Is type 4b hair uncommon?

[Nonie]

I haven't read this whole thread but I do see a lot of people claim 4b on here who are not 4b by any stretch. To me if you can put on some gel and pull your hair back and see waves, you are not 4b in my 4bz/C-napp world. lol.

I think more the more accurate statement would be "if you can see the waves from afar then you aren't...". As MissAlyssa said, if you got really close you could see micro waves aka ripples when hair is stretched. Which makes sense coz a stretched out coil makes a wave, and this would be more evident if you don't use a brush to fully flatten the strand. But from afar, the micro ripples are "invisible" and the hair just looks straight.

To borrow MissAlyssa's line if you squint your eyes and tilt your head slightly to the left you can see micro ripples

 

[jupitermoon]

Nonie, I like that puff. I think it's neat how your hair appears like textured staightened hair when pulled back. That must be another property of 4b hair.

 

[Celestial]

What if your hair has great shrinkage when wet and it knots and coiled but once comb and twisted it loosens and there's no coils. That's exactly how my hair is. I don't have curls. I only have curls if I wet and wash my hair and if I don't comb it or brush the ends before twisting the ends then the ends would coil or nap. Does other 4b hair do that?

 

[Nonie]

I read some of these posts, and I believe the above in bold. My hair is something of that sort. I don't have a curl pattern and my hair shrinks greatly when washed but easily straighten out when combed. For an afro, it would be better for me to first curl it with rod/rollers because trying to pick a natural afro just give me a straight-kinky look. My hair is nappy when wet or washed but all I have to do is comb it out and twist it and people wouldn't define it as nappy . If 4b is no curl pattern then my hair is 4b.

Do you have photos of your hair? Coz what you describe is how 4B hair behaves You say it shrinks when you wash it and when you comb it it sticks out straight. Are you combing it dry or wet. I ask this because 4B hair is famous for maintaining styles. If I comb my 4B hair, it will also get that straight-kinky look if I'm not wearing a wet product like my beloved S Curl. This puff doesn't appear to be made of circles like the one I posted before:

Here's another pic of my hair before I knew my hair had curls and all I knew was straight-kinky no pattern hair (excuse the bald spot):

As my hair practices have improved and I've learned more to improve its health (DCing, ACV, low mani) and gotten more familiar with it, my hair has come into its own and I have witnessed its many characteristics.

 

[Nonie]

What if your hair has great shrinkage when wet and it knots and coiled but once comb and twisted it loosens and there's no coils. That's exactly how my hair is. I don't have curls. I only have curls if I wet and wash my hair and if I don't comb it or brush the ends before twisting the ends then the ends would coil or nap. Does other 4b hair do that?

A pic of what you're talking about would be helpful. Most people use twists to get a twist-out which looks like waves rather than curls. 4B hair has tiny curls and shrinks a lot and when you manipulate it, it takes a different shape depending on what manipulation you apply. This would be even more so if you manipulate it when wet and keep it in that new state till it dries. It'd not look the way it did when you washed it.

I've got twists in my hair right now. I'll be back with pics of what it looks like out of a twist.

 

[Celestial]

Do you have photos of your hair? Coz what you describe is how 4B hair behaves You say it shrinks when you wash it and when you comb it it sticks out straight. Are you combing it dry or wet. I ask this because 4B hair is famous for maintaining styles. If I comb my 4B hair, it will also get that straight-kinky look if I'm not wearing a wet product like my beloved S Curl. This puff doesn't appear to be made of circles like the one I posted before:

Here's another pic of my hair before I knew my hair had curls and all I knew was straight-kinky no pattern hair (excuse the bald spot):

As my hair practices have improved and I've learned more to improve its health (DCing, ACV, low mani) and gotten more familiar with it, my hair has come into its own and I have witnessed its many characteristics.

I don't have any photos but I'm thinking about snapping some and posting it. My hair look similar to yours in the first pic. Yours just look thicker and a have a tad bit more curl pattern than mines. My hair is a little looser than yours but it is very similar.

