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Elyse
June 22nd, 2016, 07:45 AM
Hi guys. I hate to bother you with this, but I was hoping you could help figure me out. I have looked at the visual hair typing guide on this site as well as other sites. I hover somewhere between 2a and 3a depending on the examples that each site gives. Problem is a 2b on one site may be curlier or straighter than a 2b on another site. I assumed I would be a
2b/2c combo. When it is longer, I get more defined curls in certain places, but the top rarely has movement or volume. When it's short, it's loose waves. Any help is appreciated; I want to get a game plan for my hair type and stick with what will be best for both health,
growth, and working with what I've been naturally given. Thanks all.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii110/KM_Art/Mobile%20Uploads/image_3.jpg (http://s262.photobucket.com/user/KM_Art/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_3.jpg.html)

lapushka
June 22nd, 2016, 08:21 AM
That definitely looks 3a to me! That is not wavy hair, that is curly hair. Because your hair is not a flat S wave, it goes around itself in a coil. That's the difference. It's more 3-dimensional. :)

Very pretty! :D

Call it 2c/3a if that makes you feel better, but that is NOT 2a at all!

Elyse
June 22nd, 2016, 08:39 AM
Lapushka, thank you.

It's weird, fickle hair. I style it the same way and some days it's just loose waves with straight pieces. Other days it's spirals. It all depends on the weather and I guess how I style it. I actually think I've been dealing with it wrongly all these years. It straightens easily but will get wavy if it's raining. I never knew hair typing existed until recently so I'm kinda pumped.
I see all these women with 3a hair that have great lift at their roots and it's always been suuuuper flat and straight as well as a few other straight pieces. It's like sometimes the curls fall out. So, that's what made me confused.

Thanks for the clarification, very very much.

Anje
June 22nd, 2016, 10:57 AM
I think I'd call what you're showing 2c/3a too. It's somewhere in the curly-wavy borderlands, but you definitely have curls. For what it's worth, anything around 2c is very changeable depending how you handle it, so you're not alone in that. Root lift is usually something that people work to achieve, drying their hair plopped or with their roots clipped, things like that. Many 3a and 3b people have flat roots without a little manipulation.

(I do disagree with the "waves are flat" thing, though. My hair is barely wavy, but if you look down the waves, they clearly make slow lazy spirals. Then I comb them and they're gone. XD)

lilin
June 22nd, 2016, 11:07 AM
Lapushka, thank you.

It's weird, fickle hair. I style it the same way and some days it's just loose waves with straight pieces. Other days it's spirals. It all depends on the weather and I guess how I style it. I actually think I've been dealing with it wrongly all these years. It straightens easily but will get wavy if it's raining. I never knew hair typing existed until recently so I'm kinda pumped.
I see all these women with 3a hair that have great lift at their roots and it's always been suuuuper flat and straight as well as a few other straight pieces. It's like sometimes the curls fall out. So, that's what made me confused.

Thanks for the clarification, very very much.

I'd say 2c/3a borderline.

I think a lot of us anywhere between 2b and 3a have that issue! I can't remember who said it, but someone here once called the wurly/curly type hair, "easily discouraged." I DEFINITELY have that issue. Just the act of using a brush or shampoo knockss me from 2c all the way down to 2a, in terms of curliness.

I thought I was about 2a for most of my life, not a spiral in sight except right by the edge of my face. Turns out I actually have lots of curls! I was just treating my hair as though it was straight, and it was getting discouraged. LOTS of wurly/curly people do this. We never get taught that different hair types tend to need different kinds of care, generally speaking.

You might want to give a try to the Curly Girl method. The basic concept is that, since curly hair tends to be a bit drier, you want to keep it hydrated, and since it is less tangly when it forms spirals/locks, you want to let it do that.

The most basic recipe for that is using a silicone-free conditioner as your cleanse (yes, conditioner does have cleansers in it!), finger-detangling or combing when wet only (no brushes, especially not when it's dry), and either air-drying, or drying on the cool setting of a blow drier with a diffuser.

Some people also use a very light gel when their hair is wet to help it "make friends" with nearby hairs and make spirals/locks. Some people oil before, or after a wash. Some people also use a leave-in conditioner after their rinse-out. Some people keep using shampoo, but a gentler one, and stop using brushes. Lots of permutations! But that basic recipe is a good starting place, and just see what works for you.

You might be surprised how much curl you actually have!

littlestarface
June 22nd, 2016, 11:08 AM
Your hair looks no where around 2a, it's curly i'd say your a 3a maybe 2c/3a but definitely your not a wavy.

