4a, 4b vs. C-Napp Hair: What's the Difference?

[AfroKink]

It has that dry look like crazycoil's hair. Is your hair soft and moisturized with product in it in this pic? If so, then I think you're a CNapp. If not, then you're a 4b but your hair needs to be moisturized.

Well my hair is always soft. But yes it's moisturized with product in it there.

Lys

 

[glamazon386]

That's why I stopped trying to figure out what my hair type is. I know what it does and how it looks, whether it be dry or wet. All I know is that I am not a Type 1 or a C-Napp or 4b, that much I know.

Again, I find it so funny for years we were scared of our hair because it was "too nappy". Now I noticed on some of these sites, including this one, that some of us are not "nappy enough"

I've noticed that too.

 

[glamazon386]

This is how I feel, too. I would look at other people with "4B" hair and feel very discouraged. It took me a long time to understand that even though every 4B is different, peopel were either misclassifying their hair or I was not really a 4B and I was really a 8Z squared. But when I looked at the CNapp pictures (I have an account there now, same screen name as here) I realized that I was not alone. I don't remember who said that C-Napp is rare, but in my experience it seems to be true. Even in my family no one has hair like mine.

Yeah IDK where my brother got his hair from. It was just very different. My mother couldn't even cornrow his hair it was so thick. It was like it had a mind of it's own. She used to send him to the salon once every few weeks to get it washed and cornrowed because she didn't know what else to do with it. But she used to cornrow my natural hair all the time when I was a child with no problem. And my texture is different now than it was then.

 

[DarkVictory]

Deleted post.

 

[AvaSpeaks]

MO many of us don't know. I don't, and I'm not the only one, or else we wouldn't have so many threads asking about hair type. So if folks are getting it wrong, figure it's lack of knowledge or just plain old confusion.

I'm talking about with the knowledge that we have now. We now know the difference between a Type 3 or Type 4 hair. Based on Andre system. But that's if we use Andre's system.

I mean when I was growing up, I used to see some of our brothers and sisters with that thick, wavy hair texture, does anybody know what I am talking about? I remember seeing little girls and boys with that thick wavy hair texture and even then I could tell that there hair texture was different than mine. I didn't need to know a typing system to tell that their hair was not only different, but tended to wave instead of curl or "nape" up like the other little boys and girls around me.

That's why I said, deep down, I think we know the difference. Alot of us. I just think that we don't want to say what some of the main differences are. For fear of being flamed or looking stupid or because everything is so damn PC now ffrant: I don't know....

But that's

 

[Guapa1]

That's why I stopped trying to figure out what my hair type is. I know what it does and how it looks, whether it be dry or wet. All I know is that I am not a Type 1 or a C-Napp or 4b, that much I know.

Again, I find it so funny for years we were scared of our hair because it was "too nappy". Now I noticed on some of these sites, including this one, that some of us are not "nappy enough" [/quote]

I still find it bloody hilarious! Only on the internet. No one has EVER said that to me IRL.

 

[AfroKink]

I'm talking about with the knowledge that we have now. We now know the difference between a Type 3 or Type 4 hair. Based on Andre system. But that's if we use Andre's system.

I mean when I was growing up, I used to see some of our brothers and sisters with that thick, wavy hair texture, does anybody know what I am talking about? I remember seeing little girls and boys with that thick wavy hair texture and even then I could tell that there hair texture was different than mine. I didn't need to know a typing system to tell that their hair was not only different, but tended to wave instead of curl or "nape" up like the other little boys and girls around me.

That's why I said, deep down, I think we know the difference. Alot of us. I just think that we don't want to say what some of the main differences are. For fear of being flamed or looking stupid or because everything is so damn PC now ffrant: I don't know....

But that's

I think people know the difference between say a 3a and 4a. But confusion comes as the types get closer. What someone deems a 3c another will call a 4a. There is a lot of grey area.

Lys

 

[LadyKaypnyc]

ok here is the JCoily oversimplified guide to type 4 hair.

4A hair (thin/fine) - looks like a well defined twistout unmanipulated. This hair clumps into a coil or spring. More times than not people mistake it as 3c because of the definition but the key difference between type 3C and 4A is natural shine. 3 shines without camera flash 4 does not.

4A hair (medium to thick) - still looks like a twistout just fluffier and the thicker it is the less likely it is to clump into defined coils as 4a-thin.

4B hair (thin/fine) - looks like a new braidout unmanipulated. This hair has sharp bends and instead of the S of a coil it looks like the number 5. The thinner/finer the hair the better chance there is of seeing definition that the beds create.

