Hair typing and hair routine help needed!

[Beeboo123]

I am seeing my cousin over the Christmas weekend, and she noticed that my hair had gotten a lot less frizzy and more shiny over the past year. Thank you, co-washing!

She approached me for advice on how to tame her mane. The following is a hair-typing photo that she took. Her hair was washed and left to completely air dry.
http://i.imgur.com/8hz5Q0T.jpg
To my surprise, we’re nearly hair twins! She has MBL hair. Her hair is coarse and a little thicker (4.25”) than mine, so she is a M/C/iii. I am not too sure how to classify her wave pattern- I feel that it is is a little looser than mine, so 2a maybe? Her hair is very heavily layered, which I heard can affect the apparent pattern of the waves? What do you think?

Her hair routine currently consists of daily washing with a sulfate shampoo, a rinse-off and a leave-in conditioner. She dries her air either by blow-drying it (to make it straighter and less frizzy), or with the help of a fan.

Her main problems are frizz, and from what I observed, a lot of breakage.
This is what I recommended:
- Switch to a cleansing conditioner, instead of using harsh sulfate shampoos (she tried mine, and likes the results, but thinks it’s weird because it does not feel clean)
- Finger detangle or comb with a wide-toothed comb only, no brushing
- Plop for more definition
- Continue to keep her hair up. She works in a lab, so she has her hair braided most of the time, however she has a lot of breakage throughout. I suspect that it’s because her hair is so similar to mine, it hates being put up, but she does not have the option of having it loose (while avoiding leaning or rubbing against it). But I also noticed that most of her breakage is around her shoulders, which is likely due to rubbing.
- Quit using a blow-fryer, air dry only
- Grow out those layers that the hairdresser insisted on, because they aren’t doing her any favors and making her hemline look ragged, and to give more weight to the hair so as to help hold it down
- Grow her hair longer, so the strands will have a harder time floating about and frizzing.

Have I missed anything out? What would you recommend?

[DweamGoiL]

I would say 2a/ii - the steps you posted for maintenance are good, but if she wants layers, she can definitely have them, but they should be a bit more blended. Those are quite choppy. She can even do face framing layers if she'd like to keep the hair in the back one length without adding too much weight. If her hair is floaty, I would dare guess she does not have coarse hair. Coarse hair tends to be a heavier strand and lays down more flatly.

I don't really see frizz in the picture, but flyaways mostly due to the varying lengths, but it's hard to tell in pictures rather than seeing it in person :) Her wave pattern looks like it could be encouraged a bit more and could be more stretched out due to dryness.

[Beeboo123]

I would say 2a/ii - the steps you posted for maintenance are good, but if she wants layers, she can definitely have them, but they should be a bit more blended. Those are quite choppy. She can even do face framing layers if she'd like to keep the hair in the back one length without adding too much weight. If her hair is floaty, I would dare guess she does not have coarse hair. Coarse hair tends to be a heavier strand and lays down more flatly.

I don't really see frizz in the picture, but flyaways mostly due to the varying lengths, but it's hard to tell in pictures rather than seeing it in person :) Her wave pattern looks like it could be encouraged a bit more and could be more stretched out due to dryness.

Thank you for the reply! There is little frizz in the photo because the place was air-conditioned (low humidity), but once we stepped outside, her hair poofed up immediately. I think you might be right regarding the coarseness- she is probably mistaking dryness for coarseness, I did not feel her strands to check, and just took her at her word.

How do you tell if layers are blended or choppy? Is there a way to self-trim to make the layers more blended?

[Lizabeth94]

I would say 2a/iii. I can tell from the picture that her hair is quite thick, its just the layers making it appear more like ii. If she doesnt like CO, then maye recommend CWC (condition, wash, condition)?