Overall, which would you say is the most common hairtype: 1s, 2s, 3s, or 4s?

[TealDolphin]

Like throughout the world.

[littlestarface]

What do you mean? like thickness?

[TealDolphin]

No, like straight, wavy, curly, or kinky.

[BellCat]

alot of races have naturally straight 1 type hair so id say 1's

[Cailie]

if this is the world population in 2010 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population)

http://www.dayza.com/Users-Photos/1291661612.png (http://www.dayza.com/file/Users-Photos/1291661612.png/1.html)


and if we say that most people in China (almost 20 % of world population)
and India (over 17 % of world population) seem, usually, more or less strait (?) than maybe we can say around 1c/2a are fairly common worldwide ?
:)

[bumblebums]

Some East Asians have naturally wavy hair, as do many South Asians. If you add the Europeans and the Indians of the Americas to the mix, I would say it's a toss-up between 1s and 2s.

[Belisarius]

Well only in europe do you have lots of variation. Most africans have curly hair, but the chinese and japanese nearly all have stick straight hair so I'd go for 1.

[ddiana1979]

Darn. This makes me feel so ordinary. I thought straight-y's were special. :( Maybe it's just that most of the people I know curl their hair. *sigh*

[teela1978]

I'd say 2's.

[kathyblack1]

I'd say 2 and 3 being the most prevalent, with 1 and 4 being less so.

[Roseate]

I'm gonna guess 2. Europe, South Asia, North Africa, Russia, the Americas... there are at least some 2s in a lot of places.

Also, I think genetics favors us in-between types. My mother's side of the family is all 3s, my father's side all 1s... et voila, my brother and I are both 2s.

[Buddaphlyy]

I'd say 2 and 3 being the most prevalent, with 1 and 4 being less so.

I agree. If type 1 was the most common, I don't think products for hair straightening hair would be so prevalent.

[bumblebums]

I'm gonna guess 2. Europe, South Asia, North Africa, Russia, the Americas... there are at least some 2s in a lot of places.

Also, I think genetics favors us in-between types. My mother's side of the family is all 3s, my father's side all 1s... et voila, my brother and I are both 2s.

Off-topic: that's the best reason for an edit I've ever seen! :)

[Yozhik]

I think it's a bit of an overgeneralization to say that most Asians have type 1 hair. Many people in Asia have wavy or curly hair, and many gradations in between; it's just the prominent stereotype that all Asians have stick-straight, blue-black, thick hair. :shrug:

I'm also going with the theory that 2s and 3s are probably most common. :)

[bumblebums]

I think it's a bit of an overgeneralization to say that most Asians have type 1 hair. Many people in Asia have wavy or curly hair, and many gradations in between; it's just the prominent stereotype that all Asians have stick-straight, blue-black, thick hair. :shrug:

I'm also going with the theory that 2s and 3s are probably most common. :)

I totally agree. Most of the Asians I know personally have somewhat wavy hair. One of them even perm-straightens her hair. It may be more common to find stick-straight hair there than in some parts of the world, but it's not the only type.

[joiekimochi]

Yup while I have 1a/f/i-ii hair like my mom and grandma, my brother, dad and DBF (freakily) have 2b/c/iii hair. We're all Chinese by the way. In my extended family, we have hair that range from 1a to 3a, F to C, i to iii, and not a single one of us are mixed race (as far as I know).

Also, as far as I know, my hair's texture is considered a rarity. Most girls here do Japanese straightening perms, and most assume that I have done it too. It's funny, but I've always been obsessed with curly hair and once had an afro perm 10 years ago, and then from 16 to 22 the curling iron was my best friend.

[GRU]

As a 3, I have to say that it's relatively rare to find someone as curly as me, unless they have African type-4 hair.

I think that overall, there are more 2s in the world (both Asians and Indians have a good percentage of wavies in their population, from what I can tell). If I were going to order them, I'd say:

2 (most)
1
4
3 (fewest)

[Centifolia]

As a 3, I have to say that it's relatively rare to find someone as curly as me, unless they have African type-4 hair.