 

[Nonie]

Nonie, I like that puff. I think it's neat how your hair appears like textured staightened hair when pulled back. That must be another property of 4b hair.

It is. MizzBrit (I think it was she) started a thread wondering about that feature in her hair. This is why I couldn't get with my neighbor's hair when I was a kid coz her hair didn't do what mind did. It'd spring back into curls when I wanted it to lie flat like mine. This is why threading as we did back home (wrapping the hair with thread so it stays stretched for days) gave hair that looked pressed. 4B hair is pretty obedient once you get to know it and stop trying to make it look like what it isn't and do stuff that isn't for it.

 

[Celestial]

A pic of what you're talking about would be helpful. Most people use twists to get a twist-out which looks like waves rather than curls. 4B hair has tiny curls and shrinks a lot and when you manipulate it, it takes a different shape depending on what manipulation you apply. This would be even more so if you manipulate it when wet and keep it in that new state till it dries. It'd not look the way it did when you washed it.

I've got twists in my hair right now. I'll be back with pics of what it looks like out of a twist.

I comb my hair out when wet and twist when wet. That alone straightens the hair out. I'm going to snap some photos and take several pictures and post them (not now). What you describe about 4b hair taken on many shapes is true with mines. When I had a TWA (before 1"), I put gel on my hair and it did actually curled and people use to ask me what I put in my hair. However, when it grew out it stopped curling. My hair wouldn't curl if I put gel in it now at this length; it would just straighten.

 

[Nonie]

A pic of what you're talking about would be helpful. Most people use twists to get a twist-out which looks like waves rather than curls. 4B hair has tiny curls and shrinks a lot and when you manipulate it, it takes a different shape depending on what manipulation you apply. This would be even more so if you manipulate it when wet and keep it in that new state till it dries. It'd not look the way it did when you washed it.

I've got twists in my hair right now. I'll be back with pics of what it looks like out of a twist.

As promised here are pics I just took with my phone. Sorry they aren't that clear but hope you can see the difference in texture (ETA I have no product in my hair in any of the pics. I think if I twisted with product--especially one that isn't wet or one that dries up--my hair would be straighter. Also it'd not curl back as fast without a shampoo to remove the coating so water can get to it. One more thing, I just finger combed. I'm sure if I ran a comb through it, it'd not spring back into coils. When I get my cam back, I'll take clearer pics of this experiment if anyone's interested):

 

[Je Ne Sais Quoi]

This thread has me confused LOL. Nonie, what is my hair type???

wash n go wet (texlaxed):

wash n go dry (texlaxed)

Wash n go natural:

wash n go natural:

Twistout:

Nonie, what say you???

The reason i ask is because a lot of the characteristics described here seem to describe my hair....sigh.....

 

[Nonie]

I comb my hair out when wet and twist when wet. That alone straightens the hair out. I'm going to snap some photos and take several pictures and post them (not now). What you describe about 4b hair taken on many shapes is true with mines. When I had a TWA (before 1"), I put gel on my hair and it did actually curled and people use to ask me what I put in my hair. However, when it grew out it stopped curling. My hair wouldn't curl if I put gel in it now at this length; it would just straighten.

I think also the size of the twists makes a difference. If you do big twists, you open up the 4B coils more because they have a longer stretch/distance before the bend. That stretches the coil and if you have many strands in a twists, no part of your hair is allowed to coil in it's normal pattern so it gets pulled straight. If you remind me on Friday when I have nowhere to go and hopefully a new SD card for my camera, I will demonstrate this difference in how your hair behaves depending on size of twist.

 

[Nonie]

This thread has me confused LOL. Nonie, what is my hair type???

wash n go wet (texlaxed):

wash n go dry (texlaxed)

Wash n go natural:

wash n go natural:

Twistout:

Nonie, what say you???

The reason i ask is because a lot of the characteristics described here seem to describe my hair....sigh.....

I know nothing about texlaxed hair but your natural pic could be 4a/b. The roots look 4B-ish but you have clumping that look like 4A but then what looks like waves (from gel maybe or smoothing your hair?) looks bigger than 4B so maybe you're 4a/b.

