When does hair count as a certain hair type?

[Surinecet]

Hello everyone,

I am new here, and after lurking for several months while waiting to register, I'm happy to be able to participate in the community! I've implemented a lot of what I have learned so far and happily discovered that I am a wavy, not a straight-frizzy-with-stubborn-kinks. :)

One thing that confuses me though is hair typing. I have read the extensive article, but one thing that is not specified is what makes you a certain hair type. In short, is it what your hair is capable of, or what it typically is? For instance, people like me might think they are a straight hair in the 1 range, but when cared for properly, they are a wavy in the 2 or even 3 range. And so LHCers refer to them as a 2c or something like that, even though they have straight-ish hair at the moment. Yet, I've noticed a lot of LHCers say they vary between ___ and ___, depending on the day.

If a person uses henna, it tends to straighten hair a little as well, so does that change the hair type?

So, to take my hair as an example, this is what it is on a good day, untouched after washing (except of course for the clip): http://www.flickr.com/photos/19478078@N03/9351168503/. It looks like to me it maybe even has some whirlies: http://www.flickr.com/photos/19478078@N03/9351172141/.

Yet, after 3 days, this is what I get in back: http://www.flickr.com/photos/19478078@N03/9351174439/; and in front: http://www.flickr.com/photos/19478078@N03/9353951002/.

So, what would you all say it is? Is it a range, or a certain type that relaxes as time goes on, or what?

Thanks for the help with my confusion! :cool:

[spidermom]

The person who established the hair-typing system for LHC said that the type never changes, but the appearance of it does. I find this confusing. When I asked for community help in typing my hair, it was shorter, and there wasn't much weight on it, so all the wavies and curlies were doing their thing and I got a concensus of 2C. Now that my hair is longer, if I had it typed today, I'm sure I'd get something like 2A because the weight of it pulls most of the wave and curl out. It can be as straight as the 1 types a few days after washing. Knowing your type can help in choosing a routine to bring out the best in your hair, but it's not at all an exact science.

Isn't it wonderful to find out that you're a wavy instead of a messy straighty?

[Puchuca]

I think wavy hair always relaxes. On wash days I have some curls, but on day 3 my hair is almost sleek straight. I would type you 2a/2b :o

[emilyann]

Your hair is a lot like mine!! In texture, anyway. I think it straightens in the front after a few days from pulling it behind the ears repeatedly -- all that straight movement down the hair shafts pulls it straight as well as pulls oils down the shaft. The back wurls a bit more from leaning back and scrunching it against things (backs of chairs, shoulders, etc.). If I don't detangle my hair when it's wet, it's a messy 2b or 2c. If I wet-detangle, it's a 1b/1c.

I call mine 2a because that's the average most days of the week.

[Firefox7275]

Hello everyone,

I am new here, and after lurking for several months while waiting to register, I'm happy to be able to participate in the community! I've implemented a lot of what I have learned so far and happily discovered that I am a wavy, not a straight-frizzy-with-stubborn-kinks. :)

One thing that confuses me though is hair typing. I have read the extensive article, but one thing that is not specified is what makes you a certain hair type. In short, is it what your hair is capable of, or what it typically is? For instance, people like me might think they are a straight hair in the 1 range, but when cared for properly, they are a wavy in the 2 or even 3 range. And so LHCers refer to them as a 2c or something like that, even though they have straight-ish hair at the moment. Yet, I've noticed a lot of LHCers say they vary between ___ and ___, depending on the day.

If a person uses henna, it tends to straighten hair a little as well, so does that change the hair type?

So, to take my hair as an example, this is what it is on a good day, untouched after washing (except of course for the clip): http://www.flickr.com/photos/19478078@N03/9351168503/. It looks like to me it maybe even has some whirlies: http://www.flickr.com/photos/19478078@N03/9351172141/.

Yet, after 3 days, this is what I get in back: http://www.flickr.com/photos/19478078@N03/9351174439/; and in front: http://www.flickr.com/photos/19478078@N03/9353951002/.

So, what would you all say it is? Is it a range, or a certain type that relaxes as time goes on, or what?

Thanks for the help with my confusion! :cool:

You are referring to curl/ wave pattern, there is much more to full hair typing than that. Be aware that showering and even water weight pulls out wave, it's not 'natural' to blast waves with a power shower it forces the hair straighter. Shampooing and cutting and brushing hair is not natural either: so it's tough to see our true curl pattern. True natural is probably water only washed and finger combed. Presumably after three days you have slept on your hair for three days, that will flatten waves just as a hairdryer or flat iron will but weaker, so that is manipulated hair.

