straight roots & curly ends vs. curly from root to tip

[McFearless]

I've seen people with straight hair that turns curly on the lower half. I have the same texture throughout my length. What is the difference in hair structure between the two types?

[OperaTeacherMom]

Usually it's just a looser curl pattern, wavy patterns like 2b/2c tend to start much lower on the hair, so much that they can even appear straight when they're short. 3a can also start lower down, especially if it gets heavy and weighed down. 3b generally stands out from 3a because the curl does start at the root, rather than further down :)

[lonestargal]

That is exactly what my hair does!! I think I have my hair typing wrong....my hair does start getting curly/wavy until about my neck (maybe a little higher).
I have the worst time trying to style it...lately I've had to resort back to the flat iron on some days because my hair just looks horrible if I don't. Too straight to wear curly/wavy and too curly/wavy to wear straight (without help)!!! It's a pain!!!

[jesis]

My hair doesn't start curling for the first few inches. Some days it's different. I could "plunk" my hair and get more curl at the root, but I don't really mind. I like my loose curls. :)

[Lemur_Catta]

There are a lot of people who style they hair so that it's straight at the roots, and wavy\curly from the neck down. My sister is one of them. She has naturally curly hair that she flatirons and then curl with the same flatiron to achieve this look.
So be happy, it's stylish :D

[looniac]

I don't get curls until my hair grows to about 4" long... so when I had a short pixie, you couldn't even tell my hair was curly! But, when I have long hair, I have ringlets. Hair that curls from the root just has a tighter curl, I think.

[Clarisse]

My hair is straight or wavy to about ear level. I think the difference is in how tight the curls are too.

[Paula Auguste]

At shoulder to BS length, my hair was curly throughout. Now, it depends a lot on how I dry and style it. Only when I flip it in a towel and let it dry somewhat up-side-down I get curls all over. If I just let it hang down my back while drying, chances are that the weight lets it dry straight on top and curly at the ends.

So for me it's just the weight and no change in hairtype. Single hairs are curly all over, especially if I fish them out of the bathtub.

But I agree that it can be deliberately done with curlers or curling irons on straight hair.

[Lostsoule77]

I think it's def the curl pattern. Wavy hair usually starts a bit lower down on the hair and curly hair starts at the scalp. If you have longer hair the weight of it can change this though. I'm pretty sure this is what it is, but not 100%. :hmm:

[Anje]

Oh, my hair does something like this naturally! The first few inches of new growth have some curl to them, but after that the hair straightens out a lot. In my case, this doesn't translate to curly ends, just curly new growth (Tuft City at my hairline right now!) and tapered ends that flick out of loose hair and look like damage until you look closely enough to determine that it's hairs that have never been trimmed.

[Copasetic]

This can also happen as the result of styling. I don't clip my roots or anything like that, so when I leave my hair to dry naturally I end up with straight roots and curly ends. I think it is particularly common with curlies with long hair.

[zombiekat]

I agree with everything said. I usually get straight roots when I air dry because the weight of my hair pulls out the curl.

[milagro]

I agree with everything said. I usually get straight roots when I air dry because the weight of my hair pulls out the curl.

Same here! :waving:

[princessp]

My hair does this a little (straight root curl ends). So the wave starts like an inch from the root hairs, but when it is short it is crazy curly all over. So I always thought it was weight of my long hair that does it.

ETA: And I always air dry so maybe that's it?

[MandyBeth]

My sister as an adult has a weird to describe pattern. The curl doesn't kick in till midway between SL - APL. Then it's major tight ringlets.

[jessie58]

For me, it's where my hair grows out of my head. My underside has super thick, curly, luscious curls starting right at the scalp.

My hairline at my widow's peak, temples and my sideburns are also curly.

The killer is that the very crown of my head, where the canopy grows out and covers everything else, is very straight. I fight to coax a curl or wave out of it.

If I could go around upside down all day, I'd have the most awesome head of 3b curls that you have ever seen. :silly:

[McFearless]

My sister as an adult has a weird to describe pattern. The curl doesn't kick in till midway between SL - APL. Then it's major tight ringlets.

Wow! I ency your sis. Updos look much more sleek and elegant in my opinion if the hair is smooth. My roots are curly and if I try to do an updo I have s waves.

[McFearless]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. :) Its crazy how different we all are. I still don't get how someone can have straight hair until their shoulders and then have it curly. How does the ends know whats going on in the roots? And vice versa.

[Lianna]

That's what my hair does too. It's straight until about ear level, except on bangs, which flips out. Bangs need styling or growing it out. :D Wavy until shoulder, then some big ringlets start, they're just starting to come now. :D (I've had longer hair before that's how I know this, and that's why I call myself 2c even though it doesn't look yet)

It's pretty much the type 2c that you describe, I think. It doesn't go from 1a roots to 3a curls at ends though. Mine is more 1a roots, then a bit of 2a/2b to finally some 3a ringlets at ends.

[emelnd]

Yeah. That's what my hair does, exactly. If I have it short, I have all curls though, I then have a whole head of messy Einstein hair that stands up every which way.

I don't know why this happens. It is confusing. Maybe the as it grows the weight kills the curls?

[Chetanlaiho]

My hair is mostly 2a I think, but the ends have recently (after going CO and cone free) started to move towards late 2 and early 3 if I let them dry on their own :shrug:

[EbonyCurls]

My hair, for the most part, is curly out the gate. It only gets smoother at the top if I comb it while wet with hair gel and don't scrunch, or if I wear it up, then take down.

[Mesmerise]

My hair is just random. Underneath the curl starts straight away, this is also true for the bits over my ear which are stupid. Other bits are much straighter.

My ends used to look quite straight, in fact, straighter than the length, but this may have been damage, and now my ends are looking curlier. If you look at the pic from when I first started LHC you can see how straight my ends look. But now they're looking better. I'm quite interested in how my hair will look when it's long and free of damage.

The weird thing is where a fringe (bangs) would be if I had one the hair grows quite straight... probably 1c. If my hair were thicker and not so tapered due to hair loss, I'd probably cut bangs, just to stop those stupid straight bits that look weird hanging over the rest of my hair.

All I can say is... hair is WEIRD. I will never figure it out ;). Some people seem to have a gentle wave throughout the length, and others only get a curl at the end. It's a mystery!

[emelnd]

Mesmerise, the nape of my neck and over my ear is always curlier. I am jealous about your straight hair where the bang would be. I want bangs but when I get them they look all curly, puffy and weird. Even if I straighten my bangs, they curl up after 5 min.

[October]

I've got hair that does that (this is an old pic):

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=8146&pictureid=106949

I dont know how curled it would get since I haven't grown it past BSL. My mom has curly S curls all over, so I know that it comes from that. My hair is straight as long as I keep it above shoulder. Between shoulder and BSL, it is kind of awkward because I have strange random bumps like I've been wearing my hair up. On the bright side though, ponytails look awesome because all my hair curls around into one big curl (only a high ponytail though... low ponytails dont). I love it.