Her 4b is not MY 4b ....hair type

[Bublin]

Mmmm - you guys have me thinking.

When i apply products to my hair whilst wet i have very defined (and lots of) spirals but the shrinkage is crazy and so is the tangles. It looks like 3c.

When i comb, brush and then blow dry is looks like a 4a hair type.

After a simple towel dry, where i just wrap my hair in a towel it still has clear but stretched waves.

I have very thin strands but so so much hair strands that make my hair appear thick.

Looking at my avatar can anyone tell me what my hair type is? This may help in the way i care for it.

 

[jade998]

I think you are what you siggy says - 3c/4a

 

[Kawaii1]

Yeah for a minute I was thinking everyone was girls with that curly stuff. I am a "4c" . Ladies if you don't know, they are talking about afro hair. Like the 60 &70's afro's. That is "4b" not the hair like Joan from girlfriends or Halle Berry.

 

[kally]

I am glad to come across this thread. I too am a 4a/b who tryid to live the life of a 3a/b and wondering what I was doing wrong.

This thread had lighten my day.

 

[localhost]

I think you are what you siggy says - 3c/4a

I agree; Looks like 3c/4a to me

 

[frochoice]

Shucks! I don't know what my hair type is either????
It coils and all....but at the same time, I can soooooo relate to all the stories on here about 4b hair as well. I CANNOT get my hair to lay down with some mango butter..... Shoot--I can't even get my hair to lay down with gel! (still working on it tho). My hair rises and grows out---just like the best of them.....

Water can hit my hair and take forever for it to actually soak into my hair.....

Someone even told me that by the looks of it, my hair resembled possibly 3C hair---but was probably 4a/4b to the heart. WTF!!!???? erplexed

I agree - your hair looks like 3C

like your pictures though

 

[dicapr]

I am 4a/4b, but I have fine hair. Actually, my 4b sections are easier to comb thru than my tightly coiled 4a sections. To me, many 4b issues are attributed to thickness, not texture. I was also able to stretch 8-12 weeks without too much trouble. My hair was big (which I like) but it could still be cute. After I learned about spraying my roots with a thin conditioner before combing, I also had little to no breakage. I am also able to blow dry my hair on medium and flat iron on 300 and get my hair straight, and I am natural. Thickness has just as much to do with unruley hair as texture. Some of you ladies have the thickest hair I have ever seen, which I wish I had. But I guess thin hair has spared me some other issues.

 

[AvaSpeaks]

Yeah for a minute I was thinking everyone was girls with that curly stuff. I am a "4c" . Ladies if you don't know, they are talking about afro hair. Like the 60 &70's afro's. That is "4b" not the hair like Joan from girlfriends or Halle Berry.

Exactly! Hair that is in the 4 Group is Afro hair. It's the kind of hair that you can make Afros with and it needed chemicals or intense heat like a pressing comb to make it straight.

If you have 4b or 4c hair, most likely (unless you want to be natural), you got it relaxed or something. 4a hair may be a little more softer, but it's still Afro-textured.

That's why I think that there needs to be more categories, at least for Afro hair because of lot of us come in a range of textures and some of us think we got 3b or 3c hair mixed in with some 4a and there may need to be a 3d maybe have true Afro hair in the 5 range. Because the 3 group hair usually requires no relaxers or anything chemical to straighten their hair. Maybe just a blow dryer or a flat-iron, that's it.

 

[glamazon386]

Mmmm - you guys have me thinking.

When i apply products to my hair whilst wet i have very defined (and lots of) spirals but the shrinkage is crazy and so is the tangles. It looks like 3c.

When i comb, brush and then blow dry is looks like a 4a hair type.

After a simple towel dry, where i just wrap my hair in a towel it still has clear but stretched waves.

I have very thin strands but so so much hair strands that make my hair appear thick.

Looking at my avatar can anyone tell me what my hair type is? This may help in the way i care for it.

Your hair looks like mines. I'd say 3c/4a. You have to type on airdried unmanipulated hair with no products.

 

[glamazon386]

Because the 3 group hair usually requires no relaxers or anything chemical to straighten their hair. Maybe just a blow dryer or a flat-iron, that's it.

