what exactly is the difference between 1a and 1b type hair?

[~honeyflower~]

Sorry if its somewhere in the forums,but the search engine didn't bring anything up.

I am still confused about 1a and 1b, they're both straight aren't they? But what makes one unique from the other?

Be specific please!

[Anje]

1a hair has almost never heard of frizz and hangs like a silky sheet. Even when it's thick, folks with 1a hair tend to think or be told that their hair looks thin when it's loose because it generally has no volume to it and the strands hang very close together, since they have no back-and-forth to hold them separate.

1b tries to do that, but has just a little bit of minor wave to it, maybe the ends flick this way or that, that sort of thing. It's still definitely straight hair (of course, I can't tell you how many 2s and 3s start off thinking they're straighties with frizz, so that might not be an obvious description), but it isn't mirror-smooth straight.

1c definitely is heading toward the wavy category, even though it's mostly straight. It tends to have a bit of frizz where individual hairs want to pop out of the pattern, and it often dips in at the neck, out by the shoulders, and maybe in and out once or twice more as it gets long. It might have an S curve near the face. Without having studied it, I'd guesstimate that 1c is particularly common among straightish-haired folks of european descent, more so than 1a or even 1b.

[Cheele]

What Anje said. I'm probably a full 1c, but I'm not sure some days, so I say 1b/1c. You can take a look at my siggy pic. 1a is slick straight. 1b is maybe some more flippy. 1c is shoopy without too many defined S waves.

[Bagginslover]

I'm 1b. I decided I was there as I can get root volume, and my hair when loose is big, yet still dead straight. Its my impression that 1a's have no root lift, and that 1c's have some visable, very loose wave.

[Anje]

All that said, how your hair looks tends to vary day to day, and it only gets more variable the more texture you get. Furthermore, if you've styled it (heck, brushed it) since it was last washed, it changes even more. That's why there's some fairly specific protocols for hairtyping.

For example, I'd say your hair looks pretty much 1a in your sigpic, Bagginslover, even if it isn't that way all the time. But your avatar definitely shows hair with more bounce to it.

[Bagginslover]

My hair has straightened even more since I started using henna, so you're probably right Anje, though I do still have root lift. I classified using my avatar pic (I keep it as its where I started from, as a reminder), which was my hair in its natural state, my sig pic had touching, and possibly even brushing before it dried fully, so would be bad for typing from

[Accalia]

And this is my 1a hair. I definitely recognize Anje's description! No volume and thin looking.

[faellen]

Anje's descriptions are pretty much perfect. I always think of 1a hair as absolutely dead straight like spaghetti whereas 1b has a very slight wave, ends flick a little bit, etc.

[Indigo Girl]

Anje's descriptions are pretty much perfect. I always think of 1a hair as absolutely dead straight like spaghetti whereas 1b has a very slight wave, ends flick a little bit, etc.

Agree with this. I am another 1a; my hair has no wave or body to it at all.

[vindo]

1a hair has almost never heard of frizz and hangs like a silky sheet. Even when it's thick, folks with 1a hair tend to think or be told that their hair looks thin when it's loose because it generally has no volume to it and the strands hang very close together, since they have no back-and-forth to hold them separate.
.....

I agree with this but wanted to say that "frizz" can also happen for 1a hair. It can be health related, or simply be slightly frizzy 1a hair, but still dead straight. It is likely rare, but possible

I'm 1b. I decided I was there as I can get root volume, and my hair when loose is big, yet still dead straight. Its my impression that 1a's have no root lift, and that 1c's have some visable, very loose wave.

Root volume has to do with the stiffness of your hair, meaning how well it holds itself away from the scalp, resistance when being bent. Asians often have 1a hair with root volume, which has to do with the hair being of a rounder, more resistant shape. Hair that has less resistance/ stiffness is often oval shaped.

Anje's descriptions are pretty much perfect. I always think of 1a hair as absolutely dead straight like spaghetti whereas 1b has a very slight wave, ends flick a little bit, etc.

I think dead straight describes it really well!