The other day I received an email from a person who told me that he had always had fine hair, but lately he had started to notice that his scalp shows when his hair is wet or badly styled. She wasn’t sure if it was a new development, as she had recently noticed some fall out, or if his hair had always been so thin and she had never noticed it before. I wanted to know if she should worry about visible scalping or if this was more common with fine textured hair. I tell you the advice I gave him in the following article.

Look at old photos to determine if the scalp shown is something new: A lot of times when someone has fine hair, they get a lot of it too. The end result is often a normal cosmetic result as the net amount of hair appears to have a normal texture as there is a copious amount. But if something happens that causes a change in this abundance or makes the amount of hair you have less, you’ll likely notice the fine texture more. Because there is less of it, it will not cover as well or have as much volume as the same amount of hair that is thicker in texture.

One way to tell if this is happening is to look at old photos from one, three, or five years ago. Try to find photos of your hair in different styles, in different lighting sources (outside with the sun beating down, inside with fluorescent lighting) to see if you have any scalp in the old photos. This will help you determine if you are experiencing some weight loss that is new in nature or if what you are seeing is reasonably normal for you. However, generally speaking, since almost everyone can see part of the scalp at the parting line when the hair is wet, it is somewhat unusual to be able to directly see the scalp in other areas such as the bangs, crown, and top (the area that is not the parting line.)

How much does it bother you that the scalp shows?: Another consideration is how much this bothers you. If you are happy with your appearance and you think your volume is normal considering your hair texture, then you don’t need to worry about it. We all have different heads of hair with very different textures. If you’ve always been on the sparse side and don’t notice any more hair falling out, then this may be what you’re thinking about.

However, if you find yourself looking in the mirror all the time and worrying about it, then it might be time to assess whether you are losing an excessive amount of hair or want to explore ways to treat hair loss, cover your scalp. , and/or make the volume appear fuller. Put your hair back in a ponytail and ask yourself if the diameter of the tail is less than it was a year ago.

Another consideration is if your hair is miniaturizing. What I mean by this is that in some hair loss conditions, the hair that falls out gets thinner and thinner with each cycle, so your hair gets finer and finer over time. Since the diameter is smaller each round, the coverage will also be less and you will start to see more of the scalp. It’s important to take an honest look at how your hair is now compared to how it was back then to see if there’s a noticeable difference you need to worry about.