Anyone have two layers/types of hair on one head?d

[sycamoreboutiqu]

I am kind of searching for a hair twin to compare notes.

Mine is super thick and medium wavy and it has two personalities.

The canopy is wavy for about a day then it straightens out to a light wave, the underneath section is quite wavy with loose corkscrews if I don't comb it at all.

This makes it makes it pretty bushy sometimes (much, much worse in the past before practicing good LHC techniques) and buns are sometimes uncontrollable.

I am just at waist with my underlayer which seems to be growing faster. The top layers aren't catching up as fast since I have been micro-trimming quite a bit just to keep them smoothed down - even though there are no real splits.

One new thing I have tried that has helped immensely is adding just a drip of Jojoba oil to my conditioner - and doing a CWC. I rarely use regluar shampoo, as I prefer my own brand of African Black soap as it helps with scalp problems. Most times I ACV rinse, which also helps.

Henna also helps smooth things down - but I have to stick to roots only or it just gets too dark (sometimes even roots only touchups and it gets too dark).

Anyone else in the same boat ?

[Rafusen]

I don't have different layers, but I have different hair textures interspersed throughout my head. I have mostly medium hair, but there's a small proportion that is very very coarse and thick. I can even hear the difference when I S&D. I also have a lot of very fine hairs that are between 3-6" long. It's mostly the coarse hairs I have a problem with. They seem to be much more stubborn when it comes to laying flat or smooth. I try to wear my hair up, and in a hurry I sometimes mist with water and rub a tiny bit of olive oil, then smooth with my BBB to tame those ugly wiry hairs. I CWC, too and I damp oil the night before pre-wash night. Pre-wash I do an overnight oil. I have noticed that with the BBB I've been using much more often, I don't have as much of a problem with the wire frizzies.

[Honestwitness]

Yea, I have this same situation. My nape hairs are capable of becoming lovely corkscrews when freshly washed and air dried. However, they are very delicate and have a terminal length that is four to seven inches long. Then, the farther you go up my scalp, the less wavy, but stronger and longer the hairs are. My canopy and bangs are the least wavy and are growing like weeds. I have to use gel or hair spray and sometines a curling iron on my bangs to put any wave in them at all. Overall, though, because all of my hair is so fine, I have to use shampoo and conditioner every other day, or all of my head looks like limp, stringy 1b hair after I sleep on it for two nights.

[PolarCathy]

My bottom layers and the strands around my ears are still 3a and the individual strands are thicker while the rest is more like 2b/2c (on a wash day) and finer in general.

[CurlAhead]

The shortest layers are about 3c or curlier, though the longest is 2c/3a and I like that much better!

[AchtungCurly]

Anyone else in the same boat ?

Ooh! Pick me!

I have both distinct layers and two different curl patterns on my head.

The long layer is just past BSL, the short is just past APL. And I'm mostly a 3a, but my canopy is a 2c (the first day - after that maybe 2a).

And I get the bushy hair all the time when I want to do anything to my hair. My daughter just read the first Harry Potter, and told me I look more like Hermione than in the movie. (I was disturbingly happy, because it meant that I looked like I had hair.)

I haven't tried henna (red is not my color), but what helps my buns is either coconut oil, aloe vera gel, or both.

What's African Black soap? (Sorry if that's a dumb question.)

[DaniiL]

My hair is a little similar to yours. We might not be twins, but sisters maybe? ;)

My hair is a lot shorter than yours though, the longest layer is BSL, and the shortest is between shoulder and APL.

It is very thick and has two, or maybe even three different layers/textures.
The hair from the canopy can be a little bit wavy, but is pretty easy to brush straight.
The layer underneath is very wavy/curly, corkscrews if I leave it alone.
In my sig pic you can clearly see the two different textures.

And then I have a very small layer that grows from the neck that is 1a or 1b-straight.

Sometimes I don't know if I should treat my hair as straight or wavy/curly? It feels like it would be easier to only have one texture.
But I'm not really complaining, I like my hair!

