4b Doesn't Exist!!!

[Nonie]

I have to agree, I look at my 4b hair and it's just extremely extremely tight coils. It's definitely got a spiral curl happening, but I've also found some 3c and 4a in my hair. I don't think, with all the ethnic mixing, that anyone is a straight 4b, either.

I think there might be a handful of us who mightn't have any ethnic mixing....

But then again, whoever came up with "4B" must've used heads that were available mixed or not, so pure 4B, whatever its definition may be, must exist.

 

[Neith]

I have to agree, I look at my 4b hair and it's just extremely extremely tight coils. It's definitely got a spiral curl happening, but I've also found some 3c and 4a in my hair. I don't think, with all the ethnic mixing, that anyone is a straight 4b, either.

I don't think that 4b is the ONLY naturally occurring hair type in 100% black people

No race has one set hair type.

 

[BeetleBug]

I don't think that 4b is the ONLY naturally occurring hair type in 100% black people

No race has one set hair type.

Agreed.

 

[LunadeMiel]

This thread has me confused. I have strand of hair that are zigzag and wavy and curl all on the same stand. What would my hair type be then. See siggy for pic.

www.fotki.com/misskreyol

 

[Nonie]

This thread has me confused. I have strand of hair that are zigzag and wavy and curl all on the same thread. What would my hair type be then. See siggy for pic.

I don't see zigzag. My guess would be 4A but I refuse to sign my name on that.

I'm more comfortable and 100% certain saying the type of hair you have is beautiful and very healthy-looking!

Hun, when it comes to hair typing, ignorance is bliss. Get caught up in all this typing madness and you'll drive yourself round the bend. Knowing your type isn't imperative to having healthy hair. You can still find a good regimen w/o that info, by trial and error, or by finding out how people with hair that looks like yours, deal w/ theirs--type notwithstanding.

 

[Hairsofab]

I think you are correct OP in some ways. I think a lot of people label their hair 4b that aren't 4b. I think true 4b is rare. Now with that said. I do have 4b hair. I really haven't seen anyone here's pictures who says they are a 4b, where their hair looks like my hair. My hair truely does not have a curl/coil pattern. It is wiry and zigzaggy when stretched and very dense. And I think it is one of the reasons why relaxers never did right on my hair.

 

[Nonie]

Wow, Nonie, that is really interesting. Thank you for updating this thread. I'm, um, tipsy right now and frankly i have no idea what i'm doing up at this time looking at pictures of people's hair, but i'll be back again tomorrow after some sleep. one question in the meantime, each time you washed out a product you didn't like, did you use shampoo? or just water? or condish? you can see in my fotki (2007) a picture of my unmanipulated wash and go. the results were quite different. i tried it for 3 days in a row. the tangles were a nightmare. but not the results you have. the very ends of my hair can do that, not the rest, even with multiple washings and letting the hair dry as it will. check it out.

Sorry Mwedzi I missed your question. No, I didn't shampoo. But I was starting w/ hair that was nekkid since I don't apply leave ins. But no I didn't shampoo out the icky products I was putting in there, so I think they are why there's some shine in my hair. In the days when I was trying to be a PJ and new to the forum, my freshly washed but combed hair looked like this:

It probably still would look like this even now w/ my KISS regimen but you will never see me wash my hair out of braids or twists. I's skurred of dealing with tangles.

 

[naturalgurl]

I understand where you are coming from. I claim 4a/b. My sister who is 3c says I'm 4a. I've had people tell me that I'm not 4b. I do know that now that my hair has been properly moisturized the kink is looser. Maybe 4b hair is hair that's not moisturized. Why is it such a dramatic leap from 4a to 4b anyway. In all of the other types the a,b AND c are just a coil away from each other. You get in the 4's and then it's 4a-fluffy but a little coily to 4b-standing straight up. I don't get the whole type thing. I based my 4b section on the fact that it stands with no problem, but now that it's getting longer it's starting to lean. You see, very confusing. I say I have "naturalgurl" type hair. Everyone's hair is different and in the black race whether you're "pure" or not, we have multitudes of textures and it's really just too hard to type...jmo.

 

[glamazon386]

I think the definition of zigzag is being misapplied, but depends on perspective. If you look at some of people in this thread who have described their hair has 4b, and observe their strands by looking at from a flat 2D perspective, then a clear z shape emerges by looking at it from the side; the same can be applied to observing an s shape in type 3 and 4a hair. Try it. The hair strand is not actually growing in a zig zag formation, shooting out of the follicle in sharp z shapes.

Exactly... That's the point I was trying to make.

 

[AtlantaJJ]

I don't know but I saved some shed hairs after my wash today. They are perfect little circles, I got them after I detangled and my hair was still wet. They look like little springs.... I know that when my hair is dried out I would claim to be 4z+ so I believe the hair's moisture content has something to do with bringing out the ture curl pattern.

 

[Hairsofab]

I told Nonie I would post some pictures of my 4b hair. They are attached. They are all from the same 24 hour period. Where my hair is really short is just from shrinkage. The last picture my hair is wet, that is as loose as the curl gets naturally. And if you see the one bigger strand grouping you can tell it is almost a perfect Z zigzag when it is stretched out. Also, I still have some relaxed ends scraggle that I cut off recently but some might show up in these pictures. I don't wear my hair like this day to day just so people know. I keep may hair in tree braids.

 

[Nonie]

Thanks so much for posting the pics, Girl.

You're definitely my hair twin. And my mom's! Let me see if I can find pics to show you of my hair and my mom's looking just like that.

Oh and the zigzag you see I think is, like someone pointed out, a 2-dimensional view of a coil. I wish we could have seen it from another angle. BTW, does anyone else get as maniacally excited about seeing hair that looks like theirs like I do?

ETA pics.

I don't know what just happened to the ramble I'd posted. Anyway, I'm attaching the only pics I could find that kinda show my texture, my mom's and my brother's. I don't have a pic of our uncombed hair because it has never occurred to me to take such a pic, plus these pics were not taken to show texture but just happen to be the closest thing to showing it that I could find. First column's moi, middle column's my mom, last column's my brother. (Check out the invisible puff I'm sporting in the first column, third pic down. It's a scan of an ID I got last year after my BC )

 

[Nonie]

Might be a bit off topic but I just had to share this pic of why I love S-Curl. I got my mom to wash her hair and condition it and then use S-Curl, the spray. When she combed her hair, I was smitten w/ how her 'fro looked . I LOVE how S-Curl makes coils pop!