Naturals: Was your hair type what you expected?

Not at all!! My new growth always looked 4b so I assumed that's what it would be when I decided to transition. Plus my hair didn't behave properly until all of my relaxed ends were cut off. Once completly natural I found that my hair is mostly 3b with some 4a mixed in.
 
Never remembered my natural hair as a child (was relaxed for 18 yrs)
Always thought it was 4b
When I began transitioning I learned otherwise
I thought my natural hair would be all one texture & all one curl pattern, but it isn't.
I have all kinds of textures & curl patterns throughout my head

.... & I luv them all :)
 
I didn't know about hair types. I figured my hair would be sort of curly and sort of kinky.

About six months into my transition, I could tell I had coily kinky hair. I suppose that the main difference was that I didn't think I'd have some many different textures and degrees of thickness on my head.
 
well, i knew i had some curls and coils. what was really shocking, although it shouldnt have been, was the extreme shrinkage i have. i don't know why i was thinking i wouldnt have the same shrinkage i had when i was a teen. lol

oh, and i expected that my hair would grow down at some point...ya know, from the weight of the hair...nope. my hair is too fine for all of that.
 
I never imagined that I would have so many different textures. Now that all of the relaxer has been cut, my hair has 3 distinctly different textures. I'm fine with all of them (I love my curls and my kinks!), but I wish I only had one texture to manage.
 
I didn't have any expectations because I couldn't remember what my hair even looked like as a child. I also never stretched long enough while I was relaxed (didn't know anything about hair care then). So I was surprised by all the spirals (coils???) I have.
I also thought that my hair is naturally very very thick, but it isn't really. My hair at the back is thinner, but it gets really thick at the crown. Also, my hair is quite pliable (meaning I don't need much to "lay it down" if I want to make a puff, for example).
I don't have as much shrinkage (when wet) as I thought I would.
I thought my nape would stay short (it never seemed to grow beyond an inch when relaxed), but grows just as well as the rest of my hair :).
And lastly, I didn't think natural hair would ever suit me, but I ended up liking it much much better on myself than my relaxed hair (and a lot of other people too!).
 
It's funny because I was thinking of this as I washed my hair yesterday. I really had no idea of what hair type I was because it had been so long since I had seen a fair bit of it natural. And when I first BC'd, I thought my hair was 4b. But as it grows longer, I see that most of my hair is 4a/3c with some 3A at the nape. In fact, I had to tell myself to stop clipping the nape because I was confusing the hair for permed ends. :ohwell:
 
Not exactly. My nape and sides has a much looser texture (3c) than the rest. Then my front is 4a. and the middle is 4a and 4b. I have really a lot of different textures. I thought it would be more uniform, but I manage w/it now.
 
I love my hair when I wear braids or cornrows and it's dry. I have been natural for 2 years in June. Curl definition is a different story. I have tried to wear the curly look but I don't know how!!!! HELP ME!!!! The crown of my hair barely curls it just lays limp. Its like wavy. Then I learned that if I put oils on it first while it is wet it will slowly curl up better with gel. The very bottom is also very loose and acts the same way. Then I don't know what is going on in the middle back! The curls are soo tiny there and the shinkage is extreme in comparison to the other parts! On my sides I have 4a hair that curls nicely. When I put the gel in my hair because it is soo thick, I have to work it through the whole thing very carefully it takes me like a half an hour to apply the gel. Then it looks like a mullet because the back is hanging longer. It takes all day long for the gel to dry and its hard as a rock.... I know I'm doing this wrong.... I wish my hair could look as nice as some of the other natural ladies who rock the curly look. Also when I wear a puff I can't get the front to lay down flat and wave like others do... how do yall do it!?? (check out my hair on www.myspace.com/lipyt13) and......HELP ME!!!!:confused: :lachen:
 
Its very hard to tell how my hair is going to turn out. Right now i think it is 4a/b. But, the only part that isn't texturized is the very back, nape area. However, that part is still dry and crunchy, so i am assuming that is what you all are calling "scab hair"? In the top, however, there is a lot of 3c curls going on, very soft and managable. I don't know if that is from the texturizer or what... So confused!:confused::perplexed:ohwell::huh:
 
when I first did my big chop 2 and a half years ago my new growth was quite course I thought I was going to be a 3b or something andI realize I'm either a 4b c and d:) , but as it grew out I realize I have close to 3c hair in the back and 4a and 4b mixed up all over, it's really strange my husband is even amazed at the back of my head actually growing out straight and the front is nappy and the sides, what can I say god made us all different I guess.
 
