The official hair typing thread

[Bat]

Well, the system has worked for a lot of years, imho, and typing of 2's by wavy hair's very nature is ... again imho, pretty subjective.

yes I understand it has, but soesn't mean it always will systems break or get outdated all the time

[GrowlingCupcake]

so basically wavies are 2abc

If they're wurly! I think if you're more wurly than s-waves, the typing systems fails. But my partner? s-waves for sure. Probably straight 2b. Their mother? Perfect 2c. Tight s-waves with spirals around her nape, and forehead. Neither of them are wurly with the exception of the 2c spirals, and their texture is quite consistent overall. In my experience, it seems like the predominantly s-wave wavies have a much neater, more consistent type. They might still have a mix of types but it doesn't seem as bad as the wurly wavies.

[lapushka]

Meh not quite, but some hair is more easy to type than other hair. It really depends. You can't box in nature, right?

[Lady Stardust]

Typing wavy hair is problematic. I feel the others have a much clearer system of just getting tighter, and tighter. The 3-dimensional aspect remains the same regardless of where in the (a b or c) you fall. With the exception of 4b (z-waves), they're all about how tightly a spiral coils. But wavy hair? Wavy hair is supposedly 2-d s-waves but many of us have some amount of wurl in there, and the wurl messes with everything. The typing system just doesn't take into account 3-d waves or very, very lazy spirals.

Adding to that, wurls seem to be very uneven. This bit of hair wurls tightly but this one is loose. And hey, over here there's that 1c piece. But look! A full but loose spiral. There's no overall consistency. Wavy hair tends to just be a messy, uneven kind of texture for many of us. I think this is especially true for those of us with looser waves, and wurls (2a to 2b, maybe including 2b/2c).

Also, I forgot to thank everyone for the compliments when I posted a bit ago; thank you! I know I can go 2b, and there are definite spirals but the overall just seems so loose to me. I'm looking forward to seeing it longer since I've never had long, virgin hair. And I don't know why it's been so shiny lately but it's really happy about something, and dries into nice shiny practically frizz free waves if I air dry it.

Your hair definitely sounds happy!

so basically wavies are 2abc

I’ve often thought it would just be easier to put 2abc for typing

[lapushka]

Your hair definitely sounds happy!



I’ve often thought it would just be easier to put 2abc for typing

Where would be the fun in that?

[SparrowWings]

Maybe it's not a 2d we need added, since following a/b/c that would imply tighter/curlier/wavier. Maybe it's 2w. Skip all the other letters so it's blatantly not following the alphabet, and have 2-wurly. Clearly not 1 or 3, clearly doesn't follow the "standard" 2 pattern, and still type-able. It would still be kind of catch-all for a wide variety of wurly looks, but... Nothing's perfect! One of the mods ought to be able to adjust that profile section to support it, right?! And if someone wants to dual-type and ends up claiming 2c/2w (or 2w/2a depending on where in the sequence the w gets added), well, we'll all know it's really just 2w, because that's the whole point of 2w. Unless it's not an auto-pairing, and the full list is manually created, in which case we could have 2w alone and paired with each 2x, in case someone has an overall 2x+wurly type. So many options!

[neko_kawaii]

As a wavie I agree that the typing of 2s is problematic. If some folks want to put the time into digging through the discussions and photos and come up with something more satisfying than the below we can certainly make edits either to the typing descriptions or add a fourth category in the dropdown selection menu.

2a - loose, stretched out S-waves throughout the hair
2b - shorter, more distinct S-waves (similar to waves from braiding damp hair)
2c - distinct S-waves and the odd spiral curl forming here and there


I could have sworn that there was a more detailed description somewhere when I joined that had info like nape curls and temple curls in the wavy options but I haven't been able to find it.

I haven't been following this discussion closely, but one question I have is whether there are any 2D S-waves out there? They certainly look 2D when looking straight on at someone else's hair and it is dreadfully hard to photograph the 3Dness on your own hair. Maybe the problem begins with the definition of an S-wave.

[MusicalSpoons]

Maybe it's not a 2d we need added, since following a/b/c that would imply tighter/curlier/wavier. Maybe it's 2w. Skip all the other letters so it's blatantly not following the alphabet, and have 2-wurly. Clearly not 1 or 3, clearly doesn't follow the "standard" 2 pattern, and still type-able. It would still be kind of catch-all for a wide variety of wurly looks, but... Nothing's perfect! One of the mods ought to be able to adjust that profile section to support it, right?! And if someone wants to dual-type and ends up claiming 2c/2w (or 2w/2a depending on where in the sequence the w gets added), well, we'll all know it's really just 2w, because that's the whole point of 2w. Unless it's not an auto-pairing, and the full list is manually created, in which case we could have 2w alone and paired with each 2x, in case someone has an overall 2x+wurly type. So many options!

If it were manually programmable, we should be able to have the 1c/2b, 2a/2c, 2a/3a, etc. that some have needed

2w does actually sound like a potential workaround though but would have to have an actual descriptive definition like the others otherwise it would end up uselessly vague.

2w/2a and 2c/2w actually would still be descriptive, the 2a pairing showing that the wurls are quite loose and 2c showing they're tight. So your 2x+w would be logical.


Edit: didn't see neko's comment before I responded.

I haven't been following this discussion closely, but one question I have is whether there are any 2D S-waves out there? They certainly look 2D when looking straight on at someone else's hair and it is dreadfully hard to photograph the 3Dness on your own hair. Maybe the problem begins with the definition of an S-wave.

Someone else wondered that a few pages back and I think the consensus was that yes there are. My own are mostly 2D waves with just one or two locks that are tight, elongated spirals. I can't see any of the thread on this editing page though (don't know why it brought me here automatically).
Edit 2: and Cupcake's comment attests to the existence of 2D s-waves as well.

One way to get around the photographing problem could be to signal in the system that there are 2D S-waves and 3D wurls, so people can either observe themselves if their hair is long enough, or perhaps ask someone else if that's possible. There will always be people who can't, but to know that information may be needed beforehand might help people to notice on themselves where possible.

[Bat]

2D2A 3D2c etc? Maybe though w works as well if we can find the right placement for it

[ArienEllariel]

So I discovered something fun. It's been several years since I attempted to type my hair. Hair isn't fully dry yet but I have a straight up elongated ringlet at my temple. 😁