Hairtyping clarification - 2c or 3a?

[kjirstiben]

Hello, everyone! I come in search of the collective wisdom of LHCers... I've been lurking and learning and I finally got around to a clarifying wash and airdry this morning. (Man, my porous and dry hair HATED that. It has since been dampened and coconut oiled and put in a bun, to rectify the trauma!)

Anyhow, after reading through the hairtyping article and looking at the pictures, I had pegged myself as a 3a. But with my hair having just reached "can I call this tailbone?" it's not spiralling anymore, and since I don't live somewhere super-humid, that's pulling out the curls, too. However, when I look at the pictures of 2c hair, it all looks looser, somehow, than my own curl pattern...

Mine just needs a little coaxing, these days, to form the spirals that it makes more readily when it's about BSL. But with some product and attention (twirling clumps and scrunching is the best approach), I can get well-defined, glossy spirals, though they do pull straighter at the top, from their overall weight.

(It really is too bad I wasn't around for the Edwardian period--I could pull off the "cloud of hair" look effortlessly.)

But enough with the explanation - here are the pics:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=5883&pictureid=76958
Indoors. Do you see that nice frizz-halo?

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=5883&pictureid=76957
Indoors, from the back.

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=5883&pictureid=76956
Outdoors, in a slight breeze.

So what do you think? 2c? 3a? Something else entirely?

[Loreley]

I'd say 2c. I was typed here as 2c/3a and I have more waves and smaller curls (which I hate). :)

[Naava]

Since at this length you currently have, your hair looks mostly wavy with just some spiral parts, I would say you are 2C :) To me the difference between 3A and 2C is just that if you describe yourself 3A, it would mean that basicly all of your hair should have spirals, without products or help.

[xoxophelia]

I would have thought 2b :S

[JamieLeigh]

Check out this page, if you've never been here before, and look for the hair that most resembles your own. This is a pretty good hair-typing guide. :flower:

http://homepage.mac.com/annsofie.henriksson/hairtyping/PhotoAlbum17.html

ETA: I think some of their 2Cs should really be in the 2B page...the hair is not as all-over wurly/wavy as yours, theirs is mostly straighter at the top and wavier toward the ends. Judging by these photos, I'd put you at a 2C.

[kjirstiben]

Thanks for the help--I've updated myself to a 2c accordingly. (Is it silly that I'm kind of sad to "downgrade" from 3a to 2c? After all, I do like that I have the flexibility to smooth it out by damp-bunning it, and that it'll take any curl I put in it and keep it there until I decide otherwise.)

BTW, a day later, I'm still dealing with the clarified frizzies... my hair is saying "woohoo! free at last!" after so much conditioning (I typically WO or CO wash, though since I've been using coconut oil I've had to use a very dilute shampoo/water spray to remove the excess when I get carried away).

[TinaDenali]

Wow, you have some gorgeous hair. I'd love it if my hair looked like yours!!

[spidermom]

I figured out my 2C type when my hair was shorter and more likely to spiral curl (but still not as much curl as wave). I most likely wouldn't pick that now.

Considering that your hair looks more curly than mine, I'd guess that at a shorter length, you would be 3A. So that's my best guess: 3A.

[kjirstiben]

Thanks, TinaDenali! And Spidermom, your response is really helpful. Between the two of you (looking through your photos), I now am convinced that 2c is a designation to aspire to! Thanks for that... (I was daunted by the frizzy/pulled out effect that I got from not conditioning it--my hair hasn't looked like that in ages, since I figured out how to moisturize it.)

I think, too, that at a shorter length my texture is solidly 3a. Well, a shorter length and a humid climate--it was when I moved to Georgia for college and got a haircut that I "discovered" my curls.

So does hairtype actually change based on its length and your climate? Or is there an underlying "true type" that I should claim?

[Anje]

I'd say you're closer to 3a than 2c, but I could see it going either way. Otherwise, you can always split the difference and just say 2c/3a.

[spidermom]

The woman who put the hair typing system together told me that your hair type doesn't change, but the way it appears might. So even though I don't really appear to have 2C hair anymore (except when the planets are properly aligned), I kept the type.

[Starfilly]

Interesting thread! And after hearing everyone's input, I think I've been sort of typing mine wrong all this time. :whistle: *goes off to change her type to a 3a*