Silky 4a vs. Coarse 4a

[Ediese]

Here's the thing about this hairtyping business. It's confusing as HELL lol

The strip in my siggy shows my hair fully shrunken. Thats after washing, no product, letting it sit for a few hours. It shrivels up into the tightest coils imaginable. The larger picture is my hair, wet after a cowash, with some moisturizer run through it. It shows the texture, which is more of a wavy s-curl.

But then, when I do puffs (usually from braid outs) my hair turns cottony soft

When I slick my hair back into buns, there are waves.
/ponytails

I can also slick it very straight if I use a boars hair brush, and it lays flat and looks silky.

That same hair can look as dry as a brillo pad when shrunken.

What have I learned? I dont focus on the type so much. I experiment with products and see how my hair reacts. I've learned that products like KCCC make me look like I have a jherri curl

I've learned that wet looks = tangles so I stretch my hair most of the time, usually via braid outs.

Whatever my hair type is, I'm not complaining. Its pretty easy to comb, doesnt require a lot of product, and doesn't take long to style.

If anyone has any idea about it, feel free to weigh in, but I just say its 3c/4a *shrug*

Your hair looks a lot like a 4a/4b mix, but in the last siggy pic your curls are way bigger. It actually looks 3c. It's amazing how products and the way we manipulate our hair can change the type.

 

[LaFemmeNaturelle]

That lady from the youtube link def looks majority 3c to me. Regardless of her texture, her curls are pretty big and aren't small coils like a 4a. I think both texture and curl size are important, especially when trying to find a hair twin. I'm not going to stalk a 3b person just because her hair may be silky like mine because I know I will never be able to get my natural styles to look like hers. Regardless of my silky texture, I know I can get my styles (braidouts, twists, twistouts, etc) to look like BMPs or probably alot of other coarse 4as. Maybe texture is important for finding certain products, but even then, it won't even work the same as the next person.

 

[Ediese]

It is possible to have a silky type 4a, Nisus is an example
of this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHpCQFKqqgs&playnext_from=TL&videos=gUaJOG1ZIE0

She also has a fotki....I just love her hairrr!

She said this is her hair with no product, no gel. I think she's a 3c/silky 4a mix esp. based on curl diamater.

 

[LadyRaider]

Wouldn't the opposite of coarse be fine hair?

 

[1QTPie]

My hair looks like Nisus' hair. I consider myself 4A with fine corkscrew strands. I wouldn't call my hair silky at all. I can pull my hair back into a slick, wavy ponytail with just water and little bit of gel. But without oils, creams and gels, it dries into a puffy coily nest of kinks. It also has a lot of sheen naturally. I never have to add anything to make it appear shiny.

I also wouldn't call our hair coarse. And by our, I mean most black folks. The definition of coarse doesn't describe our hair at all.

 

[Duff]

It is possible to have a silky type 4a, Nisus is an example
of this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHpCQFKqqgs&playnext_from=TL&videos=gUaJOG1ZIE0

She also has a fotki....I just love her hairrr!

she looks like a definitely 3c to me. yeah this is confusing. her curls looks more like Rachel True's hair and everyone says she is a classic 3c.

I'm definitely about to stalk her though.....
eta...after doing a little stalking , I agree with Nikstar and see the 4a with some 3c in her hair. and her hair is just beautiful.

 

[MrsHdrLe]

This is a really enlightening discussion. Thanks OP and BPM!

I've always looked to my trade mark indicator (in my own book) of a silky textured person: natural (no product/no manipulaton required) babyhair at the edges (temples, sides and nape) of the hairline. Usually, when I see natural babyhair, I know I'm dealing with a different hair type than myself. Also, I can detect silkiness by whether their hair LOOKS wet, when wet. In the past, people (whites) would ask, "Why don't black people's hair look wet? (spent a lot of time at the pool in integrated neighborhoods) It's dripping, but it looks the same as when it's dry." Does that make any sense to y'all?

