Leading Hair vs. Thinning Ends... how do you distinguish?

[tHENATuRALhAiRpRoJEcT]

LEAD HAIRS vs. THINNING
(or damaged) ENDS

how do you distinguish between the two?


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[tHENATuRALhAiRpRoJEcT]

......

 

[Nixx22jam]

Good question OP. I would like to know too.

 

[Shadiyah]

I was told to just let it grow it will all fill in

 

[Shadiyah]

can someone please tell me what OP means... I really did try to find it out on my own but didn't lol

 

[ms.blue]

can someone please tell me what OP means... I really did try to find it out on my own but didn't lol

Original post or poster

 

[Miss*Tress]

The difference between the two is not something one can see at a glance.

• If ends are truly thinning, you will see lots of breakage and hair will not be getting longer over time.
• Leading hair is longer in relation to other hair AND over time.

 

[lettieg27]

I agree with the previous poster and believe evidence of whether you're hair is thinning vs. lead hairs takes time to notice. I believe with monthly comparisons one can assess their hair; in addition to other attributes just as the way your hair feels, porosity, etc... to notice that your hair is damaged.

 

[havilland]

Personally I find it hard to distinguish. My stylist usually points it out to me.

Thin ends are usually damaged when examined up close. They are frayed and limp. They break easily. Sometimes the overall health of your hair will be questionnable as well.

When my ends were thin I was suffering from moisture overload. So my hair was mushy feeling overall.

Like someone else said. Take pics monthly. Typically you will see loss of overall volume and length in the ends. If your ends are thinning it doesn't take long to see a difference. 2-3 months you will notice your ends haven't improved. Even with deep conditioning, and dusting.....those ends will break until you cut them.

Lead hairs if healthy don't break unless abused by styling techniques.

 

[Chevelure618]

I discovered that mine was breakage because I measure my hair every month. It was steadily growing just over 1/2" per month. Then suddenly it had no progress then the next time it was shorter, then shorter again. Then I noticed hair in the sink. So I had to trim about 3 inches. I was/am devastated.

 

[Poohbear]

tHENATuRALhAiRpRoJEcT
To tell the difference, you have to look really close at the individual hair strands. Thinning damaged strands will have splits at the ends and/or along the hair shaft. Leading hair strands will be nice and smooth with cuticles in tact, they're just longer than the rest of your hair strands due to uneven hair growth which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

 

[brittanynic16]

How common are lead hairs? I never understood whether this is something everyone gets or if it is rare. Or does it just happen when the hair reaches a certain length?

Sent from my MB501 using Long Hair Care Forum App

 

[Nonie]

@tHENATuRALhAiRpRoJEcT
To tell the difference, you have to look really close at the individual hair strands. Thinning damaged strands will have splits at the ends and/or along the hair shaft. Leading hair strands will be nice and smooth with cuticles in tact, they're just longer than the rest of your hair strands due to uneven hair growth which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Poohbear, my damaged ends have looked thin w/o being split because by the time I noticed them, they were already thin after the split had torn off. So I don't think looking for splits would be a good way to gauge coz what if you're too late by the time you look?

I like the other suggestions about seeing how the hair behaves instead of just relying on appearance. I've posted before how my hair looked normal but zooming in showed how the end was thin. But I had to magnify it A LOT to see that...and the only way I knew I was looking at a thin post-split end, was because my hair was thicker up until that point. If I had been looking at my hair when I had about 2 inches of thin ends, I'd have missed the fact that I was looking at a post-split end that will be breaking off.

And this has always been my issue with using sight to determine ends that need trimming. You're always too late doing it that way IMO, but to each his own.

 

[SmileyNY]

How common are lead hairs? I never understood whether this is something everyone gets or if it is rare. Or does it just happen when the hair reaches a certain length?

Sent from my MB501 using Long Hair Care Forum App

I think they are very common. Each hair follicle is at a separate stage in the hair cycle. I think many people don't notice lead hairs b/c they are so quick to cut them off. Wouldn't want any rageddy endz

 

[Nonie]

How common are lead hairs? I never understood whether this is something everyone gets or if it is rare. Or does it just happen when the hair reaches a certain length?