4B hair (medium to thick) - looks like a cloud. The thickness is what creates the illusion that there is no definition.

Traditional wisdom holds that 4B doesn't have definition. My theory is that 4B hair has a pattern, but between the sharp bends and shrinkage it's difficult to ever really make out a coil pattern unless the hair is pulled taut (puff).

C-Napps is just too inconsistant - I see alot of folk claiming C-Napp and I go into their fotkis and see coils (including the person who devised the system).

All of this is my opinion and not written in stone.

I Love the system. It completely explains my hair (which is 4a fine). My sister has 4b hair. There are things that I can do to my hair that she can't and vice versa. In the end we are all beautiful Black women with gorgeous hair!

 

[Guapa1]

I would say that it probably is the most fragile of hair types because at every point it coils is a weak point, and almost every hair strand is inconsistently coiled, but I've seen it grow extremely long with very low manipulation (it's just that there's so much shrinkage, growth isn't noticeable until you stretch it). On my friends hair co-washing w/natural conditioners, glycerin-based and humectant products, NOT using combs-at all, unless its a inch section of hair. She twists or braids her hair 1x every 2-4 weeks, wears a twist/braid out, repeat. She almost never uses shampoo or wears it completely unstretched and her styles last foreva. Very light oils also seem to work (jojoba, grapeseed, etc), but heavy gels, greases, pomades can seriously mat her hair and cause it to loc up. Her hair is a close to apl, but if left to it's own devices, it shrinks up toa 1-2 inch twa

Is your friend on hairboards? I would love to see her hair. It sounds so much like mine as I'm always looking for inspirations!

 

[Kurlee]

I'm talking about with the knowledge that we have now. We now know the difference between a Type 3 or Type 4 hair. Based on Andre system. But that's if we use Andre's system.

I mean when I was growing up, I used to see some of our brothers and sisters with that thick, wavy hair texture, does anybody know what I am talking about? I remember seeing little girls and boys with that thick wavy hair texture and even then I could tell that there hair texture was different than mine. I didn't need to know a typing system to tell that their hair was not only different, but tended to wave instead of curl or "nape" up like the other little boys and girls around me.

That's why I said, deep down, I think we know the difference. Alot of us. I just think that we don't want to say what some of the main differences are. For fear of being flamed or looking stupid or because everything is so damn PC now ffrant: I don't know....

But that's

 

[gmw]

I don't even know anymore. Some CNapps said I was their hair twin but then I read somewhere that CNapps don't have ever curl definition. I have both coil and curl definition when I let my hair dry in a regular wash 'n go fro and my hair has both sheen (in some parts) and shine (in other parts) naturally, so I guess that means I'm not a CNapp anywhere but at the sides of my hair where the hair is just fuzzy and has low sheen? This hair typing stuff is confusing. I've left the CNapp label alone and my self-description moves between 4a and 4b depending on whose explanation I've read most recently.

I am going to have to agree with you sonce. My hair is all coils. Very smal coils. So I claimed 4a when I first came to the hair boards. However most people who claim 4a have much wider and silkier curls then me. I claimed 4a when my hair was shorter. As it gets longer I looks different. However when I wash my hair and leave it alone ( no product at all), I see clearly defined coils/curls. They don't clump though. The hair on in the back of my head is straighter then the rest of my head. And that become more obvious the longer my hair gets.

Also I use products that 3a/b/c people use, and my hair responds well to them. Some heavy products just sit on my hair. Like shea butter, and castor oil. A lot of products that some 4c people use and call their HG, I can not use. I tried and it did nothing for my hair.

This whole system and the LOIS system is confusing to me.

 

[nappity]

So am I a 4b or a c-napp (if you can tell from the pics)

http://public.fotki.com/missalyssa/hair-tings/sl-challenge/decpc2b.html

pw: faith

Lys

Your beautiful hair hair looks like a true cnapp

 

[nappity]

See, to me, looking at this picture, you are more of a 3c, but I could be wrong!

Yup you are wrong. This is hair with wet and Im adding leave in conditioner. I have pictures in my fotki of the shrinkage as well as in my cassia album of clean dried no product added hair. I have learned how to obtain and retain moisture- Id you look at my rollersetting pictures- it cannot be mistaken for a 3 on any level.

 

[JustKiya]

Interesting.