But honestly it's really hard to say from just those few pics. As you can see, when people see the coils in my profile they cannot imagine my hair is this non-shiny rough-looking hair. They imagine glossy type 3 coils which it isn't. It takes seeing many pics of my hair in different states to get a full picture of what it's really like.

JNSQ, I say it's not that serious. Just pick someone whose hair you think behaves like yours the most and let that be your type; or do like a lot of people and just state you have textured hair *shrug*. As Tkj25 said, you can get product recs from any hair type even relaxed heads and find it works for your natural hair no matter the type so really getting your head in a jam over typing is really unnecessary.

 

[anon123]

Bre, I say you are 4a. Nonie, I have had the pleasure of seeing JNSQ's hair in person. She has lovely coils that get very defined and visible from a distance, about pen spring size. Of course she was covering her roots a bit, but that's my guess from seeing the hair poking out in her wash and go puff.

 

[Celestial]

I think also the size of the twists makes a difference. If you do big twists, you open up the 4B coils more because they have a longer stretch/distance before the bend. That stretches the coil and if you have many strands in a twists, no part of your hair is allowed to coil in it's normal pattern so it gets pulled straight. If you remind me on Friday when I have nowhere to go and hopefully a new SD card for my camera, I will demonstrate this difference in how your hair behaves depending on size of twist.

You know what you are talking about because I put big plait twist in my hair. It usual depends on how I feel and I have to wash my hair twice a week to keep it moisturize. I'm going to snap some photos of my hair this week just for demonstration and for you to see how my hair looks. I'll do my best to take photos of my hair and not my fingers or bathroom walls .

 

[MizzBrit]

interesting thread
so glad i joined LHCF..im learning so much about 4b hair
if this isnt 4b hair.please correct me
i read thru the thread where someone said if you get waves with product you are not 4berplexed(see pic 3)


1st pic-just took out my extension braids
2nd pic-puff
3rd-puff with eco gel
4th-back of puff without product
5th-freshly washed damp hair taken out of plaits

 

[CherieMarie]

Im definately a 4b with coarse strands....and wouldn't have it any other way

 

[Je Ne Sais Quoi]

Bre, I say you are 4a. Nonie, I have had the pleasure of seeing JNSQ's hair in person. She has lovely coils that get very defined and visible from a distance, about pen spring size. Of course she was covering her roots a bit, but that's my guess from seeing the hair poking out in her wash and go puff.

Thanks mwedzi. I think I need to just go with 4a and stick with that. It's just that the descriptions explained in this thread lead me somewhat to think other wise.

 

[yardgirl]

In Jamaica if you have 3c/4a or any type 3 hair, you supposedly have "pretty" hair. 4B is "kaya"

 

[Nonie]

interesting thread
so glad i joined LHCF..im learning so much about 4b hair
if this isnt 4b hair.please correct me
i read thru the thread where someone said if you get waves with product you are not 4berplexed(see pic 3)


1st pic-just took out my extension braids
2nd pic-puff
3rd-puff with eco gel
4th-back of puff without product
5th-freshly washed damp hair taken out of plaits

I think you're 4B. If someone were to say your ripples look bigger than 4B then I'd say 4A/B but I've seen more of your pics and your hair looks very much like 4B.

As Tkj25 said, the reason any hair can be shingled it's because of the coils/curls. Stretching them opens them, and if you can have clumping from several strands bending at the exact spots along their length, then I believe you can have visible waves too, coz what happens when those clumping strands open up together? What's more, as Mwedzi mentioned, she achieves more clumping when she does a version of shingling and applying a gel and smoothing the hair back to me could also be a way of shingling so you line up strands just so to create the effect the same effect that leads to clumping only coz the hair is stretched it forms waves.