Sent from my MB501 using Long Hair Care Forum App

@brittanynic16, to be honest, I don't even know where the heck the idea of "lead hairs" came from. For time immemorial, it's been known that 10% of strands are at rest or shedding and the rest are growing. Even with that said, folks who never trim have hair that is generally the same length. Babies who are born with a full head of hair have cute little afro (I'm talking about black babies) and white kids with hair have hair that appears to have strands all the same length. There are parents who never cut off the baby's hair yet if you see the kid, s/he seems to have uniform hair. Also when you shave your hair off, as the hair grows out, you don't start off looking like that dude of the Hobbit with only three or 50 hairs sprouting out while the rest of the head stays clean--so that those will be proof of lead hairs. But rather, your head seems to get furry all at once--and that's with the strands being in different stages of growth. AND THE REASON FOR THAT IS THE GROWTH CYCLE DOESN'T CAUSE A DRASTIC DIFFERENCE IN STRAND LENGTHS.

Yes, there are people with hair that grows at different rates on different parts of their heads, but it's funny that scientists don't seem to be obsessed with lead hairs like hair fanatics tryna so hard to explain why 3 hairs are longer than the rest and needed to stay. I doubt that out of 100,000+ strands, there'd be such a drastic difference in length in strands because of hairs being at different stages of growth. Not when that doesn't happen at TWA stage which is where you'd actually get an idea of how hair really grows.

 

[Guitarhero]

If there's breakage, the length remains the same. If there's longer length, it's thin ends by lead hairs. Some of my single ones might be 4-5 inches longer than the rest but my lead hairs generally grow in clumps.

 

[LynnieB]

I guess like someone said upthread, it could be hard to tell the difference but I'd think that generally, if the rest of the head of hair looks a bit rough than the difference in length may be explained away by breakage or damage.

But, if the rest of the hair is in overall good condition with a minimum of split ends than it's simply hair growth and it's completely natural for not all the hair to grow at the same rate.

Photos probably won't help much but I'll give it a try. Took these pics this a.m. on hair that's been in a straightened style for little over a week and is slightly sweated out at the roots. I use EVOO every few days as a moisturizer.

I divided my hair up and pinned up most of it to make things easier to see, hopefully.

My hair is not damaged, breaking or struggling in any way, it's just the natural growth cycle. I do S&D every couple months and did a protein treatment during my last wash.

Those "lead hairs" on the ends, if fully pulled down from the root, are just about reaching the back pocket of my jeans.

 

[EllePixie]

I agree that you would have to look at the individual strands to see the difference. A thinning hair looks wispy at the end, usually because the end was split and broke off, making the strand thinner, but a lead hair will look uniform down the strand. I think it's easier to see this if you have coarse strands. Also, broken hairs are white on the ends (not the white bulb at the root) from the break point.

 

[Poohbear]

Poohbear, my damaged ends have looked thin w/o being split because by the time I noticed them, they were already thin after the split had torn off. So I don't think looking for splits would be a good way to gauge coz what if you're too late by the time you look?

I like the other suggestions about seeing how the hair behaves instead of just relying on appearance. I've posted before how my hair looked normal but zooming in showed how the end was thin. But I had to magnify it A LOT to see that...and the only way I knew I was looking at a thin post-split end, was because my hair was thicker up until that point. If I had been looking at my hair when I had about 2 inches of thin ends, I'd have missed the fact that I was looking at a post-split end that will be breaking off.

And this has always been my issue with using sight to determine ends that need trimming. You're always too late doing it that way IMO, but to each his own.

Nonie - to me, there's all types of splits. Even after that split has torn off, I feel like that hair strand is still split at the end where it's torn off. There are splits that may not be visible to the eye. Also, thin hair strands doesn't always mean damaged hair strands. A thin wispy hair strand with no splits is different than a thin broken off hair strand post-split.

 

[Nonie]

@Nonie - to me, there's all types of splits. Even after that split has torn off, I feel like that hair strand is still split at the end where it's torn off. There are splits that may not be visible to the eye. Also, thin hair strands doesn't always mean damaged hair strands. A thin wispy hair strand with no splits is different than a thin broken off hair strand post-split.

Poohbear I agree with your post. W/r/t the bold: It is different if the thin wispy strand is actually the physical structure of the strand, but if the entire strand is thick and then the end is thin and wispy, then that's a split end. Coz you're right when a split tears off, it leaves an open strand that it still split, and when it breaks off, the part it broke off from is already a split beginning to happen.

I don't believe there's a way to tell a thin wispy strand has no splits without actually looking at it magnified to know it is a whole strand, or being able to look at the strand all the way to the base to confirm that you're looking at a whole strand that is naturally fine and not a strand that is worn off into a wispy state which = damage aka split/post split/torn off strand/strand missing cuticle

 

[Poohbear]

Poohbear I agree with your post. W/r/t the bold: It is different if the thin wispy strand is actually the physical structure of the strand, but if the entire strand is thick and then the end is thin and wispy, then that's a split end. Coz you're right when a split tears off, it leaves an open strand that it still split, and when it breaks off, the part it broke off from is already a split beginning to happen.