I think I USED to be a cnapp - I say used to, because since I've been using henna, my sheen is all gone, and I've got nothing but shine.
I can remember my momma telling me my hair looked dry though, even though I had JUST FINISHED greasing it, and I definitely don't have defined curls - it's more wavy - though, it's been so long since I let my hair dry COMPLETELY unmanipulated (makes scared face) that I'm not sure anymore.
When my hair isn't attached to my head though, it's a tiny penspring - makes a perfect 'o'. *think* And actually, I don't think that's true anymore either - I haven't had many shed hairs that are unmanipulated either.
*thinks* It also used to take a while to get my hair wet - I would have to 'soak' my head for a while before it actually got wet - but I assumed that was from the buildup of cones on my hair, more so than an intrinsic part of my hair.

Hrm. I'm thinking I'm not a Cnapp, but I would love to stalk them, in the PJ kinda way. Anything that give more moisture my hair wants.

 

[Cheleigh]

This I don't remember who said that C-Napp is rare, but in my experience it seems to be true. Even in my family no one has hair like mine.

ITA. I have found that what is called C-napp is the rarest hair type out of the black diaspora. I've also noticed that some folks who consider themselves C-napps are actually so-called 4a/4b or 4b types. I find C-napp hair endlessly fascinating because it's so rare.

 

[glamazon386]

I think people know the difference between say a 3a and 4a. But confusion comes as the types get closer. What someone deems a 3c another will call a 4a. There is a lot of grey area.

Lys

You're right. And I think a lot of it is because 3c didn't originally exist in Andre's system. People added it (I think the people at naturallycurly.com) because there was a big gap between 3b and 4a. And what is 4c? Where did that come from? That wasn't originally in his system either.

 

[Guapa1]

I actually don't think c-napp hair is rare. I just don't think they keep albums, because they think people are not interested in their hair, plus when they get typed wrong and nothing works, they give up. Let's be real here, it's only on hair boards that people compliment this type of hair.

 

[glamazon386]

I actually don't think c-napp hair is rare. I just don't think they keep albums, because they think people are not interested in their hair, plus when they get typed wrong and nothing works, they give up. Let's be real here, it's only on hair boards that people compliment this type of hair.

*ducks stones* I think you're right Guapa. I think the hair boards are way more accepting of natural hair in general than people are in real life. A lot of times people just keep their comments bad or good to themselves.

 

[AfroKink]

I actually don't think c-napp hair is rare. I just don't think they keep albums, because they think people are not interested in their hair, plus when they get typed wrong and nothing works, they give up. Let's be real here, it's only on hair boards that people compliment this type of hair.

I don't have an album because I'm lazy. I actually started a very detailed one a year ago, and after 2 months I was done.

Lys

 

[Cheleigh]

I actually don't think c-napp hair is rare. I just don't think they keep albums, because they think people are not interested in their hair, plus when they get typed wrong and nothing works, they give up. Let's be real here, it's only on hair boards that people compliment this type of hair.

Maybe you're right--maybe it's not that rare, but out of all the people I've seen with hair albums (on naturallycurly, np, bhm, lhcf, hc, ohb, etc.), I've only seen a handful of people who's hair I would consider c-napp. Some folks I see claiming c-napp I would consider 4b. Even my SO's hair, which initially might look like c-napp, I would consider 4b on closer inspection. But he might be considered to be a c-napp in some quarters. Maybe all the c-napps are relaxed? Most black men I see around seem to be 4a/4b or 4b. I also rarely see c-napp hair on men (where I can see their natural texture) too, so that's why I figured it was rare. Maybe it's not so rare, and that most of the c-napp men are loc'd or bald.

 

[cocoberry10]

Yup you are wrong. This is hair with wet and Im adding leave in conditioner. I have pictures in my fotki of the shrinkage as well as in my cassia album of clean dried no product added hair. I have learned how to obtain and retain moisture- Id you look at my rollersetting pictures- it cannot be mistaken for a 3 on any level.

When I was natural before, I think my hair looked like yours in that pic I posted. I wonder now what I'll be. Somewhere between a 3c, a 4b or a CNapp. Maybe I'll have all those textures on my head!

 

[glamazon386]

When I was natural before, I think my hair looked like yours in that pic I posted. I wonder now what I'll be. Somewhere between a 3c, a 4b or a CNapp. Maybe I'll have all those textures on my head!

That's possible. But you won't know until you chop. How long have you been transitioning?

 

[cocoberry10]

That's possible. But you won't know until you chop. How long have you been transitioning?

6 months. I'm trying to hold of BC until I reach 1 year!

