I'm a bit confused over the difference between course and thick hair. I've seen some people on this board say that asian hair is typically course. I used to think course hair was very straw-like, dry, hair. But most asiatic people have this thick strong hair. Is course the same as thick? Or, does courseness indicate the width of a strand of hair, and thickness indicates the amount of hairs on the head?

What an excellent question.  I think thick hair refers to the amount of hair on your head.  Coarse hair is refering to the texture.  I think you can have hair that is both thick and coarse.  My hair is medium texture and thick.  I think all combinations are possible.

Yes. According to Fia's hairtyping system (the one people use on most boards), coarse hair means hair in which the diameter of individual hairs is large: they are "thick" individual hairs. Coarseness/fineness doesn't have anything to do with condition of hair. It doesn't have anything to do with overall thickness of hair. When you want to determine how fine/coarse your hair is, you examine an individual hair, how does it look and feel.
"Thickness scale" on the other hand goes from thick to thin hair, and is based on circumference of a ponytail. So it measures how big the bulk of your hair is. If a ponytail measures 2 in (5 cm) or less, the hair is thin. If the circumference is from 2 to 4 in (5 to 10 cm), the hair is of normal thickness. Having a ponytail circumference of 4 in (10 cm) or more means that your hair is thick.
  So, it's possible to have coarse and thin hair as well as fine and thick hair. I think though, that most people with thick hair have medium or coarse hair, and most people with thin hair also have fine hair.

Hope this wasn't too confusing!

I got the same understanding as Galadriel.  

I have been thinking (very dangerous to do :o) that people with fine hair have to have many more total hairs to measure as "thick" than those with coarse hair.  Just a matter of hair shaft diameters adding up to the required 4" or 10 cm.  This is just to encourage all of the "fine" hairs who also have "thin" hair--you may really not have that many less hairs than those with medium or coarse hair.  I suppose if we really wanted to be accurate we'd have to count the individual hairs on our heads, and I'm not that obsessed about it. :P

So I have fine hair with medium thickness! Thanks you guys!

Wow. I'm very impressed. You guys REALLY KNOW hair! ;)

wrote on Mar 14^th, 2006 at 6:13am:

Wow. I'm very impressed. You guys REALLY KNOW hair! ;)

You might say we're hair-obsessed! ::)

Pfft...I just call this my hobby. ;D That way, I can justify my hairtoy expenses and put them to "hobby expenses" category.

That's a good idea.  :o My fiance thinks I need a hobby. Now when he asks, I can tell him my hair is my hobby!  :D I have you guys to back me up on this.
Meg

wrote on Mar 15^th, 2006 at 10:00pm:

That's a good idea.  :o My fiance thinks I need a hobby. Now when he asks, I can tell him my hair is my hobby!  :D I have you guys to back me up on this. Meg

Of course!