How to identify it. How we feel about it.
Knowing your hair texture is one of the first steps in learning how to maintain it. However, hair texture is not the only factor that goes in to understanding your natural hair. Porosity, density and overall health are also key components for learning about your hair. This article will explore hair textures.
4C hair is coiled very tightly with a z pattern similar to 4B. While it does have a curl pattern, in it's natural state without product or manipulation it does not appear to have one. 4C naturals may experience up to 70% of shrinkage. What this means is that you may have 20 inches of hair but without stretching it only 6 inches can be seen. 4C hair is said to be the most fragile due to the nature of the coils. Protective styling and attentiveness to maintenance is ideal for this hair type.
4B hair has a Z shaped pattern and what is described as a cotton like appearance. Susceptible to dryness and in turn breakage due to this pattern, 4B hair will benefit from low manipulation and protection. 4B, like 4C hair can shrink up to 70%.
4A hair has a tightly coiled S shaped pattern. With this super visible curl pattern, it has "better" moisture retention than the other type 4s but it is still prone to dryness and breaking.
3C hair appears as tight corkscrews. 3C curls are tight enough to wrap themselves around a pencil and a packed densely together.
Even though I have provided photos to go with each hair type there is still more than one way for each to look like. The coarseness, porosity, health and density can effect how a hair type will look, often making it difficult to identify. In addition to this, people can have a mixture of textures throughout their hair.
With each hair type, society reacts to them differently. With certain hair types comes privilege as does skin tone. A mixture of different tones and hair types creates different experiences. For example a darker toned woman with loose natural curls are regularly bombarded with questions asking if her hair is "real". She will deal with microaggressions such as "Are you sure that is really all yours?" or "Let me tug on it." People often mistakenly and ignorantly associate certain skin tones with certain hair types, which is an issue with colorism. It does not matter what shade of brown you are, due to the limitless possibilities of genetics you can be dark with 3B hair, light with 4C hair and everything in between. Due to a complicated history with our hair we are still battling discussions of "good" hair, who can have what type of hair and etc.
The more coarse your hair is, the harder it can be during your natural experience. Hair texture bias is still something that is being dealt with in 2018. People still believe that coarse textures are associated with being dirty and unkempt. However, this is not true and this is why this blog exists; to educate.
Comments