While that is true for the most part, there are still some type 3's who were relaxed. There have been plenty on this board, like SilverGirl for instance. The majority of the women in my mom's family are in the 3 range with relaxers mainly to thin the bulk of the hair out. And I can blowdry my hair straight and flat iron it with no problem but my mama still put a relaxer on these naps.

Also as far as the 3d goes, we have to remember that 3c was in fact added for that very reason as a go between. There was only 3b and 4a before so I think that's why there's a lot of confusion and overlap in that section of the hair types.

 

[maleucia]

I think she means that type 3 people can get a "fresh relaxer" look without needing to use a relaxer by just blow-drying or flat-ironing. With type 4 that may look good only right after if it's even achievable.

I've also read on here that people get better results flat-ironing with little to no product. I try that and I get a texlaxed look

Back to grease for my next press. Thank you for letting me know grease is not such a bad word around these parts!

 

[Energee]

This has confused me in the past also and still does. I always have said that I am a 4b because that's just what I thought most AA people were....lol..but I've been told by different stylist and people that I am not a 4b and am more of a 4a and in some places a 3c. Like most stylist will only use a 'mild' relaxer in my hair because they will say that my hair doesn't need a 'strong' relaxer . However, the mild relaxer only gives me 'texlaxed' hair (WHICH IS WHAT AI PREFER actually). It just loosens up my curls and waves and doesn't give my bone straight hair. My hair isn't difficult to relax (the relaxer doesn't have to sit in my hair long for it to take). I do have a definite curl, wave pattern to my natural hair and my ng gets thick but it's never really too tough to deal with but I still always thought I was a 4b. I now say I am 4a but I still don't really know....LOL.

 

[beana]

loving this thread!!! I'm a straight up 4a, a small patch of 4b at the crown and a small 3b patch (family birthmark) at the nape...

My hair is definitely 4a tho. If i was natural i could probably get a bit of curl definition with a wash n go, but not much.

 

[AvaSpeaks]

I think she means that type 3 people can get a "fresh relaxer" look without needing to use a relaxer by just blow-drying or flat-ironing. With type 4 that may look good only right after if it's even achievable.

I've also read on here that people get better results flat-ironing with little to no product. I try that and I get a texlaxed look

Back to grease for my next press. Thank you for letting me know grease is not such a bad word around these parts!

This is exactly what I mean. True 3 Group hair, you don't need a relaxer to straighten it out. Regardless of how thick it is. Because they hair may be thick but the type of hair is "fine". Fine hair doesn't need to be straighten chemically. Fine hair will straighten out on it's own.

Now you can hair straight hair, but the hair can be thick. That's where the confusion is coming in, some of us have "medium" texture hair. And it's also thick, but not course, hence some of us saying we are in the 3 Group.

Think of it this way. We know how fine and straight hair looks. And then there is fine and curly hair. Usually this is with White people. But then some people can have fine and medium hair, like Asians. And then some of us can have thick hair and course hair. That's what people would call the "bad" hair or nappy hair.

That's why I said that there needs to be either more categories in the 3 group or add the 5 Group for Afro-textured hair and then maybe the 4 Group can be the combo group

 

[KhandiB]

Thats what they told me

Hey! You my hair twin? That's what my hair looks like but all natural, cool ok so I AM 4a hmm...

 

[SweetCaramel1]

Girl, I have been thinking the SAME thing. I'm mostly 4a with some 4b in my opinion at the top and 3c around the edges. I am always seeing LHCFers claim 4a/4b and I am like, there is now damn way!...some of these ladies (with beautiful hair mind you) are 3b/3c/4a at the most. I mean I see some ladies claim 4a and I'm like, really? Hey, to each his own...I personally think that people claim higher hair #s because a greater number of people tend to listen to them.

i think it's totally opposite. in the past there were numerous threads were people would get "told" for claiming type 3 anything hair. a thread was started about one member who claimed 3 something and everyone thought she was a 4, and accused her of stating her relaxed hair was her new growth. so i don't people are quick to claim 3 anything. personally, i believed loose curls were 3 and tight coils were 4 and 4b is cotton.

i see the same thing were people claim 3c and it looks 4b to me. bottom line is you have to find products that work for you. having the same hair type does not guarantee your satisfaction or the same results

 

[AvaSpeaks]

Personally, I'm making up my own hair category, because I really don't fit in with any of the hair groups and my hair is so not 1a. So I "declare" my hair 6a/6b

 

[HoneyA]

After reading some of the comments on this great thread and seeing the pics, I think I may have been slightly wrong about my hair type tooerplexed. I think its 3c/4a. hmmm...

