Can anyone tell me my hair type?

[davisbr88]

^^ ITA. Learning my porosity and individual strand density completely revolutionized my regimen. You can't just go based upon someone who has your type because if they have thick strands and normal porosity, it's very likely that you will not be following a similar regimen if you have fine strands and high porosity (such as myself). The type has nothing to do with it. I'm boycotting hair types once and for all!
*goes to change siggy*

 

[Nonie]

@Noniei googled 4c hair look what i found....recognize it?
QUOTE
kinky hair looks like this (Z)

curly hair looks like this (S)

Only the most pure and undiluted Africans have type 4z hair...and even then its very few of them in Africa.

This is a good example of type 4z: (again it is very rare amongst black people)



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

edit whoops your not 4c but 4z according to the post i found

I have heard it all coconut. 4c is also known as 4z and also known as CNapp. It is a pet name for manipulated 4B hair. I usually know what they mean when they refer to their hair as 4z, 5abc...z, CNapp, 4c. I was just amused at the new definition that 4c has coils from someone who's been on forums since 2006, when that isn't the description people give when they decide their hair is 4c.

When I first joined the forum, 4B was described as hair that didn't have coils. So when people found coils, they would think they were 4A. But they couldn't get WNGs like 4A. So then they had to be 4A/B. But over time, we have come to realize that rather than listen to Andre's definition of our hair, we need to get to know it and stop trying to copy other types. And the more we got familiar with our hair and let it show us what it was about, the more we got to see its true texture full of coils!

Now 4B is rarely worn in its coily state because it'll tangle something awful. So many 4Bers who want to keep their hair never let it shrink to its coily state and so may never have seen it like that. Trust me, I've seen many swear they had no coils and later admit they do. So as long as folks understand that 4C/CNapp/4Z is just a state not a type (and texture has nothing to do w/ it--coarse haired folks seem to jump to that name quickest), then it's all good.

 

[ms-gg]

I also want to add that another important factor is climate. That dramatically shapes your hair regimen as well. It is the main reason we have summer regimens and winter regimens: air is more dry in the winter typically than the summer. So if you live in say a tropical climate, you will have a different regimen than someone who lives in the desert. If I lived in the desert I know I probably would have serious hair issues because my hair thrives in climates with high dew points.

Nonie, not every 4b has coils. I know several 4bs who have absolutely no coils whatsoever. They just have kinky hair with no coil or curl pattern whatsoever. One of them is my boyfriend....

 

[Embyra]

I have heard it all @coconut. 4c is also known as 4z and also known as CNapp. It is a pet name for manipulated 4B hair.

what the..... thanks for explaining nonie

 

[BostonMaria]

what the..... thanks for explaining nonie

There's a hair blog dedicated to the CNapp --> http://nappyme.wordpress.com/

 

[Embyra]

@Nonie, not every 4b has coils. I know several 4bs who have absolutely no coils whatsoever. They just have kinky hair with no coil or curl pattern whatsoever. One of them is my boyfriend....

i dont know much if anything about 4b hair i understand what coils are but can you show me if you dont mind a pic of just kinky hair no coil curl etc im really interested to see what this looks like

 

[ms-gg]

Yep, Napia Mia at nappturality started the website (that is her blog, here is the actual c-napp site: http://s3.excoboard.com/cnappymenow/7234). I am a member at nappturality and cnappyme and I was there when the term c-napp was coined (and in the thread that started it). It was just a nickname that was created to describe hair that looks like a cloud, hence the name c napp.....

 

[Nonie]

I also want to add that another important factor is climate. That dramatically shapes your hair regimen as well. It is the main reason we have summer regimens and winter regimens: air is more dry in the winter typically than the summer. So if you live in say a tropical climate, you will have a different regimen than someone who lives in the desert. If I lived in the desert I know I probably would have serious hair issues because my hair thrives in climates with high dew points.

