There
have been several attempts to define hair “type”. You may ask “Why
should I care?” Well, mostly you shouldn’t. We think typing
systems actually complicate what can pretty easily be conveyed
in
a few words. By the time you sort through what a 4b or 1a
really
means you might as
well just say "I have thick kinky African hair" or "I have straight,
thin Caucasian hair". And, hair typing systems are so
subjective
as to be almost worthless in our opinion. Who determines
whether
your hair shafts are thick or thin? And whether the curl
pattern
is "loose" or "tight".
There
are controversies surrounding hair type methodologies that
use works like kinky, nappy and other words that have less than
positive connotations for some people. Other systems use numbers. But,
they tend to lump all African American hair into one big category with
a few variations. So, how useful is that really? Considering everyone’s
hair is slightly different and people can even have different types of
hair on their head at one time, categorizing hair is a difficult
proposition at best. There are two major systems that seem to
be
the
most popular. There is a system called LOIS that uses the hair shape as
the defining hair “type”. For more on LOIS, do a Google on “LOIS Hair
Type”. Until many people switch over to the LOIS system, the standard
seems to be the numbering system developed by Andre Walker.
In spite of our reservations about hair typing
systems,
knowing your hair type can allow you talk with others and research
products, styles and regimens that are best for your particular hair.
And you will often see people saying they have 4a or 4c hair.
So
you might as well know what it means.
The
most common system
seems to be one that categorizes hair based on curl pattern (with a
number from 1 for the straightest to 4 for the kinkiest) and on the
thickness of the shaft (note this is not the amount of hair strands you
have but how thick each one is). The thickness is rated with
a
letter ranging from a to c.
The following numbers refer to the
amount of curl or wave in a hair.
 | Type
1 hair is straight with no discernible curl or
wave pattern. This
type of hair tends to get oily and is usually shiny. |
 | Type 2
hair is hair that has some soft waves, but little or no real curl.
It doesn't form rings, just waves. It typically is
more
coarse than Type 1 hair and will cling to the scalp in long "S" shaped
waves. |
 | Type 3
hair has a more definite "S" pattern to it with
the "S" being more tightly formed. It will typically be
relatively soft and will have less shine than type 1 or 2 hair.
It will straighten out or form ringlets when wet but will
draw up
into a curlier pattern when it dries. This hair type is
typical
of biracial (African and Caucasian mix) people and of Blacks of a more
mixed heritage. |
 | Type 4
hair will have kinks and twists and
possibly coils but does not form an "S" shape. It may be "L" shaped
with bends in it. It may form tight coils or "O" shapes (not really the
same as the "ringlets"formed by Type 3 hair. This type of
hair
generally doesn't change shape much wet or dry. It can be
wiry
and usually is fragile. It tends to be drier than other hair
types because the bends and twists not only provide points that are
more fragile, they actually make it hard for the natural oil (sebum)
produced by the scalp to reach the ends of the hair shaft.
Because the cuticles do not lay flat on Type 4
hair, the
hair tends to
be less shiny than Types 1, 2 and 3 and people will often think natural
Black hair is dry or dull looking. Most African-Americans
have
Type 4 hair, which is why this designation alone is not really super
descriptive. It seems we are the ones most concerned with
categorizing our hair and by this pretty crude system, most of us fall
into basically the same category.
|
 | Chemically
Treated or Permed hair is a hair type we think
we have to add.
Perming the hair changes the natural structure of the hair
creating its own hair type. It is going to be anywhere from a
Type 2 to a Type 1 in terms of straightness (depending on the strength
of the perm). In spite of the fact the hair shaft is slightly
thinner due to the action of the perming chemicals, it might still be a
relatively thick hair shaft. It will have more shine than
natural
hair because the cuticles lay more flat. But, it will tend to
be
dry. |
The letters a, b and c after
the number tell you how thick
the hair strand is. One would think the thicker the strand
the
less fragile the hair. But, actually type 4c hair can be the
most
fragile because of the curl pattern and the dryness of the hair.
Type 4c hair needs to be moisturized regularly, treated
gently
and should never be brushed with a bristle brush that can catch the
bends and break the hair.
