Let's Discuss Hairtyping, AGAIN!

[alibi]

Ladies,

I have still have a few questions about this whole hair typing thing. I really got to thinking about my hair type after reading the "Who is your hair Twin thread." The truth is, under Andre's system, I, and a lot of others don't fit in. Now I know most of us say that we use it as a guide, and to be able to get product recs from others w/ similar hair, which is just fine. But what about when your hair is all over the scale??? I'm trying to get product recs, but I don't know who to ask! For instance, my hair is mostly wavy, not curly, but I know I'm not a 2. Many have suggested that I'm a 3, but I have very few corkscrew curls. The few curls I do have aren't small enough to be a 4, but I do identify more with the texture of 4 hair, especially when I was relaxed. I hate that when Andre got to AA hair, instead of widening the scale, he only gave two categories in the 3's and 4's! It really leaves a lot of us out there hanging! Just wanted to get that off my chest, I know I can't be the only one that feels this way. So what do you do when you don't fit in???

 

[dreemssold]

How about just looking for people whose hair seems to like similar products as yours and then noting what they like and don't like. It would take longer and be more difficult, but it's better than nothing. Outside of knowing what products to pick and which to stay away from, I can't see how the system is relevant in any way at all.

 

[divine]

I wish I could help you, but the hair typing thing makes no sense to me.

 

[simcha]

I wish I could help you, but the hair typing thing makes no sense to me.

Me neither...

 

[Tai]

A lot of people don't fit neatly into the hair typing realm but generally there are some characteristics that will help you figure out your hair type. Using Andre's scale, your hair looks more like a 3a than any other type, IMO based on your pics. Or you could abandon Andre's and use another hair typing system, or abandon typing all together. I like CG's for curly haired girls. From her typing, I'd think you might be a Botticelli girl, not a corkscrew girl.

As far as figuring out what products work best for you, it's going to be a bit of trial and error. A light weight moisturizer combined with a light to moderate gel might give you the results your looking for, like using Elasta's Recovery or Mango Butter and S-curl gel, Suave's Frizz control gel, or Smooth n shine curl activator gel. Or you could also try MyHoneyChild.com. She has products designed for the various hair types so you might want to try a combination of what she recommends for type 2 and 3 hair. She has a hair cream that addresses each hair type and those who fall in between like yours, Ayanapooh. There's also Jessicurl.com which might also have products that might give you the results that you're after.

HTH

 

[divine]

A lot of people don't fit neatly into the hair typing realm but generally there are some characteristics that will help you figure out your hair type. Using Andre's scale, your hair looks more like a 3a than any other type, IMO based on your pics. Or you could abandon Andre's and use another hair typing system, or abandon typing all together. I like CG's for curly haired girls. From her typing, I'd think you might be a Botticelli girl, not a corkscrew girl.

As far as figuring out what products work best for you, it's going to be a bit of trial and error. A light weight moisturizer combined with a light to moderate gel might give you the results your looking for, like using Elasta's Recovery or Mango Butter and S-curl gel, Suave's Frizz control gel, or Smooth n shine curl activator gel. Or you could also try MyHoneyChild.com. She has products designed for the various hair types so you might want to try a combination of what she recommends for type 2 and 3 hair. She has a hair cream that addresses each hair type and those who fall in between like yours, Ayanapooh. There's also Jessicurl.com which might also have products that might give you the results that you're after.

HTH

I'll pay you five LHCF dollars to help me.......

 

[Tai]

Divine, you look like a 3c/4a to me or a corkscrew curly girl, based on your pics.

 

[divine]

Divine, you look like a 3c/4a to me or a corkscrew curly girl, based on your pics.

Thats what I thought and its def corkscrew..
You take cash or checks ?

 

[SilkyandSmooth]

I'll pay you five LHCF dollars to help me.......

I'm confused about my hairtype as well. I think I'm going to pick up this Curly Girl book tomorrow. I've been hearing so many good things about it.

 

[Tai]

Lol. Your hair pretty easy to figure out. The 3c part looks like mine.

 

[divine]

I'm confused about my hairtype as well. I think I'm going to pick up this Curly Girl book tomorrow. I've been hearing so many good things about it.

Your hair is like mines, so don't buy the book....
but if you do tell me about it..

 

[divine]

Lol. Your hair pretty easy to figure out. The 3c part looks like mine.

I want to see your hair....

 

[Tai]

The CG book is great. There's some useful tips in there to help you have a good curly hair day every day. It helped my roommate type her hair. She thought she was a corkscrew girl but she's a botticelli but she's still a 3b on the Andre hair typing scale.

The only thing that hair typing can be useful in, IMO, is product recommendations. I go more by pics than what people say because hair typing is subjective.

Divine, I just sent you a PM.

 

[SilkyandSmooth]

Your hair is like mines, so don't buy the book....
but if you do tell me about it..

I'll let you know.

 

[SilkyandSmooth]

The CG book is great. There's some useful tips in there to help you have a good curly hair day every day.

Exactly what I need. I will definitely be picking this up tomorrow. Can I see your pics too?

 

[Tai]

I sent you a PM, Silky and Smooth.

Also, check your library. They might have a copy of it, too.

 

[landakaye]

I have no clue about hair typing. My hair is straight when it is wet and then when it dries it is curly at the roots and straight at the ends. My mother says it has been like that since I was a kid and it is VERY THIN.

