair is 6 inches (15 cm) long, if it has very good elasticity, it should stretch to 6.2-6.8 inches (~16 to 17 cm) when dry and up to 9 inches (~22 cm) when wet. So grab several shed hairs, a ruler, a cup of water and try it out! If your hairs are slippery, you need something for grip - latex or nitrile gloves or a pair of tweezers for one end will give you enough grip. If your hair slips even a little, the measurements will ...

This subject came up recently on the Wavy Hair Community and I wanted to do a little research to find out how much water is too much - and for how long. ©Science-y Hair Blog 2013 Hair does not take on water immediately, it is designed to repel water in it's unaltered state. Whenever I put hairs in water to photograph them, they do not swell dramatically to the point at which the cuticles are standing up and things look awful. The measurements you'll read about below are tiny. Your hair is probably more protected than the hair cited below by things like conditioner, hair gel and maybe oils - including those that protect your hair naturally. There are 2 ways to get hair to swell with water - expose it to high relative humidity and soak it in water. When hair begins to swell with water, the swelling is initially distributed along the length of the hair and hair can actually increase in length (temporarily) as a result. But not very much. Think of the pressure exerted on a garden h...

Here's what I know and what I think about pH and hair products. This is "redox" chemistry (oxidation and reduction). One of my teachers said to our class, "Next week, we'll be doing redox," followed by an evil laugh. I love it because it applies to so many living systems we work with every day. I think you will too. ©Science-y Hair Blog 2013 Get ready for a chemistry smackdown on hair cuticle folklore.   Forget all that stuff you've heard about cuticles being open or closed as a result of different pH. Cuticles being "open" when it is the result of a solution you put on your hair is a side effect of hair swelling in the wrong pH, in strong detergent, or in just plain old water if it's wet for too long. Likewise for cuticles being "closed." The shortest story possible: If you do not want to suddenly damage the structure of your hair in an irreversible way - keep it out of solutions with a of pH 3 or under, and out of solutions with...