Whats my hair type?

CurlzGurl99 · 12-04-2012, 01:55 PM

I have no idea what hair type i am due to heat damage. I don't even remember when my hair had no damage. And it keeps on falling out. I would just like to know what hair type I am from these pics, I think that I am a 4a with 3c strands, but I think im wrong.

sakiohma · 12-04-2012, 02:32 PM

Looks like it's mainly a mix of 4a and 4b. I'm not sure if some ends are 3c ends or if they're just the heat damaged ends.

Tinfoilhat · 12-04-2012, 02:56 PM

I don't understand why people ask this question, with these obscure looking pictures that are either too dark, hair is wet (so it's stretched a bit) or the hair is in some stretched out state, etc etc.

I mean srsly..

Korkscrew · 12-06-2012, 04:41 PM

I'm with Tinfoilhat on this one. I think it's best to try and type the hair when it's all in its virgin state (no part of it relaxed/"texturized"). Should be dry IMO and in its natural state (w/out the curl pattern having been contrived or stretched by a curler set, twist out, etc.). It's also great to see pics that show all the hair at once.

And, just a personal opinion: if you feel you have to wet your hair down to see a pattern, or if it has glorious, natural root lift, (grows "up" or "out", rather than hanging down naturally from the root w/out contrivances) it's probably 4a or curlier. Some may disagree, but there. I said it. If you want to know more specifics, like whether it's 4a or 4b or some combo w/some 3c etc, you could repost pics as described above. You could even repost your pics in the 4a forum, where there's a mega-thread (stickie) designed to assess hair type.

CurlzGurl99 · 12-09-2012, 09:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Korkscrew

I'm with Tinfoilhat on this one. I think it's best to try and type the hair when it's all in its virgin state (no part of it relaxed/"texturized"). Should be dry IMO and in its natural state (w/out the curl pattern having been contrived or stretched by a curler set, twist out, etc.). It's also great to see pics that show all the hair at once.

And, just a personal opinion: if you feel you have to wet your hair down to see a pattern, or if it has glorious, natural root lift, (grows "up" or "out", rather than hanging down naturally from the root w/out contrivances) it's probably 4a or curlier. Some may disagree, but there. I said it. If you want to know more specifics, like whether it's 4a or 4b or some combo w/some 3c etc, you could repost pics as described above. You could even repost your pics in the 4a forum, where there's a mega-thread (stickie) designed to assess hair type.

Thanks, i'll try that. Just one more thing: I want to snip off the damaged ens, but i don't want to lose the length. I did not get a relaxer though. It's just damage from constant straightening. But my hair has grown a lot and the damaged ends fell off. Weird, huh?

CurlzGurl99 · 12-09-2012, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sakiohma

Looks like it's mainly a mix of 4a and 4b. I'm not sure if some ends are 3c ends or if they're just the heat damaged ends.

Thanks!

Korkscrew · 12-09-2012, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CurlzGurl99

Thanks, i'll try that. Just one more thing: I want to snip off the damaged ens, but i don't want to lose the length. I did not get a relaxer though. It's just damage from constant straightening. But my hair has grown a lot and the damaged ends fell off. Weird, huh?

Nothing wrong with keeping your damaged ends if you're not ready to part with them yet. I recommend trimming them out gradually, even still. Personally, I'd ditch the unhealthy hair just because I don't like the look or feel of damaged hair on any part of my head.

Either way, once your damaged ends are gone and all of your hair is healthy and curly, I hope you'll come to really enjoy it! I bet it will look great with a little pampering

triple_spiral · 12-10-2012, 01:26 PM

Probably 4a but it's impossible to tell - the curl has been too altered by the damage. You need to concentrate on repairing your hair first, lots of moisture and protein and cut it off bit by bit (if you don't want to do a drastic cut). Good luck!

Jessiebanana · 12-10-2012, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Korkscrew

I'm with Tinfoilhat on this one. I think it's best to try and type the hair when it's all in its virgin state (no part of it relaxed/"texturized"). Should be dry IMO and in its natural state (w/out the curl pattern having been contrived or stretched by a curler set, twist out, etc.). It's also great to see pics that show all the hair at once.

And, just a personal opinion: if you feel you have to wet your hair down to see a pattern, or if it has glorious, natural root lift, (grows "up" or "out", rather than hanging down naturally from the root w/out contrivances) it's probably 4a or curlier. Some may disagree, but there. I said it. If you want to know more specifics, like whether it's 4a or 4b or some combo w/some 3c etc, you could repost pics as described above. You could even repost your pics in the 4a forum, where there's a mega-thread (stickie) designed to assess hair type.

I agree for the most part, except that I do think 3c will appear to grow up when short and I'm not sure how wetting that hair would make 4a coils looks like curls.

My hair is like Mahogany curls and when it's short it's like this:

And when it's long it's like this:

If it curls when wet it's curly and more 3c and should dry curly assuming you don't manipulate it. IMO water doesn't create curls where they aren't, it makes your hair go back to it's original state before you either combed/played with it into frizz, slept on it, etc. I can play with my hair until it's just a puff...but I'm a terrible terrible curly

. I consider it 3c because my curl pattern is a lot larger than a coil. Albeit tighter than most or mixed 3cs.

Korkscrew · 12-10-2012, 07:37 PM

Your hair is beautiful! I think we only mildly disagree. My point is that wetting the hair relaxes the curl (obviously from the weight of the water) and can therefore alter the appearance of the overall pattern, and that's why I think it can be confusing to try and differentiate one "type" from another type when the hair is wet. For example, I'm a 3b/c when dry, but my hair is anything from slightly wavy to straight when wet (depending on just how wet it is). ... And when you throw in the extra curveball of partially damaged wet hair pics, most of which were taken in the half-light? ... I don't know. That's confusing for me.

Also, Andre's system (for all it's flaws), was used on dry hair models only, which makes me think it was likely meant to be used on dry hair. To be fair, Andre's system failed to even recognize category 3 at all, so I won't pretend I'm echoing something scientific. Just my opinion.

Sure, I see your point about how 3c can grow out at first (like type 4s). Therefore circumference (as you touched on) is probably a better indicator of type in the case of trying to tell short 3c from short 4 hair. And even that's iffy in the case of combo hair LOL