 

[Twisties]

I have 4 hair (4B for argument sake) but it's thin, it appears thick if I comb it out but ME comb out,

Having thin 4b hair adds a whole nother problem to the equation because it's already delicate and breaks at the drop of a hat. But when it's fine, it's even more delicate.

My hair hates me and I've oft wondered if I should just texturize the middle but then I'll see someone with long 4b hair and I'll slap myself back into reality.

I've learned that GREASE, good old Blue Magic Coconut Grease, Avocado Butter and Aloe butter used to SEAL in moisture works great. The only way for me to get waves is to twist my hair as small as possible, put a little PM Wax in, keep it twisted for a week and then pull it back

Avocado Butter

It's a process to learn this about grease! When I first started in on proper haircare, all I could read and hear was no grease, no grease and I think I preached it myself at one point. But my hair said, Girl you better grease me down and I will act right. I did it and been happy ever since.

We have to merge the old school info. with the new school info. to get it right.

My hair looks just like yours in your siggy.

I love this thread.

 

[AvaSpeaks]

After reading some of the comments on this great thread and seeing the pics, I think I may have been slightly wrong about my hair type tooerplexed. I think its 3c/4a. hmmm...

Maybe. Go to a hair salon and see what they tell you. Or maybe an Aveda client.

Go to a White one and a Black one. Betcha they give you two different answers.

 

[cocoberry10]

Exactly! Hair that is in the 4 Group is Afro hair. It's the kind of hair that you can make Afros with and it needed chemicals or intense heat like a pressing comb to make it straight.

If you have 4b or 4c hair, most likely (unless you want to be natural), you got it relaxed or something. 4a hair may be a little more softer, but it's still Afro-textured.

That's why I think that there needs to be more categories, at least for Afro hair because of lot of us come in a range of textures and some of us think we got 3b or 3c hair mixed in with some 4a and there may need to be a 3d maybe have true Afro hair in the 5 range. Because the 3 group hair usually requires no relaxers or anything chemical to straighten their hair. Maybe just a blow dryer or a flat-iron, that's it.

I totally agree with this, and I look forward to a revised hair typing system. I think this would help a lot of true 4b’s find products that actually work for them. I even find some 4a’s can use the same products that type 3’s can use and achieve hair goals, whereas a true 4b cannot often really find produts that work as well.

 

[secretdiamond]

Just came back again to say THANK YOU FOR THIS THREAD!

I thought for so long I was the only one with true 4b hair and the difference btwn the way my hair responds and everyone else on this board. I'd start a thread from frustration, but once again, it'll seem like I was doing something so wrong and no one else could relate.

I hate having to spend hours washing and detangling and hearing snaps and pops no matter how slowly I go. But I still love my hair... it's just a part of me.

4B UNITE!!!!

 

[AvaSpeaks]

I totally agree with this, and I look forward to a revised hair typing system. I think this would help a lot of true 4b’s find products that actually work for them. I even find some 4a’s can use the same products that type 3’s can use and achieve hair goals, whereas a true 4b cannot often really find produts that work as well.

Exactly! I mean I really think there should be more extended categories or again, put the Afro-textured hair in a 5 Group. And then those "3c/4a" can be pushed in the first category for a new 4 Group.

Because I am not trying to hate but if we really had all these 3b/4a and 3c/4a types, then why do most Black women have relaxers then? My natural hair is thick too, but I don't need a relaxer.

So I think that some us need another category. Because if your hair is straight on the sides and back, the most problems areas that make sistas get a relaxer or pressed hair, regardless of how thick it is, what would you need the relaxer for?

 

[mscocoface]

Well, not that I want to add anymore confusion about the hair typing, but there is a newer system called LOIS here is the site.

http://www.ourhair.net/content/view/29/40/

It gives a more defined meaning of your hair type particularly if you have multiple textures. I placed this on another thread but felt the need to add it here.