With type 4A hair, the waves would be wide and would be forming long hills and valleys due to more clumping and more synchrony in the bends, I think. I wish you had a WNG pic. It takes so many different styles to show what your hair really looks like. *sigh*

I haven't ever gelled down my hair to see what happens. I imagine it'd be the same thing as would happen if I shingled ie an appearance of waves but my effort to get my hair shingled earned me a 5+ inch BC so I am yet to toy with shingling.

ETA: I just realized that your hair looks a lot like JC's (Cracker's Phinn)...so claim whatever she is.

 

[yardgirl]

interesting thread
so glad i joined LHCF..im learning so much about 4b hair
if this isnt 4b hair.please correct me
i read thru the thread where someone said if you get waves with product you are not 4berplexed(see pic 3)


1st pic-just took out my extension braids
2nd pic-puff
3rd-puff with eco gel
4th-back of puff without product
5th-freshly washed damp hair taken out of plaits

Hey little lady You look like a 4a to me. You always did

 

[locabouthair]

Hey little lady You look like a 4a to me. You always did

I thought she was 4a also.

 

[Nonie]

Hey little lady You look like a 4a to me. You always did

I thought she was 4a also.

You guys might be right, but I was looking at her album and I don't see the clumping I associate with 4A or the big coils I expect to see in combed out 4A puff. Maybe it's because she braids it before combing it out into a puff? Her siggy does look like a 4A puff, plus the pic she provided of wet hair that was braided so maybe that's why the clumping doesn't show...*shrug* Of maybe it's the pic quality?

I think a WNG will make it all clear. That clumping is the biggest giveaway of 4A. Her hair looks like the example Cracker's Phinn posted. 4A hair does behave like 4B when it's manipulated. Better yet, MizzB, show up at a meet-up so someone can tell us the real life appearance like Mwedzi did of JNSQ.

ETA: If you look at her puff in her Sew In/Take down album (esp the third photo), it reminds me a lot of my puff in this pic.

 

[SND411]

Why is the 4 category so meticulous?

 

[glamazon386]

4B hair is common IMO. But I think ladies with that hair type are more likely to be relaxed.

 

[Je Ne Sais Quoi]

I think i've narrowed it down to 3c/nape, 4a/sides & crown, 4b/front/edges/kitchen.

I.hate.hair.right.now.

 

[Neith]

Y'all are trying to confuse me I decided to take a pic of my hair with no products. Right after my DC.

Since we're on the subject...

Most of my coils are smaller than a penspring. My hair is very coarse, very wiry - does not feel soft. It waves and coils when wet. It clumps, but not into smooth ringlets... it's more like velcro. At the nape, the hair is less coarse, but has the same curl pattern.

My hair can be coaxed into smoother coils, or I can dry comb my hair out into a fluffy fro. but as soon as water hits it, it shrivels up.

Hair with no products, damp.

​

What is it? 4a, 4a/4b or 4b? I really think it behaves like both textures a bit. but it's also uniform - I don't see any sections that don't look like the next section Whatcha think guys? I'm curious to what you would say Nonie.

 

[Nonie]

Neith, I'd say you're hands down 4A.

ETA Besides the obvious clumping throughout your head, if you look at your tenth photo in the natural hair album, your hair forms the uniform waves I was talking about that form long hills and valleys...ie a continuous waves created by adjacent strands that bend in very visibly evenly matched points.

I would love to see your hair combed out into an afro. (I have a friend who hates that look that she'd not do it even if I paid her ) coz methinks your hair would look like my phony afro puff:

 

[Southernbella.]

I haven't read this whole thread but I do see a lot of people claim 4b on here who are not 4b by any stretch. To me if you can put on some gel and pull your hair back and see waves, you are not 4b in my 4bz/C-napp world. lol.

I'm mostly 4A (I think), but I can't see waves when I pull my hair back.

 

[Neith]

Neith, I'd say you're hands down 4A.

Ok

See... now that makes me think that the difference between 4a and 4b isn't based on coil diameter. :scratchch

What is it? lol

 

[MizzBrit]

me? a 4a? hmm who would of thought
i will take a pic of a WNG to help furthur determine..
you mean to tell me i keep my hair stretched so much im loosing all my lil curlies..sigh.