Hair typing?

[Fractalsofhair]

I have no idea what type my hair is. Look at my album to see the difference between it when it is slightly damp and the hair isn't dry from lack of oil, and then how straight it gets when it's a bit dry, at least in the back. When it's dry it has a lot more volume/frizz, but right now my hair seems shiny and curly, but when it's drier/lacking oil, it still seems pretty healthy! http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=3149

Any thoughts?

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=3149&pictureid=40911

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=3149&pictureid=40910

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=3149&pictureid=40908

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=3149&pictureid=39747

[Fractalsofhair]

Come on, someone's got to be able to help me here! (Or at least help with putting photos in the thread?)

[ecologystudent]

To put images in the thread, open a reply box. Then go to one of your pictures, right click, select 'view image', and press ctrl C to copy the address of your image. Then, click the little mountain icon on the top of the reply box, and ctrl p to paste the address in. The click ok, and viola!
Example:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=3149&pictureid=40910

[Fractalsofhair]

Thanks! I'll test that out now!
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=3149&pictureid=40908
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=3149&pictureid=40911
Yay! It worked!

[ecologystudent]

As for hair-typing advise, I think the general way to do it, if ya want to be all specific, is to do a normal wash for you (or maybe it's a clarifying wash?), and then let it dry with out messing with it at all. That's supposed to give you a pretty good idea of what your hair is like most the time.

[Fractalsofhair]

Yep, I do do that with generally the same routine. Using the exact same products and methods to dry/comb my hair, my hair goes from straight to what you see in the pictures! It really depends on the day for me, which is why I'm very confused! If I clarify or use anything harsh, my hair breaks off and just turns into a giant frizzball, which is not helpful(I'm defs not type 4b, which is what it can appear to be on the worst of days when my hair is dry!). With the curls, I have been using coconut milk in the shower, but it has curled like that before with my regular shampoo and conditioner. I do pat it dry all the time, maybe I should try letting it just drip dry?

[Fractalsofhair]

So does no one have a clue on what letter/number I am? 1a etc?

[Roseate]

Yep, I do do that with generally the same routine. Using the exact same products and methods to dry/comb my hair, my hair goes from straight to what you see in the pictures!

So it was combed in the pictures above? Like ecologystudent says, if you want to figure out your "official" hairtype, cleanse it using your normal method, then let it dry without adding any oils, leave-ins or products of any kind, no combing, no touching. Then snap a picture and people will probably feel more confident about calling your hairtype.

If those are combed, I'd say maybe a 2a. 2's can often look from straight to more wurly depending on a lot of factors.

[Fractalsofhair]

I did comb it in the shower when wet, but not out of the shower. That's what I do if it seems not too tangly, if that makes any sense? Admittedly, I comb my hair when I'm putting conditioner in and such, to distribute it, and before getting into the shower. I also squeezed water out in the shower and then patted it gently with a towel for these pictures, but not much. Can that affect hair typing?

I have a lot of trouble not putting oils in it as my hair and scalp break and bleed and get pretty nasty if I don't use any(Very dry skin and hair here). (And my conditioner is pretty much oil)

And well, I know I'm not in the 4 range which is what it can look like if I'm light with oils and conditioner. Basically just a giant puff on top of my head, no curls, just puffy hair that is extremely puffy due to frizz on all the hairs?(Think Siouxsie Sioux, and Robert Smith almost, except a little more poofy than Robert Smith.) This might sound awkward but one of my friends referred to it as a cross between an afro and "triangle" hair(What some Jewish people have, lots of hair that grows into a poofy triangle with curls. We're both of Jewish decent, so it wasn't meant as an insult, and she had "triangle" hair as she affectionately called it, except with a curl pattern.), but without any curl pattern, when I ran out of conditioner at camp and went one wash without it! And this was during a summer, and my scalp pretty much got some nasty sores on it, which took about 3 weeks to clear up.(Just the dry skin peels, leaving no skin etc.) That was during a time when I used cones a lot, and my hair was on the drier side. I have checked with doctors, and being on BC doesn't help it, but basically it's harmless since I'm getting enough fats in my diet, I just don't produce enough oil naturally.

Now, that was when my hair was virgin and pretty much undamaged. I've since bleached it once, and blew dry it for about a month daily, which damaged it a lot! I've since stopped.

Are there any ways to tell despite using oils in one's hair what the type is? Should I just try to use as few oils as I can get by with?

Thanks for the advice about the 2a. That makes sense that it can be curly or straight.

It's seemed more often curly since I bleached it and a lot of it started breaking off. Can losing a lot of hair make it seem more curly? I have about 1/4 or less of my total hair starting about 5 inches down in the front, where most of the curls are, and maybe 1/3 or so in the back. Could that make my hair curl more, effectively by thinning it?


Any tips on getting an accurate hair typing if I have extremely dry hair, with a lot of breakage/damage? How should I modify the hair typing routine to get an accurate hair typing for my dry scalp and hair? Should I do a hot oil treatment the night before, wash it out and then use conditioner but no extra oil except on the ends?

[Roseate]

Are there any ways to tell despite using oils in one's hair what the type is? Should I just try to use as few oils as I can get by with?

It's just for one picture. After you snap the picture, feel free to dampen your hair again if you need and add whatever leave-ins you want! I did. I look like Einstein without some extra moisture! My hairtyping picture has a frizz halo like you wouldn't believe.


Any tips on getting an accurate hair typing if I have extremely dry hair, with a lot of breakage/damage? How should I modify the hair typing routine to get an accurate hair typing for my dry scalp and hair? Should I do a hot oil treatment the night before, wash it out and then use conditioner but no extra oil except on the ends?

It's also possible, if your hair is super damaged, that you just won't be able to figure out what your virgin, non-fried hairtype is yet. If your natural texture has been altered by damage, you may just have to wait until healthier hair grows in to see how it's going to behave.

[Fractalsofhair]

Ah thanks for the advice. The issue is mostly with my scalp with the sores etc, if I'm not REALLY heavy with conditioner and oils, and it's not so much a frizz halo, as much as my whole hair is frizzy and turns into a poof that has no curl pattern but is nothing but frizz. A little bit of frizz doesn't bug me too much(Or even a lot!), or at all really, it's more when my whole head looks like somewhere in the 4 range, which I'm pretty sure I'm not given how it can look straight one day and curly the next, but with oil, my whole hair isn't tightly coiled at all, or any other other characteristics of a 4, and it looks straight if I brush it with a bit of oil, so I'm pretty sure that's not my natural hair texture. Though of course it is possible, most 3s and 4s generally can't get their hair to look like a 1a/b or so with brushing, so I think I'm somewhere in the 1-2 range. Should I just do it the day after a hot oil treatment so I don't have to use as much oil or conditioner right out the shower?

My hair is extremely damaged, so when it grows out it's worth a try. I didn't use a perm or anything like that, a mild bleach and blow drying daily for a month, but given that over 3/4 of my hair at the ends has broken off, I'd say it's pretty damaged! I'm letting it grow out. Maybe once I reach my goal length of waist length undamaged, I'll be more able to do a hair typing picture.