Key Takeaways

• Your hair texture can be either fine, medium, or coarse.
• You can determine your hair texture by running a strand of hair through your fingers.
• While you can’t change your natural hair texture, you can take care of it so that it looks its best.

Jump to

• What Is Hair Texture?
• What Is My Natural Hair Texture?
• Can You Change Your Natural Hair Texture?

Understanding Your Natural Hair Texture

Understanding your natural hair texture can make your life easier. Knowing how to style it, how much product to use on it, and how to work with it will give you the confidence and ease you need to help your hair look its best. Though all three types of hair texture vary, each can benefit from being healthier. When hair is healthier, it’s easier to manage and more resilient to what is thrown at it. OLAPLEX® can help your hair, no matter your hair texture, because every hair texture can benefit from being healthier.

What Is Hair Texture?

Hair texture is complex. You can have fine curly hair or thick straight hair, just as you can have coarse, curly hair. Hair texture is often confused with the hydration or state of hair such as dry or smooth, but hair texture is actually the diameter and shape of the hair. Let’s break down the three different hair textures: fine, medium, and coarse hair.

What Is My Natural Hair Texture?

Determining your natural hair texture is simple once you understand what each hair texture looks and feels like.

Fine to Medium Hair Textures

You can tell that you have fine or medium hair by running a strand of hair between your fingers. If you don’t feel anything, you probably have fine hair. If you can feel the strand, then you have medium hair texture. You can also tell if you have fine or medium hair if your hair is prone to tangling and breakage. These hair textures are easy to blow out and straighten, but they don’t hold styles very well.

Pro Tip: When styling, it's important to apply products that help with volume. Due to the structure of fine hair texture types, they tend to go flat. You can add volume to your hair with OLAPLEX® Volumizing Blow Dry Mist. It adds weightless body and volume to your hair without leaving a sticky feeling. For fine to medium hair textures, less product is more! Too much product can start to weigh down your hair. Start with pea-sized amounts, then work your way up (if needed) to avoid buildup and greasiness.

Coarse Hair Texture

Va va voom! Volume for days is what coarse hair texture is all about. You can determine if your natural hair texture is coarse by running a strand of it through your fingers. If it feels thick, it’s coarse. You may notice that it holds a style easily, is less prone to breakage, and tends to go dryer than other textures. Coarse hair texture also tends to become frizzier than fine to medium hair textures. To help manage frizz, turn to haircare products like Nº.6 Bond Smoother® or Nº.9 Bond Protector Nourishing Hair Serum. Nº.6 is a smoothing styling cream that reduces frizz for up to 72 hours while also softening and hydrating the hair. Nº.9 is a leave-in serum that controls frizz, prevents static, and provides 450°F heat protection. Coarse hair can handle more products in the hair without the risk of it weighing down easily and more heat without breakage.

Can You Change Your Natural Hair Texture?

It’s not possible to change your natural hair texture without chemical processes like perms or Japanese straightening. However, you can manage your hair texture to make it look healthier and prevent breakage. No matter what your natural hair texture is, you can strengthen and repair it with Nº.3 Hair Perfector®. This pre-shampoo treatment is infused with patented OLAPLEX Bond Building Technology™ to repair broken bonds for stronger hair. You’ll love Nº.3 because it can help restore a healthy appearance and texture to your hair with one use. Use it alone or paired with Nº.0 Intensive Bond Building Treatment for maximum at-home repair.

The right shampoo and conditioner are also crucial to nourish fine, medium, or coarse hair. Choose a shampoo like Nº.4 Bond Maintenance® Shampoo for shinier, healthier-looking hair. Pair it with Nº.5 Bond Maintenance® Conditioner for smoother and more manageable hair.

Find more ways to take care of your hair based on its texture and get a personalized OLAPLEX routine by taking our Hair Quiz.