Obtain a hair specimen. You can simply snip a bit of your hair, but it’s more interesting to examine a specimen that includes the root. (It’s also interesting to compare and contrast the appearance of specimens from different people of different ages and hair colors, from the head, beard or mustache, trunk, limbs, pubic, axillary [armpit] regions, from pets, and so on.)

Use forceps to position the specimen in the center of a microscope slide. Add a drop of water, carefully position a coverslip at a 45° angle to the slide, and then lower the coverslip into place. If there are any bubbles under the coverslip, use the tip of the forceps to force them out from under the coverslip.

Place the slide under the stage clips or in the mechanical stage, and center the specimen under the 4X objective. Adjust the illumination level and diaphragm to obtain the maximum contrast. Readjust them, if necessary to obtain maximum image detail. Note the amount of detail visible in the main body of the hair versus the boundaries.