Some Trouble With My Hair Classification

[Kayleena]

Hi, everyone! :) Sometimes I wonder if I’ve classified my hair completely correctly, but I may be able to figure it out if anyone can help me understand how certain hair types typically behave. My hair has the classic fine, drop-out-of-a-style-even-with-hairspray kind of behavior, but I think that my scattered gray “highlights” are a little coarser, which might make my hair F/M now. But, if I have any medium-textured hair, should it be able to hold a style significantly better than fine hair? Also, does medium-textured hair have noticeably more volume than fine hair? I think the grays might give my hair slightly more body than it used to have, but it’s still almost nonexistent compared to most people’s hair. This worries me every time I read about the 1b classification having “body wave, just enough to add some volume.” I guess I take that to mean that the volume would be obvious and that 1c would mean even more volume than that. The 1c/2a shapes are clearly seen in my hair, but the hair is naturally limp. The 2a classification doesn’t mention body wave at all, so does that mean one can have slightly wavy hair without volume? Maybe I’m just “splitting hairs” over this anyway. :blushing: Thanks in advance for any insights. – **Lady Kayleena Victoria of the Performance Stage in the Order of the Long-Haired Knights**

[Riot Crrl]

As always, pics would help. :)

IMO, "some volume" is relative. If your hair is any wider than it would be if it were stick-straight, that is "some volume."

Also, I haven't really put too much thought or research into this, but I am not certain about holding a set being a good criteria of hair types. Mine's like yours, falls out immediately unless all I have done is encouraging what it wanted to do anyway.

[Katze]

if you're in the range between 1b and 2b, it seems to be a guessing game.

Most of the time my crown hair is mostly "straight with some volume." Some days, like today, I've even got waves there. My length, however, has long lazy spiral curls - like double helix shape - that appear on their own. From the ears down, my hair just keeps getting wavier. At the nape, it is VERY curly, but this is hidden most of the time.

Many peoples' pictures here (including mine) are misleading, because some of us have had to take an *average* - in my case, straight with body wave plus spiral curls makes me consider myself as 2a, even if others may not. Because my hair is frizzy, and changes every day, I definitely classify myself as a wavy, rather than a straight with some occasional waves.

[aisling]

The volume doesn't have to be on the top of your head either. Mine is definitely flat against my head but expand a little in the neck, that's where the volume and the slight body wave is.

[Kayleena]

Hi, everyone! :) Thanks for all the replies! Thank you, Aisling, I feel much better knowing that hair volume can be lower on the hair shaft rather than just on top of the head. Maybe that’s another reason that I think my hair has more body than it used to have; I certainly don’t think it has *less* than it did when it was shorter, but it does seem livelier below my shoulders than it is near my head. Thank you, Katze, it’s good to know that hair can still be considered wavy even though the top half of it is straight. I, too, picked 1c/2a for my hair based on an “average” with how it looks from day to day. Riot Crrl, I never thought about volume that way before, but it certainly makes sense. I’ve been surrounded by people who think that hair has to be *really* lively in order to say it has “volume.” The reason I was asking about style holding ability is that I have two friends with coarse hair who seem to be able to style their hair with some fluffing of their fingers, a few flicks of the curling iron, and a light application of hairspray, then they’re good to go and it lasts all day for them. This logically made me think that if coarse hair can usually hold a style that easily & if fine hair usually won’t, then medium hair must be somewhere in the middle. So, based on everything I have learned from this thread, I shall keep my classification the same for now; I think it still most accurately describes my hair. Thanks again! :flower: – **Lady Kayleena Victoria of the Performance Stage in the Order of the Long-Haired Knights**