And at last I wanna say that your hair is very beautiful! I wish my hair would look that good when I'm 56!! :)

[spidermom]

I've got crazy mixed-up hair. It's fine, medium, and coarse. It's everything from stick straight to kinky-curly. I think I've seen every color in there, too. It's every hair for herself, and trying to coax any kind of harmony has been a chore, although length helps a lot. At shoulder length, it was hopelessly bushy.

[elbow chic]

Yeah. I have a pretty straight canopy (1bish) and a decidedly wavier underlayer. (2bish?)

Yes, a lot of the time it just looks "bushy." :laugh: Part of the reason I very seldom wear my hair down in public.

Far as I know, that's not too uncommon?

One thing I like to do, if I'm wearing my hair down, is to pull the canopy into a barrette to show the darker, wavier underlayer. It's like having an extra hairdo hidden under that straight top layer.

[Kaijah]

Meeee. *Most* of my hair is medium texture, but I have some light blonde bits that are quite fine, and some darker red-brown bits that are rather course. My canopy is loose 3a curls, though they can fall pretty easily to 2c-ish-ness at this length. At short lengths (above BSL) everything was very much 3b from root to tip. The stuff growing from my temples is still much curlier than everything else, even now at hip.

My under layers in back are all 2c-ish, and there's one spot on the back of my head that's *all* 2c canopy and under - it looks kinda odd next to the curlier bits, especially in good warm weather when the actual curls really get going. :laugh: You can see that odd 2c bit pretty well in this picture (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=4665&pictureid=78410), from back in summer when I was around waist. Now, in the winter chill everything's more evened out like this (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=4665&pictureid=99786).

Add in the layers, and my hair looks kind of hilarious some days. The short stuff curls up a lot, while the longest hip length layers straighten out some from all the weight pulling down. Oh well, I still like it!

I don't really do much to try and smooth it down or straighten it once it's dry... I've found that just makes it frizz out and get PO'ed. :shrug: Using a leave in and a good bit of coconut oil + sweet almond oil after every shower helps a lot to just keep it happy and shiny overall. It keeps second day curls pretty well if I don't braid it/bun it overnight. Just throw the length over a pillow, oil it again in the morning and it's good to go. Usually I end up bunning or braiding though, and then it smooths out to bun waves or braid waves and keeps those until I wash again.

[ouseljay]

Mine is similar. The canopy is 1c/2a ish and the underlayer is something like 2b/2c. The two layers don't integrate unless I brush it, and then it just goes bushy. The canopy foofs easily anyway. Like elbow chic, I could easily pull up the top layer and have it look as if I'd styled the underlayer!

[ArienEllariel]

Yup. My underlayer is definately wavier than my canopy.

[sycamoreboutiqu]

Hi everyone.

Darn, I forgot to check back on this thread earlier and now its 2:30 am and I am getting blurry eyed and can't hold out long enough to read all the replies.

I will be back tomorrow morning or evening and follow up, and thanks for all the replies.

[Katze]

Mine is similar. The canopy is 1c/2a ish and the underlayer is something like 2b/2c. The two layers don't integrate unless I brush it, and then it just goes bushy. The canopy foofs easily anyway. Like elbow chic, I could easily pull up the top layer and have it look as if I'd styled the underlayer!

I have similar mixed hair, but it never looks styled. Fine, almost straight hair on top that is very fragile and severely tapered. Coarser, heading-towards-corkscrewed nape hairs that are only reaching shoulder level for the first time in my life and kink and curl and have an odd texture compared to the rest of my hair.

I usually put a lot of leave-in on my nape hairs and gel all over my length to try to get the different types of hair to come to some common denominator of wavy and poofy...

[sycamoreboutiqu]

Ok - I am back.

Honestwitness - Yeah, same thing here with the short nape hairs. I never noticed them being this long before though, so I am guessing maybe I have done some damage and it is now growing out (that is very likely as I was getting aggravated with the tangles I was getting and got a bit aggressive). But you have them all the time and don't think it is broken hair that has grown out ? It is kind of weird because mine are the same 4-6" long - maybe they are like yours and just more fragile and don't get longer than that. I guess I need to watch and see if the length maintains or changes.
Interesting.