But...Now I'm really confused, what's the differnece between fine and thin strands?

Another question I have is if one is a course 4ab (mostly b), then, am I to understand that no manner of stretching over magnetic rollers will yeild the silky results (nearly heat straightened results) that silky 4a/3c people expereince? Even with product?

TIA for responding.

 

[Duff]

This is a really enlightening discussion. Thanks OP and BPM!

I've always looked to my trade mark indicator (in my own book) of a silky textured person: natural (no product/no manipulaton required) babyhair at the edges (temples, sides and nape) of the hairline. Usually, when I see natural babyhair, I know I'm dealing with a different hair type than myself.

But...Now I'm really confused, what's the differnece between fine and thin strands?

Another question I have is if one is a course 4ab (mostly b), then, am I to understand that no manner of stretching over magnetic rollers will yeild the silky results (nearly heat straightened results) that silky 4a/3c people expereince? Even with product?

TIA for responding.

I have fine hair. fine hair describes the thickness of the actual stand. I have a lot of hair strands --dense but the actual thickness/circumference is very small. thin hair is thinned out from breakage or excess shedding.

 

[tatiana]

^^Blacks can have naturally thin hair well at least I do. It can mean low density.

 

[NikStarrr]

If you look at her blog and fotki there's many more pics of her hair, her curl size is more 4a with some 3c, but her hair texture makes it is easier to be manipulated and slicked down.

http://www.itsjusthair.com/

http://members.fotki.com/Nisus/about/

That's why hair typing for me can seem like a waste of time at times because really it's more about hair texture, than curl size

Looking at her fotki pics, she is 4a with some 3c. Beautiful hair.

 

[purplepeace79]

Your hair looks a lot like a 4a/4b mix, but in the last siggy pic your curls are way bigger. It actually looks 3c. It's amazing how products and the way we manipulate our hair can change the type.

Can we change the type? Or just how it looks? I love my hair for being so versatile. The reason I put the big pic in the siggy is because thats my hair, right out of the shower, with some regular ole daily moisturizer run through it. No KCCC, no gel, no twists or braids. But as the day goes on, it shrinks and shrivels and coils up into very very very tiny coils.

So then when do we decide what type it is? When its wet or when its dry?

This is it no product, outt he shower

Is that 4a/b?

I'm confused LOL

 

[cch24]

purplepeace- I think I read that hair can be best typed if it has been air dried with no product and no manipulation, because water can weigh our hair down and make it appear to be looser than it actually is.

 

[NaturalBoss]

Is it possible to be in-between a silky/coarse 4a? I can slick my hair back with ease but I don't think I would ever attempt to rollerset my hair on magnetic rollers although I have good results using perm rods but thats not the same is it?. I just don't think it would work for me.

The first pic is my hair blown out, the 2nd is picked out with an afro comb.

The last 3 are wash n go's. I think i am inbetween. Any ideas?

Whatever type your hair is, I like it!!!!!

 

[purplepeace79]

purplepeace- I think I read that hair can be best typed if it has been air dried with no product and no manipulation, because water can weigh our hair down and make it appear to be looser than it actually is.

Thank you!!

 

[Mook's hair]

Bwaaaaahhhhhh, all so confusing.
I tend to consider my hair 4b with a mix of 4a.

Usually I just call it "Rudy Huxtable hair"

It's thick & dense, not easily slicked down (i almost never even try to slick it),
HEre it is laying down but this is only after blow drying it.

the pattern is coils not waves. It grows up and out, not down.
It is cottony and soft, not rough. It's great for making afros & puffs.
Very high Shrinkage levels - about 80 or 70%.

But a lot of my strands are fine and fragile. My hair has mixed textures but they don't come in patches or sections? they are just all peppered throughout my whole head.

And the kicker is....If I treat my hair with Silk amino acids for about a week.
It'll get super silky.

