Hi there,
I love to visit blackgirllonghair.com to see pictures of black women with amazing heads of natural hair. Every single day there's a new mane of hair to swoon over. One thing I noticed is they are always asked about their hair type and I'd see responses like 4A,3C,3B and 4C and I used to wonder what it was all about. Then I learned that a celebrity hairstylist named Andre Walker came up with a system for decoding hair type based on your curl pattern. This chart was created (by her?) to explain the numbers and alphabets used. As you can see from the chart 1 is straight, 2 is wavy, 3 is curly and 4 is kinky. The alphabets describe the intensity of the curl, with A being the loosest and C being the tightest.
Before I really understood this method of hair typing I decided to go with 4C because most Nigerian or should I say African naturals say they have 4C hair so I figured I was 4C too. To clarify the matter once and for all I picked up some shed hair, carefully straightened them out and compared the pattern with the ones on the chart. On closer inspection I found out that I'm not 4C at all. Based on this chart I would think I am a 3B or maybe 3C.
But looking at this picture below it is obvious that I am definitely not 3B because my curls do not clump in that manner.
I am not sure if my curls clump in this manner either so that throws out 3C from my hair CV as well.
So there! I can now say authoritatively that I am a 4A natural sista :-) There are also some other hair typing systems based on porosity, density etc. I'll get to that some other time.
Thanks for stopping by :-)
KimB
I love to visit blackgirllonghair.com to see pictures of black women with amazing heads of natural hair. Every single day there's a new mane of hair to swoon over. One thing I noticed is they are always asked about their hair type and I'd see responses like 4A,3C,3B and 4C and I used to wonder what it was all about. Then I learned that a celebrity hairstylist named Andre Walker came up with a system for decoding hair type based on your curl pattern. This chart was created (by her?) to explain the numbers and alphabets used. As you can see from the chart 1 is straight, 2 is wavy, 3 is curly and 4 is kinky. The alphabets describe the intensity of the curl, with A being the loosest and C being the tightest.
Before I really understood this method of hair typing I decided to go with 4C because most Nigerian or should I say African naturals say they have 4C hair so I figured I was 4C too. To clarify the matter once and for all I picked up some shed hair, carefully straightened them out and compared the pattern with the ones on the chart. On closer inspection I found out that I'm not 4C at all. Based on this chart I would think I am a 3B or maybe 3C. |
| A random strand of my hair |
 |
| Another random strand |
But looking at this picture below it is obvious that I am definitely not 3B because my curls do not clump in that manner.
 |
| 3B hair type |
I am not sure if my curls clump in this manner either so that throws out 3C from my hair CV as well.
 |
| 3C hair type This seems more like my curl pattern although the chart pictures my curl pattern as 3B. |
 |
| 4A hair type |
So there! I can now say authoritatively that I am a 4A natural sista :-) There are also some other hair typing systems based on porosity, density etc. I'll get to that some other time.
Thanks for stopping by :-)
KimB
Very enlightening.
ReplyDeleteThanks doll :-)
DeleteLovely post... Thnks for d tips
ReplyDeleteladywannabeblog.blogspot.com
Thanks funmi :-)
DeleteSometimes I am not too sure if I am a type 4a, b, or c. My hair has a mind of it's own.
ReplyDeletemine is straight and I thankfully with a good hair care they are healthy
ReplyDelete