Why measure hair volume?
Hair products are often marketed to provide good ‘body’ to the hair while taming flyaways and frizz. The efficiency of these products has to be scientifically proven. High body follows the loose definition of thick and bouncy hair with high volume and much movement when the head is turned. It may also be defined as hair with good elevation from the scalp in both the vertical and lateral directions.
How did they measure hair volume?
Performing a hair body measurement in the Volscan Profiler, combines the movement of dynamic testing with laser measurement and the flexibility of a wide range of digital dimensional measurements with rapid analysis.
The hair tress is centrally supported between the instrument arm and instrument base so that it hangs freely. During a test, the Volscan Profiler is able to rotate the sample at a chosen speed (causing the tress to splay) whilst a vertically moving laser maps the contours of the splayed hair tress.
Calculations of the resulting 3D scan reveal measurements of volume and frizziness as a result of tress preparation or added treatments.
Calculations used for hair properties determination
The most important aspects of a scan of a hair sample are related to the way in which the bulk of the sample spreads out as body and frizziness are generally of the most interest.
Volume
The volume of the hair sample is the most fundamental of these parameters, and gives a fast estimation of hair body.
Surface area
The scan’s surface area is calculated and will be larger for hair with more body and movement as it is related to the spreading out of hair.
Maximum projection
The maximum projection is another area calculation which represents the body of the hair. This measurement looks at the splayed hair tress while turning as if seen directly from below. Hair that has spread out further while turning has greater body, and will cover a larger projected area.
Largest radius of the maximum projection
This represents the furthest flung hair, giving the absolute maximum movement of the hair from the central point.
Frizziness
Frizziness is calculated by using the jaggedness of the maximum projection outline and comparing with a mathematically smoothed outline – the frizzier the hair, the more jagged the outline
But you’ll also notice that Ashland measured the hair volume on a mannequin head.
Mannequin heads are widely used in the haircare industry for use in the assessment of haircare products, particularly those that claim to give good body, root lift or hold. Traditionally, these products have been very difficult to measure manually, and a compromise must be made between precision and speed. For example, root lift measurements can be made using Vernier callipers a set distance from the hairline but this a measurement that will be susceptible to human error and variation between technicians.
Mannequin heads are simple to measure in the Volscan Profiler with the use of a supporting base to hold the head which allows the measurement of many different aspects of mannequin heads.
Whole head analysis
The head may be treated as a whole, which will be a useful measurement when one head sample is used per treatment method. Volume is the most important measurement here, although crown height (or ‘root lift’) and crown base area (lateral volume) may also be measured.
Vertical half split
For a mannequin head that has separate treatments for each side, the head can be split vertically in half for further analysis, such as comparison of volume as a result of differing treatments.
Crown analysis
Crown volume and crown height are the two main examples of crown analysis. However, hair body is not simply a vertical increase from the head. Volumising treatments also add width to the hair at the base of the crown, consequently, a measurement of the Slice Area at the base of the crown will indicate the lateral body of the hair in this region.
And then there’s the measurement of curl retention…
Find out more about how to test hair volume properties and curl retention using a Volscan Profiler.
Read more blog posts about what companies are doing in the haircare industry with their Texture Analysers
Discover a multitude of physical characterisation methods for testing hair and haircare products using the Texture Analyser
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For more information on how to measure texture, please visit the Texture Analysis Properties section on our website.
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