Check out our at-home, not-too-messy test for hair strength.

A lock of curly hairSome hair can withstand a load of up to 100 grams; can yours? Here’s a quick way to test the strength of your hair.

  1. Remove or salvage one hair.
  2. Tape one end to a butter knife, pencil or a ruler.
  3. To the other end of the hair, tape a thin plastic baggie.
  4. Over a sink, hold the hair and butter knife in one hand and have a bowl of water and tablespoon ready.
  5. Start filling the plastic bag, 1 tablespoon at a time. Count how many tablespoons you can add before the hair breaks. 6½ to 6¾ tablespoons is 100 grams (depending on the weight of tape and bag).
  6. Try hairs from different parts of your scalp. Notice where the hair breaks. The weight of the bag will make it likely to break near where the bag is taped, but weak areas are also likely places for breakage. Each tablespoon is about 15 grams.


This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 1st, 2011 at 1:48 pm and is filed under Curly Hair (Type 3a), Curly Hair (Type 3b), Curly Kinky Hair (Type 3c), Kids, Kinky Hair (Type 4a), Kinky Hair (Type 4b), Kinky Hair (Type 4c), Straight Hair (Type 1), Wavy Hair (Type 2a), Wavy Hair (Type 2b), Wavy Hair (Type 2c). You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a comment. Pinging is currently not allowed.


One comment for “Hair Strength Test”

  1. mocaismama Says:

    Why does it matter how strong my hair is? Are there product recommendations based on my findings?