@Nonie, not every 4b has coils. I know several 4bs who have absolutely no coils whatsoever. They just have kinky hair with no coil or curl pattern whatsoever. One of them is my boyfriend....

ms-gg do you have a photos of his hair in different stages starting from when it was growing from a shaven state? I am yet to see any head of hair grow out of the scalp and not follow a coily pattern. What folks do to their hair once it's out of the scalp can make it look different. I don't mean to be difficult but so far, folks who tried to tell me they didn't have coils have returned and admitted they do. Even this chick below, who has very coarse hair has coils:

I was one of those who accepted Andre's definition of my hair and knew w/o question I was 4B based on his definition. But the better I got to know my hair and to take care of it, the more I discovered it had a pattern.

For as long as I have lived, I've seen hair that is straight, wavy and coily/curly. Now if there's some new condition that affects DNA to make it grow spiky, no-uniform pattern on all the strands so that they have corners or do some weird thang, I will stand corrected if I see it. I am open to being corrected but I will only believe it if I see it.
​

 

[ms-gg]

i dont know much if anything about 4b hair i understand what coils are but can you show me if you dont mind a pic of just kinky hair no coil curl etc im really interested to see what this looks like

I hope she doesn't mind me linking to her album, but here is a shot of Napia's dry, unmanipulated hair:

http://public.fotki.com/Nappyme/naked-hair/dry-unmanipulated-s/img-1086-1.html

 

[Nonie]

i dont know much if anything about 4b hair i understand what coils are but can you show me if you dont mind a pic of just kinky hair no coil curl etc im really interested to see what this looks like

coconut kinky means tightly coiled/curled. So does nappy but I'ma just quit while I'm ahead since folks get all funny about words. Let's call it coily/curly vs no coil/curl.

 

[Nonie]

I hope she doesn't mind me linking to her album, but here is a shot of Napia's dry, unmanipulated hair:

http://public.fotki.com/Nappyme/naked-hair/dry-unmanipulated-s/img-1086-1.html

Yep, that is 4B. My type of 4B. Looks exactly like my hair does here:

And here:

And here:

Trust me that hair has coils.

What's his regimen?

 

[BostonMaria]

Yep, that is 4B. My type of 4B. Looks exactly like my hair does here:

And here:

And here:

Trust me that hair has coils.

What's his regimen?

Nonie, you are the Wikipedia of all things hair

 

[Nonie]

There's a hair blog dedicated to the CNapp --> http://nappyme.wordpress.com/

I know about nappyme. I've even corresponded with the site owner and might have signed up but I can't keep up with more than one forum...as I've come to find out, so I've never posted. Still, all I see on that sight (site, is what I meant--but I'ma leave the wrong word and pretend it was a pun ) is images of 4B hair in its various and oh so diverse states.

I think @coconut has a point about porosity and moisture content of hair. Because it wasn't until I discovered DCing and ACV rinsing that my hair started to be properly moisturized and soft and easy to manage. Until then, my hair could be rough and reminiscent of brillo/steel wool. And I would have sworn I had coarse strands. Since I learned to moisturize my hair properly internally and contain the moisture within, I have seen coils. I see coils on my hair even after I have gone over a year w/o applying any leave in...as long as I wash and DC regularly. My hair doesn't usually have any product on it, but it still feels soft because it holds moisture within it.

A lot of the people who thought they had CNapp changed their tune when they stopped using dry products like shea butter or grease calling them "moisturizers".

 

[Embyra]

@coconut kinky means tightly coiled/curled. So does nappy but I'ma just quit while I'm ahead since folks get all funny about words. Let's call it coily/curly vs no coil/curl.

i was just using the same words ms-gg used when describing her boyfriends hair '' no coils whatsoever. They just have kinky hair with no coil or curl pattern whatsoever. One of them is my boyfriend.''

 

[ms-gg]

That's Napia Mia...she is pretty much like me, just protective styles all the time. She doesn't wear her hair out often because of tangling....

And I know you say that people have to wear their hair in the shrunken state and the coils will eventually form from cowashing, but she says she has no coils, so she has no coils *shrugs*

She even said so in her album description because people would try to convince her that her hair has coils:

As you can see, I have straight up nappy hair. There's not a curl, wave, or defined coil in sight on my freshly washed hair. No manipulation, didn't even blot it dry. I just caught the drippies with my towel, stood in front of my camera on a tripod and snapped these pics. I'm a true 4B-er to the max. And this is what cNapp hair looks like wet.