[sycamoreboutiqu]

Rafusen - That must be annoying - two different textures. I too have found great relief in using oils (wish I had paid attention to that recommendation a year ago) and it has made the wavy, snarly problem much less so. My fav oil at the moment is Jojoba - but the Argan is super for taming the frizz when dry.

[Honestwitness]

Angela, my shorter nape hairs are termially short. I hate it, but I have to face reality. It will always be something I have to accommodate.

[sycamoreboutiqu]

PolarCathy - Do you do anything different to the sections or just let it do whatever it wants ?

Curlahead - Yeah, I like the smoother, straighter part better too. If the curly was all over curly that would be fine too but this halfway stuff just ends up looking stringy sometimes.

[Intotouch]

Hi. My hair has three types but in the opposite order to you. Around the crown it's super curly, mid way it's wavy and the nape is dead straight. I got a loose perm before on the nape hair and that helped hugely. My boyfriend said it looked more natural.

If you don't want to go the chemical root to alter it you could blowdry the curlier hair straight. My friend gets this done once a week and it works perfectly. Her hair is wiry and just a step below afro in curliness.

Henna definitely straightened my hair so i guess you could also put a henna treatment on the curliest hair to help to make it more uniform. One woman on here posted on a henna question that i had that her hair went straight after regular henna use. The gloss wouldn't colour it.

[Sheltie_Momma]

Me! (Raises hand) - mine is coarse and wiry mixed with fine and smooth. The hair right behind my ears goes into ringlets and never grows past about 3 inches (not damage - that's just how it is) The hair underneath at the back is smooth and fine and delicate, my canopy is wiry and coarse and much wavier than the underneath section. I bun it when wet and that makes it fall into a smooth wave pattern. Sometimes the canopy need more moisture, or a coney leave in and I bun it up by itself until it behaves itself (like "time out" for unruliness!)

From pictures, our hair is kind of similar - except mine is wavier on top and straighter underneath - I will get nice fat log roll ringlets if the weather is right but alas, the weather that makes ringlets also makes frizz!

[Lianna]

I'd say my underlayer is 2b/2c, my canopy is 2a/2b and my bangs 3a/3b! :D The F/M are all over the place. And my bangs/crown area are really really thick, more so than other lower parts.

[sycamoreboutiqu]

AchtungCurly

Yeah - the bushy thing is so annoying. I remember back to a few bad hair looks where the stylist suggested I should get a blunt cut (oy) and she made it about shoulder length. Yikes. Total Rosanne Rosanna Danna ! It was awful and I hated it. The hairdresser should have known that would happen - and it took all kinds of heat and pulling to get it somewhere close to laying flat - not something I was about to do every day. Ugh, the bad old days.

A lot of people like Cassia for the conditioning and strengthening benefits - similar to Henna without the color.

>>>What's African Black soap? (Sorry if that's a dumb question.)<<<

African Black soap is a very unique and organic product made by the tribes people of Ghana and other areas of Africa. It is made the ancient way over a wood fire but unlike old fashioned soap there is no animal fat.
They use plantain leaves that have been dried in the sun, shea butter and palm oil. It is a very potent soap but that is tempered by the shea butter, and is known for it's ability to clear acne without overdrying the skin. It is also very helpful for eczema and other skin problems - and I use it daily as a facial soap and as a shampoo bar for my itchy scaly scalp.

I get my raw shea and black soap directly from a non-profit organization that goes to Ghana on a regular basis working with Doctors without Borders.

PM me for further information as I can't post it here.

Angela

[sycamoreboutiqu]

Danil

Thank you - it is really kind of fun to have long hair at this age when it is expected I would be "bobbing" or getting some stylish razor cut to look like the other aging women who are trying to not look like they are aging. LOL.

Yes, I can see your curl pattern there - sounds just like mine only I don't have a stick straight layer. Now that would be different.