I knew my hair was going to be kinky and nappy, but I didn't know it was going to have all this little tight springy coils in the mix of the kinkiness! I also didn't know it would shrink so much nor be so dense. My hair is a mixture of 4a & 4b....I guess. :D
 
Not at ALL what I expected - I had always been told/believed my hair was coarse, resistant, dry, and tightly curled like lambswool.

The better I take care of it, and the more moisturized it is, I've found (much to my dismay) that my hair actually isn't NEARLY as tightly curled as I thought it was, and it's also VERY fine - I get flyaway hairs! I have these 3b'ish type spirals at the ends of my hair! Whose hair IS this?

So - I was definitely not expecting the hair that I have.

JCoily! Girl - looking at your bunpuff picture, I think we might be hair twins....
 
Same thing for me Poobear. I was looking at my sisters hair and my cousins hair and thought mine would be the same WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is the thickest, kinkiest, cottony stuff in the whole family. My hair grows out not down. It holds water like it is holding on for dear life.

We won't even mention tangles (My #1 enemy) and for some reason slower growing edges or shall I say tempermental hair around the edges!

BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even though it was not what I expected, it is healthy, happy and growing so my expectations changed drastically. As long as it is healthy, happy and growing then whatever it is will have to be okay.

It is like being on this incredible adventure, and you don't know what to expect because your hair has never been this long natural ever!!! I sometimes feel like I am on Survivor! :lachen:

Lots of twists and turns. But it is still fun and it is growing.
 
It was much more loosely curled than I expected; nor did I expect so many different textures.
 
I wasn't shocked too much because after reading the boards I saw that most were 4a/b so I just assumed that's where I'd fall in and thats what I got.

I'm surprised at how it behaves. Since it is still short (oly 4 months post BC) it's very easy to take care of.
 
I'm shocked.. and continue to be every day. Looking at my photos as a child, I easily and automatically thought I was a 4b. My hair looked so tight and frizzy! But when I began my very short transistion, I saw such deep waves and little spirals. Now that I bced I see lots of tiny spirals, larger fuller plumper spirals, waves around my hairline- a little straight frizz (and still some straight ends that I'm not cutting just yet). I've kinda given up on typin my hair cuz I honestly just don't know! I'm just excited to see what it looks like as it grows more! But this is totally not what I expected
 
My hair was pretty much what I expected it would be. It wasn't what I "hoped" it would be, but that was something I went through as a transitioner. Although I still struggle with the thoughts of wanting my hair to be/look/behave a certain way, all-in-all I accept it for what it is now. Me and my hair have become pretty good friends. lol :look::lachen:
 
yes and no. when i was transitioning it was more zig-zag like (like crinkles) but i think that that the weight of braids and relaxed hair on the roots. however, i was under no illusions about my hair being anything but type 4.

when i bc'd, i found out my hair was spirals not crinkles/zig-zags. it wasn't until recently i found out that most of my hair was actually 4a, going from the coffee stirrer size to pen size coils.
 
I really had no expectations...I didn't and really still don't know much about hair typing- I just always assumed that my hair was "unruly" and that's why I needed a relaxer...yeah, right?!
 
Still transitioning, but I see medium-sized coils at the top of my head, and small coils everywhere else--so I don't know what type that is.............I DO notice however when I wash may hair (esp. after detangling w/condish)--the right side just looks like a cloud of hair......but when wet (1st time around), it coils. Weird, but loving it! :D
 
I transitioned twice. The first time I expected uniform 4a. The second time I had all but forgotten what my texture was like. I knew it had little curls when wet but they would be gone by the time I combed it out...

I knew the hair on top was straighter than the rest and had no clue what it would look like the second time. It turned out to be 3c frizzy waves that curl on the end. I'd rather all 4a or 3c though, or at least that the 3c clumped and curled properly...
 
I wasn't surprised by my hairtype since I didn't get my first relaxer until I was about 14/15. However, after learning healthy care practices thanks to LHCF, MotownGirl.com and Nappturality, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my hair didn't have to feel rough and brittle, once I got rid of hairgrease, excessive heat and began to moisturise properly.
 
I have several textures which is my problem. I have straight in the front, coils in the back and nas in the middle. They don't like to play well together either but we workin on it
 
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