There are always exceptions to every rule and Napia is one example.

 

[Embyra]

I think @coconut has a point about porosity and moisture content of hair.

 

[Nonie]

I didn't mean anything negative. a is a loose curl, b is more of a zig zag curl and c is more of a coily curl from how I understand it. Then the tightness of the curl is the 1, 2, 3, 4. However, I stand to be corrected.

@LiftedUp, no problem. I was just tickled coz folks who say they have 4C are usually saying that because they don't have coils. The way I understand it, the letters describe diminishing size of the pattern not looseness.

Nicole Kidman's hair is considered 3A because her curls are huge; so huge that they just flop and may appear wavy, but they are definitely curls:

​

Then 3B coils are smaller than 3A, like I think Shirley Temple would be 3B:

Then 3C are smaller coils:

I keep seeing people talking about loose curls is the higher letter but if that were the case, then folks like Tasha who is in the 4A/B thread with small wavy coils would be considered higher than 4A but her hair pattern is smaller than 4A... and that meandering look to me is just a stretched out coil. I don't know why people think it's a permanent pattern, but whatev. And if looseness of curl means 3B or 3A then there'd be no type 2. Because if loose curls that form S's are 3B, then what is 3A if not a wave. It gets silly.

IMO, 1 is straight, 2 is wavy, 3 is curly, 4 is tightly curled. Within these groups are different sizes of that and hence the lettering. Coarse hair may be heavy and may hang more than fine hair. So if the coil size is the same and hair looks looser than the other, IMO they are still in the same type bracket. One type just responds to gravity more than the other, either because it's longer and thus heavier or the hair strands are thicker and so heavier. It is why some people think their pattern changed when their hair grows longer. The heavier hair hangs more while finer strands with little weight do not seem to change. But while the hair may look different, it's type doesn't change.

Y'all complicate matters talmbout, but she has S wave not C coils or whatever. If I texlaxed my hair so that my coil would be looser, I'd have an S pattern, but would that mean I've gone up in type? No! I still would have type 4B that is partly relaxed.

TYPES 3-4 refer to SIZE OF THE COIL of the hair. @kblc06 so far is the one person who's hair I have not seen coiling. She might be a 2B for all we know or even 1. But God forbid I or she even type that and folks give the side-eye like having wavy or straight hair is... I dunno what. So we just decide she's type-less. (Before you all think I'm smoking that good good stuff, my Asian friend with type 1 hair used to get waves when her hair was wet. Dunno if that makes her 1/2A or what, but that's why I threw in 1...coz I don't know if all type 1 hair gets wavy when wet. If so, why couldn't kblc06 be 1? Coz she's not Asian? Who made that rule? Just coz it's not common doesn't mean it can't happen. I mean, two Ghanaians got a blond blue-eyed baby, so who knows what's possible.

It's all bananas.

ETA: For those only getting to this post and considering getting me committed, I did find other pics of kblc06's hair that show coils so as you'll see later, I know she's not 1 or 2. So all's safe in the world.
​

 

[anartist4u2001]

OP your hair is really pretty!

 

[anartist4u2001]

you're type curly!

 

[Nonie]

That's Napia Mia...she is pretty much like me, just protective styles all the time. She doesn't wear her hair out often because of tangling....

And I know you say that people have to wear their hair in the shrunken state and the coils will eventually form from cowashing, but she says she has no coils, so she has no coils *shrugs*

She even said so in her album description because people would try to convince her that her hair has coils:



There are always exceptions to every rule and Napia is one example.

Like I said in my previous post, stranger things have happened in life, but NappyMe's hair is 4B and coily. The bold is why she thinks it isn't. If I never let my hair shrink, then it would never look coily. I didn't see my coils until I was in my 30's and my mom didn't see hers until she let me do her hair in 2008. No, I didn't sneak in some strange chemicals. I pushed aside her grease and washed and DC'd her hair then moisturized it and braided it to airdry and she couldn't believe how soft her hair was and easy to manage and then she said, "It looks like a curly kit!" (That's what we used to call Jheri curl. She always combed hers out and didn't use dripping juice so it just looked like a puff.)