I too am not really complaining, I do like my hair I just wish if it were going to be curly/wavy it would be all the way - but I guess I could put in some time to enhance the curl pattern if I wanted to.

[sycamoreboutiqu]

Spidermom - that is funny that you have all different types and colors. Got some really mixed up genes there huh ?? Yes, isn't it nice that the length and weight tame down the awful bushiness.

Gosh if we had only had this forum back in the 70s-80's - would have saved a lot of grief.

[sycamoreboutiqu]

Elbowchic

Do you ever take a hair dryer to the underlayer to get it smoother ? I have tried that a few times when I wanted to try and have a smaller head profile for a change - but it doesn't really help until the second or third day after shampooing - so I usually never shampoo the same day I want it to look tamed down for a special occasion.

[sycamoreboutiqu]

Kaijah
Yes, I can see that one section that is different than the rest of the curls. How odd.

Wow, your second pic is really impressive. Such beautiful ringlets at that length - amazing you can keep those going for two days. Just lovely.

I have really started loving the use of oil - especially Jojoba and Argan, they are both so nice and silky feeling.

[sycamoreboutiqu]

Katze - Have you tried using oils ? I am finding they are helping a lot with the pouf and to smooth those curly, snarly nape hairs and keep them from tangling so bad.

Honestwitness - Do you think it is ponytail related though ? I am starting to wonder because the ends do seem to fall right where the pony holder would end up - so I quit doing a pony/bun at night because I think it was also pulling. I am trying super loose braid instead - will see if there is any change.

PS - Love your creamy white color. Do you ever have any problem with keeping it white, like water deposits or anything ?

Intotouch - Yep, have been using Henna for awhile now and I do think it smooths it somewhat more. Don't think I would want to henna just the underside though - the root outgrowth would be awful.
I have tried blowdrying the underlayer, it helps a bit but takes too darned long and the heat still puffs it up somewhat. Mostly I just let it do what it wants

[sycamoreboutiqu]

Sheltie Mama - Going by your avatar photo I would say your hair is probably the closest. You have the same thickness and wave pattern that doesn't quite make it to curlyness but strong pattern nonetheless and does curl under certain conditions.

Isn't that funny that you have the exact opposite configuration.

"A timeout" for unruliness, too funny.

[shikara]

Ugghhh! I used to think it was unhealthy hair that often separates into some 'ropes' in the back but it's that darn coarser kinkier hair underneath my straight slippy hair that is causing that:justy: - thank goodness for buns!!! I may never wear it down!

[elbow chic]

Elbowchic

Do you ever take a hair dryer to the underlayer to get it smoother ? I have tried that a few times when I wanted to try and have a smaller head profile for a change

Used to, but now I don't care enough to bother. :D

I'm trying very hard to avoid damage and I can live without the blowdryer. Hopefully when the hair gets long enough it will weight itself down and that will decrease the pooftastic factor.

but that won't happen for me unless I step AWAY from the hot-pipe.

[BlazingHeart]

I don't have much difference in terms of wavyness/curliness, but I do have dramatic difference in the diameter of the hair. I'm about 1C/2A all over, maybe a little more in the front than the back, but I vary from fine hair around my face and on the very top of the canopy to medium hair for most of my thickness to coarse hair at my nape. The color changes, too, from a very light brown to blonde where it is fine to a medium brown with hints of red where it is medium to a deep red-brown where it is coarse. I'm the only one in my family who has this layering, everyone else has closer to uniform coloring and thickness of hair, so I have no idea where it comes from.

~Blaze

[HappyMuser]

Ah, yes! I've been wondering if there was anyone else out there "like me" :p My top layers (I don't know those fancy words) are 2b/2c, while the bottom ones are 1b! The bottom layers seems to grow much faster than the rest, so to avoid having straight hair peeking out under the waves, I usually cut the bottom layers more often. It's kind of annoying, really :(

[McFearless]

I have really fine hairs and really coarse ones too. Some wiry and some smooth and coarse.

