Hey again! Check me out! I stepped out of the bush and got glammed up. Joey with Island Boy Photography took these pictures of me. Empress A.K. hooked me up with this fancy jury. And call me Trees here on YouTube did my amazing beat. It was fun and great while lasted, but you know I had a run back to the bush. Alright, on to the video. So we talked about how to test and enhance your curl pattern, texture and density. In this video, we're going to talk about thickness, what it is, how to test your thickness, and ways to make your hair thicker. But first, let's clear up some confusion from the last three videos. Most of us with African DNA are super diverse. So you're probably going to find all four curl patterns in your hair. And determining what your curl pattern is, focus on the most predominant one or two. Also, I purposely did not mention anything about aging as a culprit of dense hair becoming sparse, because there is no correlation with aging and excessively or noticeably sparse hair. Of course, you should expect some hair thinning and scalp dryness with aging, but not to the point where it's very noticeable or dramatic. Now you care for your mind and body when you're young, dictates how well or horrible you age when you get older, but I'll talk more about that in a future video. If your hair is too short for the quarter test, try the mini twist test. Mini twist is a great way to see if your hair is dense or sparse. If they look scalpy, your hair is on the sparse end of the line. If you can barely see your scalp, then your hair is on the dense end of the line. Mini twists are also a great way to see if areas of your hair are thinning out and becoming sparse. So you can nib it in a bump before it gets out of hand. Miss Leah Hubbard brought up a great point about the normal position on the density line. So I decided to remit it. She's right, there's no such thing as normal, and every natural hair care to rustic is normal, all at the same time. My goal with this complete hair typing chart is to give us more insight about our unique hair and to celebrate how diverse and beautiful you are. It's extremely inclusive for a reason. As we move through each line and you see where you fit, you should feel a sense of individuality because no one is quite like you. With that said, let's move on to the thickness line. The thickness of your hair refers to how thick each individual hair strand is. Your hair strands can either be thick, fine, or somewhere in the middle. The thread test is a great way to get a more accurate reading on how thick your hair strands are. Use one of these regular all-purpose polyester threads. Split it in half because no one really has hair this thick, and compare it to hair strands from different sections of your hair. Why? You guess right, because most of us natural have different hair thicknesses on different sections of our hair. This thread size represents a thick hair strand. It's not an exact science, but you're basically comparing how much finer your hair is than the thread. If your hair strand is around the same size as a thread, it's on the thick end of the line. If it's about half the size, then your hair is somewhere in the middle. If it's a lot finer than the thread, then your hair is on the fine end of the line. So let's take a look at mine. My hair strands are pretty thick. They're almost the same size as the thread. So overall, I say I'm right around here on the thickness line. As always, try not to drive yourself crazy by testing too many sections. Get an understanding of the major differences in your hair and come up with an overall average. Just to clear up some confusion, the density of your hair refers to how many hair strands you have, and the thickness of your hair refers to how thick each individual hair strand is. Hair types that are both dense and thick are the strongest and more resistant to setbacks without any noticeable change. But don't overdo it and always learn from your mistakes so you don't repeat them. Hair types that are both sparse and fine are the most fragile. This applies to all hair types, but especially for sparse and fine hair types. In order to retain length, you have to learn the art of the soft touch every time you handle your hair. Preservation is key, but not everyone with sparse hair has fine hair strands, and not everyone with dense hair has thick hair strands. Here are some characteristics and tips I put together on these thickness density combinations. If you have one of these hair types, help someone out by leaving some more helpful tips and characteristics you've observed throughout your hair journey. Just below in the comment section. Just like with sparse hair types, some people have naturally fine hair strands. Having naturally fine hair does not affect how healthy or long your hair can get. There are pros and cons to both fine and thick hair types. One is not better than the other. But for those of you that want to change things up, I'm going to be honest with you. It's not easy to turn fine or sparse hair to thick dense hair. It's a journey, and the results are often limited. Meaning your hair is probably not going to go from this to this. In reality, you do have the power to change it from this to say this. So watch out for all the gimmicks and fake promises out there because they're everywhere. With that said, a good and consistent hair in health regimen can definitely get you and your hair to a better place. Here are some suggestions on things that are worth including in your hair and health regimen to help thicken up your hair. Inverting your head has so many benefits. It helps strengthen your whole body. It rebalances you and directs more nutritious blood to your hair follicles. Try actively stretching your whole body on a consistent basis. And each stretch session with an inversion. Herbs are really powerful. They do a really good job at feeding and strengthening your hair follicles. Experiment with different herbs, some of which you can find in your own kitchen cabinet. Eating foods that are alive preserves your youth, moisture levels, and internal energy. They keep your internal systems from prematurely slowing down. So food is really, really, really important. You don't have to go on a full raw veggie and fruit diet. If you can, that's great. But if that's too much for you, take smaller steps by adding raw veggies to every meal. And eat at least two or three raw fruits each day. I'm not a huge fan of concentrated supplements because they can do a number on your kidneys. And they are reactively regulated, meaning the FDA does not step in unless there have been many complaints. So they're risk-involved. But you can also try using biotin for a short time to help kickstart your hair thickening journey. It can cause adverse reactions like acne. So start off with a lower dosage and work your way up if you feel need to. Don't feel like you have to take the highest dosage because not a lot of biotin is needed to see results. Start with 5 milligrams or 5,000 micrograms for the first week or two. Then move up to 10 milligrams or 10,000 micrograms for the next two weeks. If your skin is not negatively affected and you feel like you need to increase the dosage, move up to 25 milligrams. After 6-8 weeks, weaned down by taking 10 milligrams for a week, then 5 milligrams for another week before stopping. It shouldn't be a long-term thing. Think of biotin as a kickstart. The grass always looks greener on the other side. So I think it's a good idea to end this video with advantages of having fine natural hair. If you're gentle with your hair and stay far away from tangles, it's actually easier for finer hair types to retain length. Learning more about your unique hair and taking good care of it is often better than trying to change it. As always, thanks for watching. See you in the next video!