I'm not sure about you, but it had taken me 25 years to finally understand how my hair works, what it likes and how it reacts to certain temperatures, weather, seasons and products.
I think on your journey to 'happy hair, i don't care' it is important to have an idea of what hair type you have, what porosity your hair is and what works well for your scalp and hair health.
Hair Types- what does this mean?
Your hair type is simply your hairs natural curl pattern; this is determined by your hair follicle which depends on whether you have straight, wavy, curly or coily hair. How your hair is depends on your genetics, but the bottom line is that all types of hair are beautiful.
Hair Types- what are the types?
| Type 1 | Straight hair |
|---|---|
| Type 2 | Wavy hair |
| Type 3 | Curly hair |
| Type 4 | Coily hair |
The table above shows the four hair types. These are further divided into subcategories which are based upon the tightness or looseness of your curls and coils. These are Shown in the table below:
| Hair Types | A | B | C |
| 1 | - | - | - |
| 2 | 2A | 2B | 2C |
| 3 | 3A | 3B | 3C |
| 4 | 4A | 4B | 4C |
My Straight Sisters
Type 1:
If you have type 1 hair you most like have straight hair with no curl or wave pattern.
My Wavy Sisters
Type 2 hair starts off straight from the root but then develops into loos waves. this can be defined more with the use of moose and light gels. If your hair gets in contact with water you may also notice more defined curls.
Type 2b:
Type 2b is similar to type 2a however is much more defined in curl pattern. Still loose and silky in texture and similar to the above, once in contact with water brings out a more defined curl pattern.
Type 2c:
Type 2c is the thickets of the type to hair pasterns. Although this is still considered silky wavy, it is thicker and has more prominent curls patterns even without the use of water. When brushed out this hair may appear to become frizzy.
My Curly Sisters
Type 3a:
Type 3a is much curlier than 2c; this curl pattern has a visible 'S' shape to it regardless of how to manipulate it. Similar to type 2c, this hair is more prone to becoming frizzy.
Type 3b:
Type 3b again is similar to the above however is slightly more denser than 3a, these are medium sized curls, so some parts may have looser curls and some parts have tight curls.
Type 3c:
Type 3c, is a much tighter, heavier curl pattern compared to the other type 3 hair curls. if you can imagine, 3c hair has a pattern similar to a smaller 's' rather than a larger looser 'S' like type 3a. Those who have type 3c hair have probably said a few times that their hair regularly becomes tangled if not taken great care of.
My Kinky Sisters
Type 4a:
Type 4a is the softer of the kinky hair textures. Although you still need effort and delicacy to work through this hair type, it is most definitely much more manageable that the other type for hair textures.
Type 4b:
Type 4b is where i think i live haha! some parts of my hair is extremely tight, coily and very very fragile (my hair breaks really easily). whereas other parts of my hair listens (lol), not as coily, much softer and easier to manage.
Type 4c:
Type 4c, now my kinky sisters, i know this hair type can be time consuming, but i envy how it looks! beautiful coils haha. this is the coiliest, tightest, fragile and most dense of all the hair types. You have to be extremely delicate with this hair type as this is the most prone to breakage, dryness and damaged if not taken care of. However the results are absolutely beautiful once you know how to work with it.
Overall, knowing your hair types and its characteristics is one foot in the right direction of ultimately being in charge of your hair, loving it, embracing it and helping your hair to become as healthy as you! Think about it, your hair is also an organ and needs as much tender loving care as the rest of your body!
Well, i don't know about you but i need to go for a water break haha! Tune in for our next blog about hair porosity! I promise it will be much shorter than this one!
Thank you for reading along!
Chantelle x