[WaterMusic]

I have stretched out spirals when my hair is wet, but as my hair dries the canopy gets straighter and straighter. When it's dry, it's usually a 1c/2a, but my under layer is more like a 2c.

[UltraBella]

My canopy is small kinky waves, like a mini Afro, and my under layers are just nice soft waves. Either would be okay if my whole head would just be the same !

[CrystalStar]

My underlayer is bushier, and thick coarse hairs whereas my canopy is softer and more prone to breakage!

[Aveyronnaise]

My hair seems confused and I don't really understand it. Both of my parents had 2c-3a hair and mine is 2a with a straighter canopy on top. My canopy bugs me, I have really nice romantic undulating waves underneath and a straight top.
I also have all through my hair shorter,very fine, kinky afro type hairs all through my hair (?) why they are there I have no idea. Sometimes I wonder if there is something I could do to make it more curly since both of my parents were quite curly.
Then again , I'm lazy and I actually think I like the versatility, my hair has a sort of magical quality of taking on whatever texture I want it to. If I want it straight I just comb it a bit wet and of course various waves and curls from damp braiding and bunning.
And I have very thick hair , which I never thought of as a good thing until LHC taught me how to manage it. Thanks LHC.

[Busybee]

My hair just thinks it's bi-racial.......... but it's not.

I am caucasian, the top 3/4 of my hair is F/M ash blonde - while the bottom 1/4 is kinky, nothing will straighten it out or smooth it down, dry, brittle feeling, Coarse nonsense!

I don't use henna or cassia, as I need to maintain my ash. Hilariously enough, the layers I have now are making it look worse, as they expose the dragon underneath the canopy......but my style is not my choice as my damaged hair needs to heal and grow at it's own pace.

So far, nothing is working to style my Jekyll/Hyde hair - so I oil the hell out of it and bun it all the time at home...... becoming a very tedious and unattractive look to the DH, I am sure. Daytime styles are a joke unless it's braided or bunned - and even then, it's so thin (see why in my siggy) that it just looks stupid.

Oh well - wish I had the kick-butt-locks of the OP!

[CurlAhead]

I ripped out two hairs from the same area, and one of them was C and the other was F.... I was surprised.

[LadyJennifer]

Mine is the opposite. It's wavy curly on top, but the underlayer is barely 2a. It makes it difficult to tell hairdressers what kind of layers I want because cutting a normal amount of layers looks ridiculous when freshly washed/curly, because the underlayer hangs there while the canopy springs up making the layers appear shorter.

[BranwenWolf]

I have at least 3 types. My canopy is straighter, glossy strands that almost look like plastic hair that come from the crown of my head and lay on top of everything else. These usually get bleached by the sun and look really cool. They're almost impervious to damage. It's rather impressive.
The rest is wavier and more "normal" in texture.
From the nape of my neck I have light brown/dark blonde curly steel wool. Like...spiral curls and very coarse.
I am not going into the a/b/c hairtypes because I can't make sense of them. I have to oil these neck hairs a lot because they tangle easily.

[PinkyCat]

Yes. I have curly and curlier. 3a & 3b.

[Avital88]

yes i have this too my canopy usually is a 2b while my underlayers can curl up to a 3b.
I'm trying the curly girl method since yesterday and already noticed more ringlets showing.
My hair is very versatile and can be straight and vey curly the same time:)

[chopandchange]

I am like this, too.

It's baffling. I find it hard to say what my official "type" is, so I've gone for somewhere between the two.

Anyone would think I'd had a partial hair transplant from an donor who was an incorrect match!

My underneath layer is a different colour, texture and curl type to my top layer.

Underneath: coarse, thick, darker, corkscrew ringlets (the kind that go "boing" and bounce back up when you pull them, and eat up length!)

Top: fine, blonder, much straighter, only slightly wavy.

The blonder hair on top is nothing to do with the sun. The discrepancy in colour descends far lower than the sun could ever reach, and then abruptly turns to brown - right where the texture and curliness changes, too.