Elyse
June 22nd, 2016, 12:17 PM
Thank you all so much for the opinions. Now I kind of know what I'm dealing with here. I had never really thought much about a wrong way to deal with curls, as lilin mentioned. I always just blasted it would mousse and hairspray, scrunching it until it submitted into a curly, crispy cast. . Or, I blow-dried it on high heat and straightened it into oblivion, just to become frustrated when it rebelled in moist weather. I live in the South (US) and it's often humid.

I recently moved to Shea Moisture based on some of the research I've done on this thread. So far I seem to like what it's doing for my hair. I'm a big fan of the conditioner, and the shampoo seems to do its job. I experimented with scrunching in some of the CO as a leave in and it seemed to help my curls clump together and smooth out.

I tried plopping the other day. I either didn't execute correctly or my hair is too short still. The plop was a flop. Ha. I'll give it a few more tries.

Thanks again, all.

lapushka
June 22nd, 2016, 12:27 PM
(I do disagree with the "waves are flat" thing, though. My hair is barely wavy, but if you look down the waves, they clearly make slow lazy spirals. Then I comb them and they're gone. XD)

Well I go by the definition and by what I have and see myself. Others' hair might be different and the definition may also be faulty in places, IDK. :shrug: I do have a few coils in there... sometimes if I'm lucky and they definitely are of another nature than my waves, so... I guess that's why I stated the 3-dimensional thing.

MidnightMoon
June 22nd, 2016, 12:30 PM
I dont understand the systen either. IMO it seems as if it were made for caucasian hair only. I mean...look at the difference between 1 and 2...and then picture this veeery curly afro hair thats just very condensed ringlets. It doesnt seem like a gradual evenly distributed...criteria?
If thats 3a what is the hair type I mentioned supposed to be? 6c? Hah...

Anyway... I cant help much. I think if your hair was longer it would be straighter too...

Anje
June 22nd, 2016, 12:51 PM
I dont understand the systen either. IMO it seems as if it were made for caucasian hair only. I mean...look at the difference between 1 and 2...and then picture this veeery curly afro hair thats just very condensed ringlets. It doesnt seem like a gradual evenly distributed...criteria?
If thats 3a what is the hair type I mentioned supposed to be? 6c? Hah...

Anyway... I cant help much. I think if your hair was longer it would be straighter too...
I tend to think of it in terms of curl diameter or wavelength, FWIW. 3a is like fat sidewalk chalk could fit inside the curls, 3b is like a marker or Sharpie, 3c is about pen-sized, and 4a looks more like the little spring inside the pen. By 4b, the hair is more zigzaggy than coiled curls. So what you're describing is probably somewhere in the 3c-4a range.

But yeah, the system does seem more centric on straighter hair types. Probably what the person who came up with it was most personally familiar with, right?

gawrique_
June 22nd, 2016, 02:55 PM
Yea, I also think the curl diameter it the key to differantiate all the possible coiled hair types. And it is actually pretty even also: 6 possible types for non spiral hair, 5 for curls.

By the way Elyse: how did you threat your hair for those pictures? Depending on the products and care, you may be even able to bring out the curls even more. Maybe your hair is heavied down by your current products (maybe even with silicones?) and the curls might pop when treated with oil. Also many curly heads have had a revelation when using hair-soap. Just take a look around with all the possibilities for curly hair :) I think you have amazing starting potential to grow a golden, curly/wavy waterfall.

Elyse
June 22nd, 2016, 03:33 PM
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Yea, I also think the curl diameter it the key to differantiate all the possible coiled hair types. And it is actually pretty even also: 6 possible types for non spiral hair, 5 for curls.

By the way Elyse: how did you threat your hair for those pictures? Depending on the products and care, you may be even able to bring out the curls even more. Maybe your hair is heavied down by your current products (maybe even with silicones?) and the curls might pop when treated with oil. Also many curly heads have had a revelation when using hair-soap. Just take a look around with all the possibilities for curly hair :) I think you have amazing starting potential to grow a golden, curly/wavy waterfall.

Well, in the long haired one I was probably using suave or some such and washing every day. Never oiled it. And I scrunched it with mousse and Aussie sprunch spray.

Second picture where it's short I used Shea moisture the day before with just a tad bit of mousse and leave in conditioner. I tried plopping it but it didn't help the top much. I also have oiled twice a week with coconut, castor, and olive mix.

gawrique_
June 22nd, 2016, 04:10 PM
As you can see in my avatar I am not even close to being a curl expert :laugh: but your routine (the lower one) sounds reasonable. Maybe take a look at hair soap, some will leave a nice portion of residual oil hopefully without being to heavy on the hair.
And maybe it is just typical for your hair type, that the top will remain wavy and curl up towards the ends. I think this is even more true when it gets longer.