How to figure out hair type

Miss_Monroe · #1 02-14-2008, 01:39 AM

I'm a newbie here and I may be overlooking the thread for this, but I was wondering how do I figure out my hair type???

Starr1 · #2 02-14-2008, 02:13 AM

Fia's hairtyping system

FIRST CLASSIFIER - Your curliness (or lack thereof)

The straight ones
1a - stick straight
1b - straight but with a slight body wave, just enough to add some volume, doesn't look wavy
1c - straight with body wave and one or two visible S-waves (e.g. nape of neck or temples)

The wavy ones
2a - loose, stretched out S-waves throughout the hair
2b - shorter, more distinct S-waves (similar to waves from braiding damp hair)
2c - distinct S-waves and the odd spiral curl forming here and there

The curly ones
3a - big, loose spiral curls
3b - bouncy ringlets
3c - tight corkscrews

The really curly ones
4a - tightly coiled S-curls
4b - tightly coiled hair bending in sharp angles (Z-pattern)

SECOND CLASSIFIER - What (most of) your individual strands look like

F - Fine
Thin strands that sometimes are almost translucent when held up to the light. Shed strands can be hard to see even against a contrasting background. Similar to hair hair found on many people of Scandinavian descent.

You can also try rolling a strand between your thumb and index finger. Fine hair is difficult to feel or it feels like an ultra-fine strand of silk

M - Medium
Strands are neither fine nor coarse. Similar to hair found on many Caucasians.

You can also try rolling a strand between your thumb and index finger. Medium hair feels like a cotton thread. You can feel it, but it isn't stiff or rough. It is neither fine or coarse.

C - Coarse
Thick strands that where shed strands usually are easily identified against most backgrounds. Similar to hair found on many people of Asian or native American descent.

You can also try rolling a strand between your thumb and index finger. Coarse hair feels hard and wiry. As you roll it back and forth, you may actually hear it.

THIRD CLASSIFIER - Your overall volume of hair

Put your hair in a ponytail with as much hair as possible in it. Don't bother with the way it looks - the goal is to have most/all of your hair in there. If it means it sits smack dab on top of your head, put it there.

Measure the circumference of the ponytail. If you have bangs and/or you can't get all of your hair in there adjust according to how much of your hair you have measured.

i - thin (less than 2 inches/5 centimeters)
ii - normal (between 2-4 inches or 5-10 centimeters)
iii - thick (more than 4 inches/10 centimeters)

Miss_Monroe · #3 02-14-2008, 03:03 AM

Thank you so much Starr1

wannabelong · #4 02-14-2008, 07:43 AM

Thank you for this, very informative.

Juspri · #5 11-05-2008, 01:21 PM

Very useful info! Just what I needed. Thank you!

Nonie · #6 11-05-2008, 02:25 PM

My definition of 4B isn't Z shaped but tightly coiled corkscrews the size of pen springs, much smaller than 4A such that wash and goes may not show up the spirals the way they might on 4A.

Below's a post of mine where I shared pics of my type 4B hair. The Z shape only shows up after I've manipulated my hair and bent the pen springs in ways opposite to how it would normally be thus creating awkward corners. It's inevitable with 4B hair because the coils are so tiny. You'd get the same effect if you took pen springs and combined them into plaits.

Quote:

...Pen springs are how 4B is shaped. The reason you don't see this in the middle of your strands but see it at the ends, is because the middle is manipulated during styling so that the coil direction is bent the unnatural way over and over so that it never gets a chance to revert to its natural pattern.

To prove my point I undid my extension braid to show you the zigzag pattern attributed to 4B. The braiding action bends the coil backwards against its normal direction then forward in agreement with its direction then backward...leading to sections that look curved and some that look square.

This pic shows my hair straight after I removed the braid extension before detangling. Notice the "square" shape that would lead you to believe my hair had a natural zigzag:

Here's another view with an undeniable zigzag shape:

When I separate all the strands using fingers, I end up with this pattern that's hard to define. You can see waves and curves and maybe a few corners and the hair seems to have a mind of its own, going every which way when strands are lying side by side. No strand looks like another:

Yes, because type 4B hair is usually worn in ways that affect its pattern, we have all grown to believe that' zigzag/no direction curves the true shape of the hair's strands. But I beg to disagree. And to this prove my point, I will return to that very section of zigzag hair to show you how type 4B hair behaves when naked and not manipulated by styling. First I want to show you the difference between braided hair (seen above) and hair worn in a twist that is small enough to almost imitate its coil pattern. Now I know most of you will say that it's the twist-out effect that causes it to look coily but that idea will be squashed when we return to the zigzag section above.

I like wearing bangs w/o extensions at the front of my hair. When I twist my hair w/o extensions in small twists, I usually don't twist the very tips of my hair, but just kinda roll that around my fingers so that the pen springs are pressed in a way for them to interlock. Now because the twists are small--almost the size of my natural coils--the hair seems to retain its natural pattern. Here's a pic of me wearing twisted bangs (Sorry about the poor pic quality. This was before I bought a digicam and was using an ancient webcam.):

Here's a close up of how the ends looked after a wash while airdrying. The hair is not untwisted. Each individual spiral you see is the end of a twist--the untwisted part that I previously pressed together (Forgive the quality of the pics again. Same lousy webcam is to blame):

That is the natural shape of my strands. You can tell that because they are interlocking the way springs might if you pressed them together so the follow the same pattern.

Below are pics I took during a different experiment before using my new digicam and you can see again, on the pic to the right showing untwisted hair, the interlocking of the wet strands like pen springs pressed together:

Right now I'm wearing braided bangs w/o extensions. I twist the ends instead of braiding to the end and then just press the very tip and twist the entire section as explained above. I have tried to separate that end so you can see how the very tip that I don't manipulate with braiding looks. You can see the untouched tip forms circular spirals ie tiny curls:

Anyway, let's go back to the section of zigzag hair I took out of a braid earlier in this post. I have just applied conditioner (Trader Joe's) to the dry hair and already you can see it going back to its "preferred" state, ie the state it would be in if I hadn't manipulated it and forced it into a braid shape. In the first pic below (top left) you can see my hair slowly responding to moisture from the conditioner and slowly reverting from the stretched zigzag state caused by braiding. In the lower pics, you see my hair fully reverted to its natural state:

After I rinsed out the conditioner, this is how it looked wet with its cute curved curls/coils becoming evident. No corners or zigzags here:

And below you see it when it is fairly dry.

There's no denying baby curls in there, I don't care what anyone says. I see spirals, very tiny ones that I would hate to have to untangle if my whole head was in them--hence the reason I never wash my hair out of braids or twists, nor do I ever do wash- n-gos coz lawd knows my strands have mad love for each other and trying to get in between their heavy petting is asking for a long list of ailments (headaches, high blood pressure, stress....

)

Here's a final pic of my 4B hair completely dry w/ no products.

Again, I see tiny curls and a uniform pattern in all the strands reminiscent of pen springs.

In the pic on the left I was stretching it a bit like you would springs and going boing boing

, and on the right, I've let go and it bounces back to lovely, soft, petite curls.

(Hi I'm Nonie and I admit I'm insanely obsessed w/ my hair. )

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it: My 4B hair has curls/coils/spirals that are uniform all through. I am responsible for the times when they aren't evident because of my manipulating them when styling.