Know Your Hair Type

Knowing your hair type will enable you to choose more suitable products and will help provide you with guidance for how you should handle your hair. There are two types of systems that are used two classify our hair, one being being Andre Walker’s Hair Type Classification System and the other is the LOIS system. However, what Black Naps finds to be  the easiest to follow and the most visually descriptive system would be Andre Walker’s hair typing system.

The classification system ranges from straight hair types to curly hair types. Curly hair types include:  3a, 3b, 3c, 4a, 4b, and 4c. Type three hair ranges from wavy to loose spirals and the higher the scale goes (type 4 hair) the tighter the curls become. The best way to see your curl definition is after you have washed your hair and your hair has air dried.

For both type 3 and and type 4 hair it is recommended that oils, butters, and creams are used because these textures both crave moisture.

To keep your hair moisturized 4 quick tips:

• Use a water based moisturizer
• Then use a cream or butter
• Seal in the moisture with an oil
• When applying water to your hair avoid hot water; use cool to lukewarm water

As you can see with type 4 hair the patterns range from a spiral like curl to a tighter curl with little to no definition. For us kinkier ladies you can see that we do not have as much space in between our curls, the pattern is tight with tons of bends in the strand with hardly any curve which makes the hair extremely susceptible to hair breakage, dryness, and damage.

4b and 4c hair types do not retain water as well as 4a hair texture and type 3 hair because the bends in your hair make it harder for your hair to receive the moisture you put into it. To retain more moisture implementing protective styles such as buns, french braids, or twists will help with this.

Also keep in mind that 4b and 4c hair has a natural cotton like feel and look to it, which means it may look dry even when it is moisturized. This is fine being that this is the natural texture of your hair.

The hair types differ in their ability to retain moisture and their fragility. Type 3 hair or 4a hair may be able to retain more moisture and may be able to withstand more duress than type 4b or 4c hair. With this in mind you have to develop a routine based upon your hair’s specific needs.

If you know that your hair is extremely fragile then you may want to implement even more protective styling than someone with a less fragile hair type. Your particular hair type may be more prone to dryness requiring you to moisturize your hair twice a day whereas someone with a hair type that retains more moisture may only need to do this once.

All curly hair types benefit from a moisture rich routine. Cleansing and conditioning your hair once a week , implementing protective styles, balancing protein products and moisturizing  products, and keeping a schedule of trims will improve or maintain the health of your hair.

It’s quite common for us to have more than one texture in our hair. Your edges may be 4b while the majority of your hair is 4a type. Or you may have 4a hair with some 3c strands for example.