What's My Hair Type?!

(Artwork by Keturah Ariel)

Is hair typing important? When it comes to products and styling, YES! I believe that knowing your hair type is important because you will know which products and styles work best for your hair, you will know what regimen works best and you will know how to care for your hair!

Wash and Go

Before I knew my hair type, I thought that my hair could do what others could. Like wash and gos for instance, I have about 85% of shrinkage (See picure below) so my wash and gos will not look like someone with type 3 hair. After finding out what my hair type was I started watching tutorials and taking tips from women with my same hair type. I have type 4 hair. I have types a, b and c.

Crazy shrinkage

Hair Type Chart

**When figuring out your hair type, it is best to have freshly washed hair with no products added to it. Then compare your strands to this chart** I will be focusing on hair types 3 and 4.

Examples of hair types

Type 3 hair: 

3a:  Strands are well defined, curls are loopy and hair is prone to frizziness.

• Too much product can weigh your hair down. Use products that are lightweight.
• Use a t-shirt for drying your hair instead of a towel to minimize frizz. 

3b: Curls are well defined.

• Styling creams and styling milks will give more definition and less frizz
• To refresh and moisturize hair use a hair milk

3c: Has a defined corkscrew shape.

• Stretch hair by doing bantu-knot outs, twist-outs, flexi rod/perm rod sets, banding, braiding etc..

• Deep condition often to retain elasticity and moisture

Type 4 hair: 

4a: Has a defined "S" shape curl pattern

• Co-wash with a moisturizing sulfate-free cleanser
• Use butters to maximize wash-and-gos, twist-outs etc..

4b: Has a "z" shape pattern and can have shrinkage up to 75%.

• Use LCO, LOC or LOCO methods to keep coils moisturized (I blogged about it here)
• Pre-poo with raw natural oils (olive oil, coconut oil etc..)

4c: Very tight coils. Has less definition than 4b texture and can have shrinkage up to 75%+

• Use a detangling co-wash, and moisturize daily using the LOC, LCO or LOCO methods
• Use curl-defining products
• Stretch hair by doing bantu-knot outs, twist-outs, flexi rod and perm rod sets, banding, braiding etc..

**Styling Tip: Because type 4 hair is so coily, sebum (natural oil produced in the glands of the scalp) can't travel down strands of your hair easily, so you will have to moisturize daily to ensure you don't have any breakage. Dry hair=breakage and split ends. 


Remember to sleep with a satin bonnet or sleep on a satin pillow case at night to protect your hair while your sleep!