My hair is a range because the back is looser than the front on any given day, right this moment there are finger size ringlets around my face, just regular conditioner and air dried. I go by hair that has not been diffuser dried, but I sometimes use certain natural ingredients that may boost curl, such as hydrolysed protein which replaces the proteins lost when I dye my hair anyway. Therein lies the problem, it's not natural to dye my hair any more than cut it and both affect my curl pattern.

It's very easy to pull out weak waves but it's not easy to force them to be something they are not, whereas strong curls won't pull out easily.

[dancingrain91]

Yours is only a bit straighter than mine and I'm a 2a/2b so you're probably about the same as me.

[Leeloo]

I think you're 2b

[biogirl87]

Surinecet, I think you're a 2a or possibly even a 2b. Also, for wavies it's common that the waves will stretch out in the days following wash day. My hair is at its waviest (2b) the day I've washed it (but also the frizzest, give or take depending on humidity in the course of the week) and maybe even day 2 and day 3 following the wash day but after that it starts to have looser waves in it. Interestingly enough, as the waves start to stretch in my hair, it also becomes less frizzy (probably due to the sebum moving down the length) and when the ends look icky but I'm not ready to wash my hair again (if it's been less than a week since the last wash) is when I usually put my hair up and keep it up until the next wash day.

[chen bao jun]

I thought when you did hair typing, you were supposed to have washed your hair and have let it dry without any product in it and base the typing on the hair once dried.
Although I have to say I think it's not a very precise 'science' no matter how you do it. I call myself a 3c but have seen a wide range of people of people calling themselves 3c, many with very very different hair than mine (sometimes way curlier and sometimes way less curly).
Also, my hair texture was way different from the way it is now when I first stopped chemically straightening it thirteen years and ago and was quite different when I first started LHC and I did not know how to properly moisturize it. In fact, I thought I had two different textures, canopy and underneath of hair, and it turned out they are the same texture, but I had never conditioned properly underneath, probably not ever in my whole life.
My curls are also different depending on how recently I washed. After 3 or 4 days, my hair looks wavy rather than curly because they keep stretching out as my hair gets 'dirtier'.
I can see how wavies would get straight. It's just very imprecise, there are a lot of variables and I'm sometimes not sure how much it matters. It made way more difference in my hair care to discover that I had coarse non-porous hair than it ever has to try to figure out exactly how curly I am (it's quite obvious that I'm a curly and while knowing that gives me a baseline as how to treat my hair--can't treat it as if it's straight-- I'm not sure how much the degree matters.)

[spirals]

I washed yesterday, and after it dried it was a textbook 3a. That was due to high humidity. If it were drier I would've ended up with 2c. After having it braided overnight, it was 2a, I guess. All I know is that if a hair drops off my head and is slightly damp and dries laying on a counter, it will become a perfect circle about an inch in diameter. So I am some kind of spirally curly. The only reason that is significant is that I can't exactly treat it as straight nor slightly wavy. But I'm sure I'll never know my true hair type.

[Surinecet]

That's all very helpful, thank you everyone! It seems it's really not so much an exact thing, as there are a lot of variables. But knowing the general range helps in determining a method of care that might work. Makes more sense now.


Isn't it wonderful to find out that you're a wavy instead of a messy straighty?

Definitely! :)


Your hair is a lot like mine!! In texture, anyway. I think it straightens in the front after a few days from pulling it behind the ears repeatedly -- all that straight movement down the hair shafts pulls it straight as well as pulls oils down the shaft. The back wurls a bit more from leaning back and scrunching it against things (backs of chairs, shoulders, etc.). If I don't detangle my hair when it's wet, it's a messy 2b or 2c. If I wet-detangle, it's a 1b/1c.

That's exactly it, the straighter sections in the front are from tucking behind the ears. I hate having hair in my face. :?


You are referring to curl/ wave pattern, there is much more to full hair typing than that. Be aware that showering and even water weight pulls out wave, it's not 'natural' to blast waves with a power shower it forces the hair straighter. Shampooing and cutting and brushing hair is not natural either: so it's tough to see our true curl pattern. True natural is probably water only washed and finger combed. Presumably after three days you have slept on your hair for three days, that will flatten waves just as a hairdryer or flat iron will but weaker, so that is manipulated hair.

That is a lot of good points, I didn't think about how many things are actually manipulating hair. I suppose even with WO the sebum might weigh down waves that otherwise might be there.


Interestingly enough, as the waves start to stretch in my hair, it also becomes less frizzy

That's right, mine does the same thing, it becomes much less... poofy. :undecided