Smooth coils and/or kinky coils (pics) - What do you have?
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kurlybella
Well-Known Member
nappy!
no but forreal though, i like my hair but damn if it ain't a coarse/kinky curl. my hair is like a nappy illusion!! the coarseness of my strands makes it harder to do my hair...i think. yeah, i'm complaining!!!
it's like i have texture within texture if that makes any sense.
oh i'm 4a/b
no but forreal though, i like my hair but damn if it ain't a coarse/kinky curl. my hair is like a nappy illusion!! the coarseness of my strands makes it harder to do my hair...i think. yeah, i'm complaining!!!
it's like i have texture within texture if that makes any sense.
oh i'm 4a/b
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Someone asked what is the difference between smooth coil and kinky coil and I realized too I didn't really know. The response was a smooth coil goes in one way instead of bending this way and that way. So I wondered what that looks like. My hair coils but if I try to make it stand upright it will flop ie bend. But the hairs follow the same pattern so that if you were looking at the ones say along the edges that can hang down, they would appear not to bend at all and to go the same direction.
Since I understand kinky to be small curls, I thought kinky coils were tiny coils and then smooth coils were just coils that aren't kinky small like yours.
By smooth coils I mean uninterrupted coil, like a pen spring or a slinky. By kinky coils I mean it's like the coil is bent in some places.
SweetSpirit86
New Member
I don't even know...I just wanted to come in and say all the hair is prettiful.
Nonie
Well-Known Member
Thanks. See, LadyLibra
oke: ...I wasn't so far off with the phone coil example. 
Was the coil dangling at the back of your head, Mwedzi, a kinky coil? If not, can you show me an example pretty please?
FlowerHair
Reclaiming my time
nappy!
no but forreal though, i like my hair but damn if it ain't a coarse/kinky curl. my hair is like a nappy illusion!! the coarseness of my strands makes it harder to do my hair...i think. yeah, i'm complaining!!!
it's like i have texture within texture if that makes any sense.
oh i'm 4a/b
Your hair looks more like a 3c/4a to me...maybe I'm wrong?
Very pretty!!
Vshanell
FKA Pokahontas
Ah, ok....I was thinking smooth like no frizz, just a smooth frizzless curl.
Ediese
Well-Known Member
Woww! Really! I've seen heads that look similiar, but not one that looked almost exact.
What do you use to moisturize? S-Curl moisturizer helps a lot, but it feels kinda greasy so I can't touch my hair after I moisturize. I don't like that at all.My hair also has a tendency to look dry even when it's loaded down with product. Do you have this problem too? I'm wondering if I have to keep applying a clear/black rinses to help with that.
I know this may not be the right post to ask...
but if your hair pattern disappears when it dries and when I use moose only SOME of my hair actually clumps together...but the rest just frizzes out.
My hair looks like the hair in the OP first picture around my edges and the back of my hair.
The middle and front pretty much just wave and don't take product either.
Could it be heat damage?
but if your hair pattern disappears when it dries and when I use moose only SOME of my hair actually clumps together...but the rest just frizzes out.
My hair looks like the hair in the OP first picture around my edges and the back of my hair.
The middle and front pretty much just wave and don't take product either.
Could it be heat damage?
Soliel185
New Member
This is my hair today - it's 3rd day hair. I'm having fun experimenting, but knew that I had to stop washing it every day just to try something else. 
I see some "smooth" coils in there. They spring back pretty readily. I haven't reshaped them since my last DC. I spritz with water in the morning and shake it out.
As you can see the top gets fluffy/frizzy, while the ends form large diameter tryna be curls. I could start twisting it at night, but the frizz doesn't really bother me.
I see some "smooth" coils in there. They spring back pretty readily. I haven't reshaped them since my last DC. I spritz with water in the morning and shake it out.
As you can see the top gets fluffy/frizzy, while the ends form large diameter tryna be curls. I could start twisting it at night, but the frizz doesn't really bother me.
kblc06
Well-Known Member
The crown can be defined as satiny, but the majority of my hair is thready with fragile medium/fine strands. Many people have the misconceptions that just because you have type 2 or 3 hair, it will automatically be silky and smooth. This is just not the case for me...my hair tends to behave alot like 3c/4a/4b hair, but can look entirely different depending on the products used
Nayna
Unbothered
You said what I was just trying to figure out. This whole hair thing is throwing me off, lol.. I always assumed I was in the 3/4 range because of the way my hair curls/coils/kinks/whatever. I didn't really consider silkiness and smoothness because my hair has that in different areas. My friend is spanish with 2ish spirals and waves but it isn't quite silky or shiny. But I always typed her as a 2. So confusing, lol.
I'm due for a cowash tomorrow I'll def try and put some pics up.
LunadeMiel
Well-Known Member
My hair is very coarse so smooth is not a word that I would use to describe my hair. BUt my curls are very define.
SEMO
Well-Known Member
I was thinking the same thing.
silvergirl
Well-Known Member
opps thats what i was thinking too
SEMO
Well-Known Member
So -- which part of the hair type determines the amount of volume you have? Coarseness vs. fineness..? Thickness. maybe?
