Thickest strand of human hair (2024)

FAQs

What is the thickest part of the hair? ›

The cortex of the hair shaft is located between the hair cuticle and medulla and is the thickest hair layer. It contains most of the hair's pigment, giving the hair its color.

Your hair strands could measure anything between 0.04mm to 0.12mm depending on a wide variety of variables. For example, if you pluck a hair strand from the crown of your head and one from the fringes, you're likely to see a variation.

Caucasian hair usually appears thicker since it is more difficult to see through the scalp than other ethnic hair types. However, Asian hair is the thickest and coarsest hair of any ethnic group.

Most human hair is One-thousandth of inch, or 0.001 inch.

Some people have wider follicles-and therefore, thicker hair strands-than other people. Genetics influence hair thickness, but other factors like hormones and age are important factors, too.

Coarse hair refers to a hair type that is thicker and wider in diameter than average. This hair type occurs in different ethnicities. A person can have coarse hair that is straight, wavy, curly, or coiled. Coarse hair is prone to dryness, brittleness, and breakage.

African hair is seen to be much thicker and more dense meaning that the hair follicles are larger. Density represents the amount of hairs that grow from the head, with denser hair resulting from more hairs growing closer together from the scalp. An individual with high-density hair creates a fuller appearance of curls.

"Hair with a small diameter—or fine hair—has a typical diameter of about 50 microns," Spengler explains. "Hair with a larger diameter—or coarse hair—has a typical diameter of about 120 microns." For comparison's sake, a piece of copy paper is 70 microns thick.

The ponytail test: Pull up your dry hair into a ponytail, then loop it with a piece of ribbon to measure the circumference of your 'do. Place the ribbon next to a ruler. If it's less than two inches, you likely have low-density hair, and if it's more than four inches, your hair is on the denser side.

Another way to test hair thickness, without pulling out any of your strands, is to take a single hair in between your fingers. If you can feel the hair, you have thicker hair and if you feel nothing, you have thin hair.

What are the different thickness of hair? ›

The hair shaft is primarily responsible for our hair's strength. You might be surprised to hear that although a hair shaft is on average only 0.1 mm thick, it is made up of three different layers. The innermost layer at the hair's center is called the medulla.

The Point of No Return (or Thickening”>

This is why you will often notice that your hair is thicker at the root than it is at the tip, because the hair at the tip has suffered through years of damage from daily hair maintenance.

The hair shaft is formed of three layers: The medulla – the deepest layer of the hair shaft, only seen in large and thick hairs. The cortex – the middle layer of the hair shaft which provides the strength, colour and texture of a hair fibre.

Hair that is type 1C is very thick and coarse, but still straight and shiny so it can be hard to make curls last. Type 2 hair is naturally wavy, with more curl than some types of hair but less than others. It is usually thicker than the first category. Type 2A hair is wavy and can be fine and thin or a little coarser.