I think that overall, there are more 2s in the world (both Asians and Indians have a good percentage of wavies in their population, from what I can tell). If I were going to order them, I'd say:

2 (most)
1
4
3 (fewest)

I'm going to agree with you.
2s being an in-between texture will apper more and more since different races are getting mixed. There is also a prevalence of 1s (not all of them stick straight) because of the population in Asia and the existence of straight hair in almost every country.

[Tookii]

I reckon about 1's and 2's. Caucasions have a lot of variation but generally asian and indian people have reasonably straight hair and people of african descent have curly hair.

[leoninnu]

Okay, since this topic is all about opinions I would have to say 2. At least it always is when I spot a topic about a hair problem that I too have :D

But seriously though, I also think like Roseate, that the most common type is the in-between type. Not straight but not totally curly either.

[spidermom]

My money is on the 2s.

[einna]

I also think 2. Because of the in-between factor.

[heynormy]

I'm going with the 2s!

[Shay0969]

I'm going to go with the 2s also. Lots of wavy ethnic groups, AFAIK Caucasian, Indian, Asian, Hispanic--all have populations with #2 hair. Add in the people mentioned above where a combination of the other types of hair creates #2 hair. They must be the most common.

Correct me if I'm wrong--but the only group of people I am aware of that are almost 100% #1 hair are the Native American Indians???

[jujube]

^And most Asians? I wouldn't put them in the 2s.

[enfys]

But how do we know we're typing correctly? I mean, most people will have combed/brushed at least before we see them, and we don't know if they air dried!

My money is on 1.5; it's either 1s or 2s and I can't decide which without doing 6,000,000,000 hair typings :D

[jujube]

And a lot of people, at least around here, straighten, or curl their hair.

[xoxophelia]

From the polls I have been able to find so far covering Asian populations, the rate of curly and wavy hair is between 10-20% which means we can guess that about 80% of over half of the world's population has straight hair (http://www.sciencechatforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=82&t=16165). The black population which is just slightly smaller than caucasian is very unlikely to have 1 or 2 where as quiet a few caucasians fall between 1a-1c. For this reason, I would guess the most common is hair in the 1 category.
Even though this is rough it seems like a pretty strong wash out for the 1's.

[rosek]

I think 1's.

[McFearless]

Between 1-2.

3 is the rarest type. It isn't the most common hair type in the Caucasian, Asian, Indian, African-American or African communities.

With the except of North and Northeast(boardering Ethiopia, Eritrea&Somalia) Africa having type 3 hair, most Africans + African Americans have type 4 hair.

[mellie89]

This is a really interesting question. My first guess was 1's, but then again, it does make sense that 2's would be more prevalent because of potential averaging. I know nothing about genetics, but it's definitely an intriguing question!

[lacefrost]

I definitely think 2s. In most ethnicities, there are 2s. Asian 2s, White 2s, Hispanic 2s, hell even Black 2s (I've seen it.) But you can't say there are 4s in every ethnicity or 1s in every ethnicity. One thing about hair type and genetics to know is that curly hair is a dominant trait, the same way brown hair is dominant and blond hair is recessive. So all you need is to mix someone with a bit of curl into the population and WHAM! Wavies and curlies everywhere.

Here's a list of dominant and recessive characteristics: http://www.blinn.edu/socialscience/ldthomas/feldman/handouts/0203hand.htm

[Elbereth]

I'd say 1.

Yes, the 2's have a benefit of the in-between factor, but though in-betweenies can be found everywhere, they are still a small minority. This could change in future, though, as populations mix more.
Also, consider that only 1a hairtype is stick straight, and many Asians, Native Americans and quite a few Europeans have that hairtype. I am a 1b (no obvious s-waves whatsoever) and have neck hairs that tend to form just one perfect curl. 1c hairtype has a couple of defined s waves, so many in-betweenies would fit there.

4 would probably be the 2nd most common. I think 3 is the rarest. I agree that making these estimates is difficult since so many people can alter their natural texture. Even more (just think of men around the world) simply keep their hair so short that it is impossible to tell the exact type of the hair, as the typical characteristics of many hairtypes (the varying degrees of waviness) require some length to appear.

[Bianca]

I'd say 1s.

[Lianna]

I'd say 1 because there "some waviness" in 1b and 1c, all don't need to be stick straight (1a).

[wendy51]

I would say our race is more 2s-3s