I don't believe there's a way to tell a thin wispy strand has no splits without actually looking at it magnified to know it is a whole strand, or being able to look at the strand all the way to the base to confirm that you're looking at a whole strand that is naturally fine and not a strand that is worn off into a wispy state which = damage aka split/post split/torn off strand/strand missing cuticle

Nonie - This is true. But when I think of a thin wispy strand that may be thicker at the root and thinner at the end, I think of baby's hair...

...or even hair around my edges that are shorter than the rest of my hair strands. The ends of my hair strands around my edges are not damaged, they are just thinner than the roots, and I think that may have to do with how a hair strand initially surfaces through the scalp. The end of the hair strand isn't going to be a thick blunt cut when it starts growing from the scalp. It's going to come out thin and pointy, like this...

 

[iri9109]

if a 'lead hair' is allegedly growing at a faster rate, how can it wait for other hairs to catch up? wouldn't it be a lead hair forever? if you didn't cut it, even when the other hairs caught up, the lead hair would still be farther along because its still growing...in order for the other hair to catch up, the lead hairs would have to stop growing. i thought when a hair reaches the end of its growth phase it falls out? so then how could it lead? and say it didn't fall out, how would it know to start growing again? if you cut the lead hair are you saying the other hairs wont catch up to where the lead hair was? it just doesn't make sense to me....i think its possible for certain hairs to grow faster than others, but i dont see how they can grow and grow and grow and then stop and wait for the shorter hair to catch up, unless im misunderstanding the whole lead hair theory. as for the question i agree the difference between hairs with a different growth rate than others, and thin ends is the overall condition of the hair.

 

[EllePixie]

if a 'lead hair' is allegedly growing at a faster rate, how can it wait for other hairs to catch up? wouldn't it be a lead hair forever? if you didn't cut it, even when the other hairs caught up, the lead hair would still be farther along because its still growing...in order for the other hair to catch up, the lead hairs would have to stop growing. i thought when a hair reaches the end of its growth phase it falls out? so then how could it lead? and say it didn't fall out, how would it know to start growing again? if you cut the lead hair are you saying the other hairs wont catch up to where the lead hair was? it just doesn't make sense to me....i think its possible for certain hairs to grow faster than others, but i dont see how they can grow and grow and grow and then stop and wait for the shorter hair to catch up, unless im misunderstanding the whole lead hair theory. as for the question i agree the difference between hairs with a different growth rate than others, and thin ends is the overall condition of the hair.

I know I'm in a goofy mood today because what I got from this post is: Lead hairs stay WINNING!

But anywho...the telogen phase of hair growth lasts 5-6 weeks when the hair is resting. When it re-enters the anagen phase, the hair is shed and a new strand begins to grow.

 

[Nonie]

@Nonie - to me, there's all types of splits. Even after that split has torn off, I feel like that hair strand is still split at the end where it's torn off. There are splits that may not be visible to the eye. Also, thin hair strands doesn't always mean damaged hair strands. A thin wispy hair strand with no splits is different than a thin broken off hair strand post-split.

@Poohbear, the hair along my hairline is wispy too but not just at the ends; the entire strands are just finer than anywhere else. When I look at that baby's hair, I see fine strands but not just at the ends. The strands are fine all along their length. At the base where they attach to the scalp, they look thick coz they are close together but each strand has the same thickness.

Also when you talk about how the hair grows out of the scalp thin and pointy, you forget that the hair doesn't stay perfect like that for long so the so-called lead hairs cannot be at the state they were when they first were born. I can picture in my head how the cuticle can be perfectly formed to create a pointed end that is rounded--just coz the Creator is good at what He does. But nothing living looks the same when it's been around for a while--particularly not hair that's been manipulated for days on end. Even just rubbing with your hand is friction that could start wear, so the pic of a baby or newly growing hair doesn't explain how ends can be wispy while the rest of the strands are whole. Especially not when that person has cut her hair sometime in her lifetime since those strands started growing within the last 2-7 years.

I'll be back with images to further explain my point if I can pull it off.

@iri9109...pray: Thank you!) Finally someone from my CHUCH! Praise dance:

@EllePixie I love and hate you at the same time. Love coz that punchline^^ was GOOD! Hate you coz I'm so mad you thought and used WINNING before I did. *Team Charlie Sheen*

 

[EllePixie]

@Poohbear, the hair along my hairline is wispy too but not just at the ends; the entire strands are just finer than anywhere else. When I look at that baby's hair, I see fine strands but not just at the ends. The strands are fine all along their length. At the base where they attach to the scalp, they look thick coz they are close together but each strand has the same thickness.

