Nonie
Well-Known Member
Kurlee, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. I think the reason I'm so adamant about what type 4b hair looks like is because I have that hair. My hair can look like Sera's if I follow the exact regimen she does. My hair looked like that until 2004 and while it wasn't long coz I didn't know how to handle it with care, it had "no pattern" which is why I knew w/o question that I was 4b when I saw the description. If you search the forum 2003, you will not see a post of me asking what my type was, coz that "no pattern" description was so clear to me the first time I came across types. I know it coz I've been natural 3/4 of my life.
When I joined the forum, my natural idols were people with hair like that. Mufasa, Daughter...were among my first idols coz they were two of the small handful of natural ladies here that had long hair of my texture (yes back then it was a case of spot the natural on LHCF; relaxed ladies were like 90-sth% of the members here. Or maybe the percentage was more, but to me hair like that I grew around (type 4-something hair) was natural hair and there was not a lot of it around LHCF that was not relaxed in 2003.)
Now I will tell you this, when my hair gets to Sera's length, you may never ever see it coily and it's not because it doesn't have coils. It's because I'd be darn out of my mind to risk letting that awesome mane tangle and therefore risk damaging it by allowing it to shrink. Heck I have only a short shrub of hair but do you see me doing WNGs? It's not just coz they won't show; heck I could do a chunky fro just for the heck of it because it's not like I need anyone to see my coils, but then who has to deal with it later? Nah suh! I love to comb my hair out not just coz I think afros are flyyy, but also because keeping my strands separated makes my hair easy to deal with. It's also why I keep my hair braided or twisted, not coz I couldn't show off some bomb loose hairdos, but I'm trying to keep my sanity and hair, thank you very much. If you watched my YT undoing twists, you get an idea of how I deal with my hair. I make every effort to separate strands. My hair is still short so while my friend seems to think that takes forever, it doesn't coz my hair is not long. And also it's not overwhelming coz I work on one skinny section at a time. If I had my hair out, all of it out, that'd not be going on here. I'd be wearing it stretched all the time. There'd be no hint of a coil in it.
Another thing, my hair seems to shrink more now than when it was shorter so again, I'd be crazy to keep allowing shrinkage when it gets to Sera's length. Mwedzi's hair is almost as long as Sera's and she's the only daredevil I know who's willing to do my crazy experiments of not manipulating her hair except to keep strands separated with fingers when CWing and while it's drying so that it returns to its resting phase ie coil phase.
(Oh before I forget: about shrinkage without a coil in sight, been there. This was 2003. My hair was about 9-11 inches or maybe shorter coz I'd done a big trim due to thin ends the same month and I'm not sure which came first. But my hair was definitely not shorter than 6 inches. These pics taken around that time show you what my hair was like stretched before and after the trim. I was in braids and redoing them by undoing a braid and trimming the hair. The pics of my shrunken hair were taken when I was getting ready to put braids back in after having been in braids for over a year. That's why I don't know the chronological order coz I live in braids. The trim pics may have been during the first set of braids before the shrunken pic or during the second set after the shrunken pic.)
Anyway, I'ma give my fingers a rest and your eyes a break. Just wanted to throw in my two cents (OK maybe it was more like a Benjamin). Don't know why coz we all decided our hair is 4-something anyway.
When I joined the forum, my natural idols were people with hair like that. Mufasa, Daughter...were among my first idols coz they were two of the small handful of natural ladies here that had long hair of my texture (yes back then it was a case of spot the natural on LHCF; relaxed ladies were like 90-sth% of the members here. Or maybe the percentage was more, but to me hair like that I grew around (type 4-something hair) was natural hair and there was not a lot of it around LHCF that was not relaxed in 2003.)
Now I will tell you this, when my hair gets to Sera's length, you may never ever see it coily and it's not because it doesn't have coils. It's because I'd be darn out of my mind to risk letting that awesome mane tangle and therefore risk damaging it by allowing it to shrink. Heck I have only a short shrub of hair but do you see me doing WNGs? It's not just coz they won't show; heck I could do a chunky fro just for the heck of it because it's not like I need anyone to see my coils, but then who has to deal with it later? Nah suh! I love to comb my hair out not just coz I think afros are flyyy, but also because keeping my strands separated makes my hair easy to deal with. It's also why I keep my hair braided or twisted, not coz I couldn't show off some bomb loose hairdos, but I'm trying to keep my sanity and hair, thank you very much. If you watched my YT undoing twists, you get an idea of how I deal with my hair. I make every effort to separate strands. My hair is still short so while my friend seems to think that takes forever, it doesn't coz my hair is not long. And also it's not overwhelming coz I work on one skinny section at a time. If I had my hair out, all of it out, that'd not be going on here. I'd be wearing it stretched all the time. There'd be no hint of a coil in it.
Another thing, my hair seems to shrink more now than when it was shorter so again, I'd be crazy to keep allowing shrinkage when it gets to Sera's length. Mwedzi's hair is almost as long as Sera's and she's the only daredevil I know who's willing to do my crazy experiments of not manipulating her hair except to keep strands separated with fingers when CWing and while it's drying so that it returns to its resting phase ie coil phase.
(Oh before I forget: about shrinkage without a coil in sight, been there. This was 2003. My hair was about 9-11 inches or maybe shorter coz I'd done a big trim due to thin ends the same month and I'm not sure which came first. But my hair was definitely not shorter than 6 inches. These pics taken around that time show you what my hair was like stretched before and after the trim. I was in braids and redoing them by undoing a braid and trimming the hair. The pics of my shrunken hair were taken when I was getting ready to put braids back in after having been in braids for over a year. That's why I don't know the chronological order coz I live in braids. The trim pics may have been during the first set of braids before the shrunken pic or during the second set after the shrunken pic.)
Anyway, I'ma give my fingers a rest and your eyes a break. Just wanted to throw in my two cents (OK maybe it was more like a Benjamin). Don't know why coz we all decided our hair is 4-something anyway.
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