 

[Anew]

BMP, I love your posts. They almost always come with supporting pics, lol

 

[shai_butta]

"It is cottony and soft, not rough. It's great for making afros & puffs."

A poem lol

lovely hair

 

[McQuay30]

I am a silky 4a all over except the hairline and crown which is coarse, also about 1/4 to 1/2 inch before the ends is rough, frizzy. I beleive it is a moisture problem, I have tried caramel treament, acv rinse diluted with distilled water three times, all types of homemade deep conditioning treament which seems to bring the curl pattern more so than anything else, All of these treatment on my head for a minimum of 2hours with two showers cap and sarah wrap and a scarf on top. I feel it is a moisture problem because curl enhancing smoothie applied to wet or dry hair make my ends smooth all the way down, this is the result I want out of a deep conditioner. Any ideals or sugestion?? May be I should use the Curl enhancing smoothie as a deep conditioner?

 

[BlaqBella]

^^I'm sorry but idk..but I believe you are right. I have 4a coils and sometimes my nape is silky- I think its only when I have the right moisture/protein balance. Other times it coarse and dry. I've been battling with this for a while and -like you- I think my hair can be silky all over with the proper balance.

EAT: Gorgeous pic of your hair Mook and I've noticed my hair has a fairly drastic changes when I use SAA.

 

[McQuay30]

Proper protein will cause to be smooth ends?

 

[Ogoma]

This discussion has just confused me more. I have always associated 'coarse' with strand thickness. Asians have coarse hair because their strands are thick and a lot of black people have fine hair because their strands are thinner. I look at texture as having two parts: strand size and, what I would call, feel test. Hair can be coarse and silky or fine and cottony. According to my hair analysis, my strand size is medium-coarse with a lot of coarse strands, but I can slick it back without gel (baby hairs galore, but it goes back), and it hangs down and has for a while. But, my hair is not silky, it is a mix of wiry, cottony on my edges, and satiny at the back. My curl size I would describe as 4a for the most part with hints of 4b and 3c somewhere in there.

I think hair that grows up not down is more cottony. The cottony texture gives it the gravity defying, God-reaching quality. I think we are putting too many different things on the same continuum.

 

[McQuay30]

Does silky hair have to have "shine"?

 

[HighAspirations]

Does silky hair have to have "shine"?

I think its more texture. But if its silkier it will at least have more sheen imo

 

[luckiestdestiny]

Coarse 4a's are like me and have thick strands.

​

Hope that helped AmyRose

Careful BMP thanks for dropping the knowledge however not all course 4as are thick strands. I have fine and they're definitely course. We don't want to get into an ALL have this or that thing because there are always exceptions to the rule.

 

[BlaqBella]

Proper protein will cause to be smooth ends?

Just speaking from my experience.. the ends of my hair would be rough feeling when I first went natural and my roots, that used to be more tightly curled and dry, had become softer and more moisturised. I wanted to see if I could attain soft moisturized ends. Keep in mind I do use heat frequently. I experimented with protein and moisturising conditioners until I acheived soft/smooth ends. And they've only gotten better with time, well especially with a better trimming routine, and I still dc weekly. So for me, yes I have smoother ends from infusing protein and moisture into my strands. However, I had times while experimenting that my nape and some edges were silky and smooth straight out of the shower.

I don't know anymore if i'm using the word 'coarse' properly.

 

[McQuay30]

thanks what did u use for protein.

 

[BlackDiamond21]

Proudnapps is my hair twin!!! FINALLY found someone with the SAME hair as me!!! wooooooohoooooo Now where is she??? I'mma stalk her

I guess we are triplets b/c I too am claiming her as a a twin!!!

It was awesome to finally see someone who was the EXACT same hair, not trying to piece it together and think, well maybe a little bit of this and a little of that... nope just the EXACT same hair

To my 4a SILKY kinks & coils, I :blowkiss: !