Also when you talk about how the hair grows out of the scalp thin and pointy, you forget that the hair doesn't stay perfect like that for long so the so-called lead hairs cannot be at the state they were when they first were born. I can picture in my head how the cuticle can be perfectly formed to create a pointed end that is rounded--just coz the Creator is good at what He does. But nothing living looks the same when it's been around for a while--particularly not hair that's been manipulated for days on end. Even just rubbing with your hand is friction that could start wear, so the pic of a baby or newly growing hair doesn't explain how ends can be wispy while the rest of the strands are whole. Especially not when that person has cut her hair sometime in her lifetime since those strands started growing within the last 2-7 years.

I'll be back with images to further explain my point if I can pull it off.

@iri9109...pray: Thank you!) Finally someone from my CHUCH! Praise dance:

@EllePixie I love and hate you at the same time. Love coz that punchline^^ was GOOD! Hate you coz I'm so mad you thought and used WINNING before I did. *Team Charlie Sheen*

Haha! I'm just saying...

Kimmaytube also did a video I think where she showed a "healthy" shed hair...the strand was uniform and didn't have any splits in the strand. I don't remember when I saw it though...

 

[LaFemmeNaturelle]

I know I'm in a goofy mood today because what I got from this post is: Lead hairs stay WINNING!

But anywho...the telogen phase of hair growth lasts 5-6 weeks when the hair is resting. When it re-enters the anagen phase, the hair is shed and a new strand begins to grow.

What's the point of leaving those awkward, lonely strands if all they're going to do is fall out anyway? I thought the proponents of lead hairs were arguing that the lead hairs grow faster then wait for the others to catch up....then they start growing faster again OR some new strands start growing super fast again....so you will once again have awkward, lonely strands that will stop growing to wait for others to catch up....and shed......I just don't see the point so maybe that's why none of this makes sense lol I need more explanations.

 

[Napp]

although i agree with hair shedding at different rates i don't think that hair grows at dramatically different rate from each other (except maybe around the edges due to a natural length gradient that occurs on most people) if the hair was to grow out at different rates they would be minimal and not result in scraggly ends.because if the hair was cut down in a cesar and was left to grow and never cut again and did not break the hair would be relatively even in length but it would not end at the same place because they hang from different areas of the head causing a perception of different growth rates.

i could see "lead hairs" as a possibility if the hair was cut bluntly,then grown over a period of time with breakage and damage being minimized and the hair still ended up with wispy ends.

i think the lead hair phenomenon is either due to having uneven hair in the first place (for what ever reason) and never trimming it even and/or unnoticed breakage.

 

[EllePixie]

although i agree with hair shedding at different rates i don't think that hair grows at dramatically different rate from each other (except maybe around the edges due to a natural length gradient that occurs on most people) if the hair was to grow out at different rates they would be minimal and not result in scraggly ends.because if the hair was cut down in a cesar and was left to grow and never cut again and did not break the hair would be relatively even in length but it would not end at the same place because they hang from different areas of the head causing a perception of different growth rates.

i could see "lead hairs" as a possibility if the hair was cut bluntly,then grown over a period of time with breakage and damage being minimized and the hair still ended up with wispy ends.

i think the lead hair phenomenon is either due to having uneven hair in the first place (for what ever reason) and never trimming it even and/or unnoticed breakage.

This makes sense. I know that my hair is relatively the same length all over in inches, but the hair falls at different spots on my body due to the positioning on my head, and my BC was even all around. I don't call it lead hairs though...I call it naturally layered, lol.

 

[Nonie]

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OMG Noooooooooooooooooooo!@Napp, your siggy just slayed me^^.
Why oh why you gott' be cutting lead hairs off doe (though)? No wonder you don't get the phenomenon. You didn't give them a chance. Whyyyyyy?????????

OK, let me stop (ETA coz I don't get it either).

 

[brittanynic16]

although i agree with hair shedding at different rates i don't think that hair grows at dramatically different rate from each other (except maybe around the edges due to a natural length gradient that occurs on most people) if the hair was to grow out at different rates they would be minimal and not result in scraggly ends.because if the hair was cut down in a cesar and was left to grow and never cut again and did not break the hair would be relatively even in length but it would not end at the same place because they hang from different areas of the head causing a perception of different growth rates.

i could see "lead hairs" as a possibility if the hair was cut bluntly,then grown over a period of time with breakage and damage being minimized and the hair still ended up with wispy ends.

i think the lead hair phenomenon is either due to having uneven hair in the first place (for what ever reason) and never trimming it even and/or unnoticed breakage.

I agree with this especially the bold.