I get asked often about hair typing. I’m not a huge fan of it but I do understand the importance of knowing your hair and what works best for certain textures. I’m not a fan of hair typing because I believe there are many hair types beyond what meets the eye. The genetic makeup of our hair strands are unique. There are no two people walking around with the EXACT same head of hair. Also, a lot of us have multiple textures. The front of your hair may be soft ringlets while the crown is tightly coiled. However, the hair typing system is a good tool to use for categorizing different hair textures. It’s also useful when choosing what products to use since many companies (natural hair companies and bloggers) have implemented the hair type system in their branding.
"The genetic makeup of our hair strands are unique."
What is Hair Typing?
Hair typing is simply hair categories ranging from type 1A to type 4C. Type 1 hair is straight hair, type 2 is wavy hair (loose waves), type 3 hair is curly (with more of an S-pattern curls), and type 4 hair is very tight coily curls. All hair types are beautiful and representative of how we are all beautifully different but, for the sake of my audience, I’m going to focus more on type 3 and type 4 curls in this article.
"...we are all beautifully different."
Type 3 Hair
There are three categories in type 3 hair: 3A, 3B, and 3C. 3A hair is curly hair with loose S-pattern curls and ringlets (as shown in the photo above). Type 3B hair has spiral curls that are more tightly wound together. Type 3C hair has more of a corkscrew pattern curls that are very defined.
Type 4 Hair
Type 4 hair is full of tightly coiled curls and can range from very defined coils to afro textured curls. Like type 3, type 4 also has three categories: 4A, 4B, and 4C. Each category differs in thickness. Type 4A hair is tightly coiled hair with clearly defined curls. Type 4B hair is also tightly coiled but with less defined curls as type A (as shown in the photo below). Type 4C hair is the most tightly coiled and compacted curls (as shown in the photo above).
All textures are beautiful, from the waviest to the kinkiest. We've inherited our hair from those who walked before us and that's something to be proud of!
Here's a hair chart for your convenience:
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