The number difference that I notice between myself and other naturals is the SIZE of my hair. It just keeps expanding like bread dough.
That's funny.
Mine is the same way. With shrinkage it looks like I'm gaining more volume, rather than length.
dynamic1
Well-Known Member
Back with some old pics I wrestled from a decommissioned camera phone.
The first pic shows a smooth ringlet I wrestled away from a much looser section for illustration. The frizz at the bottom was from the manipulation and there is probably some of the looser curl stuck in that tiny spiral. Tiny uniform spirals dominate the back crown of my head. The ringlets in the back and the sides are looser, shinier, but not a uniform spiral (pic 2 & 3). However, if I grab a curl and pull it down it will recoil in a more uniform pattern (especially with conditioner, gel or mousse).
The first pic shows a smooth ringlet I wrestled away from a much looser section for illustration. The frizz at the bottom was from the manipulation and there is probably some of the looser curl stuck in that tiny spiral. Tiny uniform spirals dominate the back crown of my head. The ringlets in the back and the sides are looser, shinier, but not a uniform spiral (pic 2 & 3). However, if I grab a curl and pull it down it will recoil in a more uniform pattern (especially with conditioner, gel or mousse).
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Bluetopia
New Member
This is a spinoff on the curly/kinky/coily thread. My hair is primarily cottony in overall appearance. But there are a couple of sections that want to act differently.
One section is where devil's horns would be, on either side of my head. This tiny section can make perfect spirals:
The hair at my nape is different. I've always known this, but since joining hair boards, I've paid more attention. That hair wants to clump up to form kinky spiral curl, though it usually doesn't do a good job of it. Every once in a blue moon with enough conditioner and minimal combing, though, it will. You can see bends along the length, like the famous Teri's curls, and unlike the perfect coils above.
So what do you find on your head? Smooth spirals/waves/curls? Or kinky ones?
omg!!! we're hair twins!
my hair makes perfect coils like the top pic but a couple random parts do what the 2nd pic does.
What's ur hair type? I can use you as a cheat sheet to figure out what mine is.
Sapphire_chic
Active Member
ooo this thread has been so interesting. all i know about my texture is that i have thick coarse stands and medium to low density/volume.
the first picture is the front of my hair dry, then wet with no product, then the back of my hair dry, then wet with no product. i chose to show the front and back because they are like completely different textures..or maybe they are the same texture but act differently, i dont know
oh to answer the question i think my coils are kinky and defo not silky but not quite cottony...they are like hmm wiry i think
(hope the pics arn't too big)
the first picture is the front of my hair dry, then wet with no product, then the back of my hair dry, then wet with no product. i chose to show the front and back because they are like completely different textures..or maybe they are the same texture but act differently, i dont know
oh to answer the question i think my coils are kinky and defo not silky but not quite cottony...they are like hmm wiry i think
(hope the pics arn't too big)
Carrie A
Well-Known Member
chosen07
New Member
I can't access my pictures on fotki here at work [although its linked in my siggy] but I've seen very similiar pics of what my hair looks like in this thread.
I never was sure about the whole numbering system so I never really used it..but I have patches of perfect spring-like coils, patches of unsmooth coils that dn't go in the same direction..and patches of fuzz that do nothing. the patches that do nothing are interspersed over my head primarily one patch along my front sides which was very annoying when my hair was shorter and I wore mainly wash'n'go...there are more of those 'coils that don't go in the same direction' i.e. not smooth than anything else.
I never was sure about the whole numbering system so I never really used it..but I have patches of perfect spring-like coils, patches of unsmooth coils that dn't go in the same direction..and patches of fuzz that do nothing. the patches that do nothing are interspersed over my head primarily one patch along my front sides which was very annoying when my hair was shorter and I wore mainly wash'n'go...there are more of those 'coils that don't go in the same direction' i.e. not smooth than anything else.
one side of my hair is exactly like yours in that last picture but maybe slightly looser. what do you do to it to define your curl??? i have been completely stumped for the past few months. seems like anything i put in it weighs it down so much that it becomes straightish with a slight wave
nappy!
no but forreal though, i like my hair but damn if it ain't a coarse/kinky curl. my hair is like a nappy illusion!! the coarseness of my strands makes it harder to do my hair...i think. yeah, i'm complaining!!!
it's like i have texture within texture if that makes any sense.
oh i'm 4a/b
Crackers Phinn
Either A Blessing Or A Lesson.
Here's some throwbacks to my transitioning/natural days.
I am the poster child for why you really can't tell what your natural hair is going to look/act like as long as the relaxed ends are attached ESPECIALLY if you have thick hair.
a year later. I don't think there's any product in my hair
I am the poster child for why you really can't tell what your natural hair is going to look/act like as long as the relaxed ends are attached ESPECIALLY if you have thick hair.
a year later. I don't think there's any product in my hair
miss Congeniality
New Member
Dry hair:
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