Based on the definitions I am considered small amount of L with mainly O with cottony and spongy hair strands.

WARNING: Reading this article could take some of you over the edge with complete and total confusion!

 

[facets]

Well, not that I want to add anymore confusion about the hair typing, but there is a newer system called LOIS here is the site.

http://www.ourhair.net/content/view/29/40/

It gives a more defined meaning of your hair type particularly if you have multiple textures. I placed this on another thread but felt the need to add it here.

Based on the definitions I am considered small amount of L with mainly O with cottony and spongy hair strands.

WARNING: Reading this article could take some of you over the edge with complete and total confusion!

so i'd be 'daughter O'?

wow, what about spongy coils?..lol.

after reading some old threads and links i guess i'm a dense 4a? i have a lot of hairs(re: sq footage...ok, my heads not quite that big) but the individual hairs coil.

How does this change products/regimen? So 4b's can use heavier oils, grease? Anything else?

 

[AvaSpeaks]

I think my hair texture is either:

1a/2a/3a/4a

1a/2a/4a

or

1a/3a/4a

All this is so confusing

 

[ccd]

This thread is hilarious!

 

[glamazon386]

This is exactly what I mean. True 3 Group hair, you don't need a relaxer to straighten it out. Regardless of how thick it is. Because they hair may be thick but the type of hair is "fine". Fine hair doesn't need to be straighten chemically. Fine hair will straighten out on it's own.

Now you can hair straight hair, but the hair can be thick. That's where the confusion is coming in, some of us have "medium" texture hair. And it's also thick, but not course, hence some of us saying we are in the 3 Group.

Think of it this way. We know how fine and straight hair looks. And then there is fine and curly hair. Usually this is with White people. But then some people can have fine and medium hair, like Asians. And then some of us can have thick hair and course hair. That's what people would call the "bad" hair or nappy hair.

That's why I said that there needs to be either more categories in the 3 group or add the 5 Group for Afro-textured hair and then maybe the 4 Group can be the combo group

For the record my hair gets relaxer straight with a blowdrier and a flat iron. I think it's more the technique and not somebody's texture/thickness/etc. I don't even think it's the products. But all hair types can be coarse. There are plenty of white people or Asian people with coarse hair. If there weren't then there wouldn't be the need for things like Japanese straightening systems to thin them out. They can have fine, medium, and thick hair just like we can. They all don't fit into one category. I am a type 4 but my hair is not coarse at all. And coarse and thick are not the same thing. One is texture, the other is not. You also have to take into account density.

 

[Kayluv]

I don't know what my hair type is...I've never know what my hair type is...and at this point I am not too interested. Just to damn confusing.

That's my story and I'm sticking with it!

 

[AvaSpeaks]

For the record my hair gets relaxer straight with a blowdrier and a flat iron. I think it's more the technique and not somebody's texture/thickness/etc. I don't even think it's the products. But all hair types can be coarse. There are plenty of white people or Asian people with coarse hair. If there weren't then there wouldn't be the need for things like Japanese straightening systems to thin them out. They can have fine, medium, and thick hair just like we can. They all don't fit into one category. I am a type 4 but my hair is not coarse at all. And coarse and thick are not the same thing. One is texture, the other is not. You also have to take into account density.

When I say coarse, I mean the coarse hair that Afro texture hair has. The type of coarse hair that some Asians or Whites have is not the same coarse hair that most black people have. If it was, then Black women would not get relaxers.

Plus Asians, some Asians straighten their hair to get a bone-straight look but their hair is still straight. They just want it straighter or flat.

I also mention that. Your hair could be coarse and thick or coarse and medium. Again that's why I said that we need more categories. If you can get your hair straight with a blow-dryer, but it's still considered a type 4? Then we need some new categories. I won't say people are mislabeling their hair but I mean if we want to go by what the guide says then Type 4 hair would not get relaxer-straight without a relaxer, but Type 3 hair would. There are just certain properties that make 4 Type hair what it is. Just like Type 1 hair will not be coarse at all. Or it won't be curly.