 

[anon123]

Well, you guys know, the "cnapp" designation was created not too long ago. So if you want to know what it is, go to the creators. Go to the blog Nappturology, or the forum CNappyMeNow. It doesn't make any sense to me for a group of people to come up with a name for their hair and then have other people come in and say "no, your hair is not that category". How could it not be? The term was made precisely to describe their hair, so if anybody is in that category, they are. The defining characteristic of cnapp hair, as I understand it (and I chat a lot on the cnapp forum), is that it doesn't clump into curls. Sometimes it does clump into . . . clumps (not curls). Sometimes (usually, seems to me), the individual strands have curls and coils. But the whole package, even with wet or product, looks like cotton fluff and not like curls. And so cnapps save their money when it comes to buying products that "define your curls" cuz there aren't any to define. Any other characteristic is secondary and may vary among individuals. Based on this definition, I think cnapp hair is very common.

Now that whole 4a and 4b thing, I'm still a little confused over it.

 

[morehairplease]

when my hair grows longer in length, I will be able to tell much clearier what hair type I have, hopefully.

 

[tocktick]

4A hair (thin/fine) - looks like a well defined twistout unmanipulated. This hair clumps into a coil or spring. More times than not people mistake it as 3c because of the definition but the key difference between type 3C and 4A is natural shine. 3 shines without camera flash 4 does not.

4A hair (medium to thick) - still looks like a twistout just fluffier and the thicker it is the less likely it is to clump into defined coils as 4a-thin.

the last paragraph describes my hair to a T. i would go into albums of people claiming to be 4a but their curls would be so defined. however, their curls were not big enough to be in type 3. i was wondering if i was really 4a but the last paragraph makes sense to me. i know there are 1-2 other textures though, which would account for my hair not being as uniform and coily as the other 4as i described.

 

[cocoberry10]

the last paragraph describes my hair to a T. i would go into albums of people claiming to be 4a but their curls would be so defined. however, their curls were not big enough to be in type 3. i was wondering if i was really 4a but the last paragraph makes sense to me. i know there are 1-2 other textures though, which would account for my hair not being as uniform and coily as the other 4as i described.

Hopefully, you will figure it out. I guess that's what we are all here for

I've been her 3.5 years, and I am still learning

 

[hopeful]

I actually don't think c-napp hair is rare. I just don't think they keep albums, because they think people are not interested in their hair, plus when they get typed wrong and nothing works, they give up. Let's be real here, it's only on hair boards that people compliment this type of hair.

I do think that c-napp is rare and I agree with Cheleigh that it is endlessly fascinating. But you make a really good point and if you are right what a shame. Every now and then a long-haired c-napp will post pics on this forum and it always takes my breath away. I've been on this board for 3 1/2 years and when I first joined it did seem that people only really went gaga over hair in the 3's. In the past year or so it seems people are becoming more accepting of c-napp hair but it is usually long and in excellent shape, someone with two inches of 3b hair will get way more love and compliments on "their pretty curls" before a short-haired c-napp. I am glad people's perception of what is beautiful is evolving.

 

[jazitones]

I do think that c-napp is rare and I agree with Cheleigh that it is endlessly fascinating. But you make a really good point and if you are right what a shame. Every now and then a long-haired c-napp will post pics on this forum and it always takes my breath away. I've been on this board for 3 1/2 years and when I first joined it did seem that people only really went gaga over hair in the 3's. In the past year or so it seems people are becoming more accepting of c-napp hair but it is usually long and in excellent shape, someone with two inches of 3b hair will get way more love and compliments on "their pretty curls" before a short-haired c-napp. I am glad people's perception of what is beautiful is evolving.

Remarkable words. I like your view point.

 

[kurlybella]

Oh cool! We do seem to have the same kind of hair, and I love "4 alphabet." Sometimes I want to let my hair dry in a wash 'n go, take a picture, and see what the consensus is on what my hair type is...but that would require detangling after the wash 'n go and the thought of the tangles I'd be dealing with is terrifying. I don't think I'll ever have an unmanipulated wash 'no go in my album, so I'll just have to keep wondering what my hair type is.

i could have wrote this. hair typing confuses me and i realize in the end, it don't matta! i'm 4a-z too and who cares. all i know is i have to keep moisture in my hair and treat it well; all this talk of bends and curls don't matter to me anymore.

i've done unmanipulated hair and it was okay. i just detangled well before hand and my hair texture just is what it is.

i remember when i posted this a while back -- so confused about my hair: http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=312449&highlight=

some say 4a some say i'm 4b or a combo. whatev.