Any of the heads in this photo could be Napia's--they are all 4B:

And so you know I'm not just talking out my ***, here's a puff of hers showing cute coils typical of 4B:

http://public.fotki.com/Nappyme/puffs/first-loose-puff/61527336-m.html

http://public.fotki.com/Nappyme/hair-dosthe-early-days/miscellaneous-hair-dos/61527334imwjgl.html

Also if you look at her baby hairs, the are curved...because that's how her hair grows out her scalp. No one has hair growing out their scalp in some random undefined pattern...unless there's some mutation going on with their DNA.
​

 

[ms-gg]

I guess we are just going to have to agree to disagree. She has been growing out her hair for 7 years or more I believe and she said she doesn't have coily/curly hair in its dry unmanipulated (shrunken) state or otherwise.....

If someone has the type of hair that has random patterns on each individual hair strand and none of them are uniformed then they will not have a "coil" or "curl" pattern. In order to have a coil or curl pattern you have to have some degree of uniformity between a group of hairs in any given section of your scalp. If every strand is doing its own thing (O's, next to S's that are next to straight hairs that are next to z hair strands) then how can they group together to form a coil pattern?

 

[Nonie]

I guess we are just going to have to agree to disagree. She has been growing out her hair for 7 years or more I believe and she said she doesn't have coily/curly hair in its dry unmanipulated (shrunken) state or otherwise.....

If someone has the type of hair that has random patterns on each individual hair strand and none of them are uniformed then they will not have a "coil" or "curl" pattern. In order to have a coil or curl pattern you have to have some degree of uniformity between a group of hairs in any given section of your scalp. If every strand is doing its own thing (O's, next to S's that are next to straight hairs that are next to z hair strands) then how can they group together to form a coil pattern?

The lack of uniformity along the strand happens because the hair is manipulated. When you braid your hair all the time, you're manipulating it. When you don't allow it to shrink, you're manipulating it.

My hair looks like that most of the time. It takes the CNapp STATE most of the time because I do not let it shrink because I do not want tangles. As I have shown you in her shrunken puff, she does have a uniform pattern of coils that looks just like mine. In fact comparing her photo with mine, hers looks curlier than mine. Mine just looks like a cloud and my photo is more enlarged than hers:

Her images show very perfect coils all through. It is because of the fact that her hair is coily that it forms a round shape when shrunken. This image: http://public.fotki.com/Nappyme/puffs/first-loose-puff/61527336-m.html
...clearly has coils. It looks like my hair in the pic below except her coils stand out even more than mine do even here so she could even be 4A:

OP's first image shows cute coils, as do the latest pics, which is why folks are convinced she's a 4A...but I see the same thing in Napia's hair here:

ms-gg, I would not be this adamant if what you're describing isn't something I have witnessed. And I am actually amazed that even after I posted her puff photos, you still insist that her hair doesn't have a uniform pattern. OK. I guess some folks will always say there's not a God even when the evidence is before their very own eyes.

I was introduced to NappyMe by someone on this forum who for years didn't believe she had coils. Then there was also someone who told me if I wanted to see true nappy hair without a coil to look at Sera's hair. But at the end of the day, the truth of their very real coils came to light. So I'ma just leave this alone. NappyMe does have CNapp hair just like me because that's the state of manipulated 4B hair. The day I meet someone whose strands do not have a uniform pattern--and I'm not talking about someone like kbragg's cute son with all sorts of patterns so that it's not all uniform or Morenita whose hair is wavy in some parts and curly in others. I'm talking about someone whose hair grows out of their head in a pattern that is indescribably and that changes as it sprouts out the head, only then will I be a believer.

Heck, I call my hair nappy. Someone calls theirs coily. Doesn't change the fact that we all have tightly coiled hair. Same difference here.
​

 

[SND411]

Nonie, you never disappoint with your visual representations!

 

[Cheleigh]

I guess my challenge is that I've always looked at 4b as having coily hair STRANDS, regardless of whether the hair forms COILS or not. Even the alleged 'z' strand would be trying to clump to a coil/curl, but just does not.

So I don't have a problem with the term cNapp, in that it means people whose hair generally doesn't seem to curl into visible coils (although many might if they looked closely--my DH has cNAPP hair, but when I actually go through his freshly washed hair, I do see some hair forming a tiny coil. Most of it though, is coily strands, no coil clumping).