 

[alibi]

Wow Tai, thanks for the great advice! I only think hairtyping is relevant for product recs as well, which is why I'm trying to see where I fit in so I can get some products recs from naturals w/ hair similar to mine. I'm a recovering PJ so I'm trying not to break the bank while I'm getting to know my natural hair. I just think that Andre's system, while pretty accurate for other hair types, is very limited when it comes to AA hair. There are so many of us on this board, sometimes I wonder why LHCF doesn't just come up with it's own unique system! Anyways, I'm going to surf some of the sites that you mentioned, and I'll let you know what I come up with.

BTW, I have "Curly Girl," and I LOVE it, especially the Curly Girl confessions! I see myself in so many of the women in those sections who have always struggled with their hair.

 

[sillygurl18]

If you look at page..20 in curly girl and look in the hair strand samples, the middle one looks like your hair to me when you look at your curly q's picture so I would say that you were still corkscrew. I agreed with your hair being boticelli until I saw that picture in the book, the look exactly alike to me.

 

[Tai]

On the pages that lists the various hair types in CG, they also list characteristics that the hair type has as well. I believe that those can be more helpful than the pictures. And Lorraine's typing is much more broad than Andre's, IMO. But again, hair typing is subjective. I say Botticelli for Ayanapooh and Sillygurl says Corkscrew. "You say tomato, I say tomatoe."

But I do think that the myhoneychild products could be very helpful, Ayanapooh. I'd also stop by naturallycurly.com, if you haven't already done so, and look to see what products the 3a's are raving about and give those a try, too.

 

[sillygurl18]

I know, I hope I didn't sound mean. This just proves once again how crazy the systems are.

 

[cutebajangirl]

I think we should figure out a way of expanding 3 and 4 because there could be alot more sub categories than what he has listed.

 

[Tai]

IMO, there should be a 2d, for people with tight waves that the ends don't actually curl up but still remain waved. Then 3c, which isn't a part of Andre's scale but does need to be, even though people use it to describe hair that's a tighter curl than a 3b but not as tight as a 4a. Then a 4c, for hair that doesn't exactly curl but doesn't have a zig zag formation, either.

 

[FlowerHair]

I think hair typing is kind of useless, because I have taken advice on this and other sites from women with every kind of hair - from stick straight to super coily. The more I get into hair care the more I realize that the "rules" are more or less the same for everybody: low manipulation, moisturizing daily, protect the ends etc.

I also feel that people don't see hair the same way, what I think is a 3b some people think is a 2c etc. IMO it makes more sense for me to take advice from other people with dry hair because my hair is dry for example.

 

[alibi]

I think we should figure out a way of expanding 3 and 4 because there could be alot more sub categories than what he has listed.

IMO, there should be a 2d, for people with tight waves that the ends don't actually curl up but still remain waved. Then 3c, which isn't a part of Andre's scale but does need to be, even though people use it to describe hair that's a tighter curl than a 3b but not as tight as a 4a. Then a 4c, for hair that doesn't exactly curl but doesn't have a zig zag formation, either.

ITA w/ both of you!

 

[Poohbear]

I think this site is helpful: http://www.visual-makeover.com/index.htm

Check out the links on the side that say "Your Hair Form" , "Your Hair Texture" , and "Your Hair Volume".

 

[RushGirl]

A lot of people don't fit neatly into the hair typing realm but generally there are some characteristics that will help you figure out your hair type. Using Andre's scale, your hair looks more like a 3a than any other type, IMO based on your pics. Or you could abandon Andre's and use another hair typing system, or abandon typing all together. I like CG's for curly haired girls. From her typing, I'd think you might be a Botticelli girl, not a corkscrew girl.

I like CG's typing also.. I also prefer the hair typing on naturallycurly.com

http://naturallycurly2.com/curl411/types.php?PHPSESSID=525a510e68f4a76cf8347a8496ab099d it's Andre's system just more added to it.. they even put in how the circumference of your curls will tell you where you fit on the scale it's in the Addendum.. well, I'll just copy and paste..

Addendum: Naturallycurly.com readers have suggested a third Type 3 subtype: 3c.
Type 3C, is hair with tight curls in corkscrews. The curls can be either kinky, or very tightly curled, with lots and lots of strands densely packed together. Some people refer to this as "big hair." Getting this type of hair to blowdry straight is more challenging than for 3A or 3B, but it usually can be done. This includes those with very tight curls but finer hair, as well as coarser hair. 3C has really really tight curls, like pencil or straw circumference. 3B is like sidewalk chalk or salt shaker circumference, and 4A is like coffee stirrer circumference.

 

[DangerouslyShy]

im just confused in general!!

 

[Chichi]

This is how I understand hair types:

The numbers signify the shape, so:

1 = straight hair
2 = wavy
3 = spirals
4 = very small spirals (aka, corkscrews), zig zag

The letter signifies the grade, so:

a = fine
b = medium
c = coarse, resistant

HTH.

Chichi

 

[Ronda123]

This is how I understand hair types:

The numbers signify the shape, so:

1 = straight hair
2 = wavy
3 = spirals
4 = very small spirals (aka, corkscrews), zig zag

The letter signifies the grade, so:

a = fine
b = medium
c = coarse, resistant

HTH.

Chichi

Thanks Chichi, this makes more sense...I think I might be a 3c/4a? :scratchch