But I don't think CNAPP hair is different somehow from a 4b in terms of curl pattern.

But on topic: yeah, it doesn't matter what hair type for products, since as we all know it refers only to curl pattern, which generally doesn't matter much. Of course, I think most people asking this question are doing so to figure out how to enhance/maximize whatever their curl pattern might be.

 

[Nonie]

About kblc06, I found some images of her hair coily. It's definitely not a 2. So scrap that. She's a 3. Not sure which. I guess her wavy hair is to type 3 hair as CNapp is to type 4B--a manipulated state. Besides I dunno why I'm even getting involved with figuring out 3's when it's not my forte.

Anyway, images of kblc06's pattern can be seen in how her hair grows in (see nape):
http://public.fotki.com/kblc06-02/new-hair-year-3-jan/my-1st-lacefront-oc/016-jpg-1.html#media

And then this pic shows coils/curls I'd never seen before. So she could be 3B/3C. The coils seem to be a bit bigger than Rachel True's. They remind me of Corrine Bailey Day's coil in a way...so she's got a bit of what Corinne has:

I guess she like a lot of 4B's just keeps her hair manipulated to avoid tangles. She has shared that her hair is very easy to detangle...and it seems so rarely wears it in its fully shrunken state which would further help keep it easy to detangle.

 

[ms-gg]

I never let my hair shrink up either, I wash my hair in sections, I wear protective styles 99.9% of the time but I am still able to see my coil pattern/curl pattern. Nonie, you have very unique hair. Your hair is just like Crazycoil, I don't know if you remember who she is but her hair had very teeny tiny coils the same way your hair does. Everyone does not have that "o" shape that you have, or even the "s" shape. Some people have hair that has random patterns up and down the hair strand that will not clump together.

But like I said, we are just going to have to agree to disagree.....

 

[tHENATuRALhAiRpRoJEcT]

i agree with this... kbl has a beautiful texture (the curls at her nape are a lot like mine, but actually a tad but curlier) so that's a lacefront in that pic? looks so natural

 

[Nonie]

I never let my hair shrink up either, I wash my hair in sections, I wear protective styles 99.9% of the time but I am still able to see my coil pattern/curl pattern. Nonie, you have very unique hair. Your hair is just like Crazycoil, I don't know if you remember who she is but her hair had very teeny tiny coils the same way your hair does. Everyone does not have that "o" shape that you have, or even the "s" shape. Some people have hair that has random patterns up and down the hair strand that will not clump together.

But like I said, we are just going to have to agree to disagree.....

I guess we will have to agree to disagree. My hair is rarely ever seen in the coily o's as you call them but Napia clearly does as the puffs clearly show. Her O's are so clear they make my hair look like it has no pattern at all.

I don't know who Crazycoil is but I might have just forgotten but all coils look round if you look at their cross section. Even a spring might look wavy when stretched and viewed from the side but when you view it from the end, it's an O. Even 3A Nicole Kidmans dangling spirals have an O cross section. It is the nature of coils.

Nappyme has the most beautiful and uniform coils if I ever did see some and her hair looks very soft and fluffy. It reminds me of the one time I thought my sh** didn't stink coz my hair was a cloud of fluffy softness:

​

 

[Nonie]

Update, I think I've confirmed that kblc06's absence of coils is due to manipulation kinda like CNapp folks who can show a thousand photos of their hair with no coil when the coils are clearly there.

This photo hair clearly falls in curly group category and if I had seen this before seeing all the other characteristics of her hair, I'd say 3C/4A like @LynnieB and ~~HoneyComb~~: http://public.fotki.com/kblc06-02/new-hair-year-3-jan/my-new-hair-toy-the/003-jpg.html

 

[lilsparkle825]

I gotta roll with @Nonie on this one. My sister is CNapp and every once in a while I will be doing her hair and see that she has the tiniest of coils -- it's just her individual strands though, and they don't clump, so her hair always looks like a cloud. A cloud that is never allowed to shrink because it will be hell to detangle.

Way to hijack the OP's thread, guys!