When you’re working with curly hair, it is helpful to be able to identify just what kind of hair you’re dealing with. Categories have been developed to give people general guidelines for dealing with the various types of hair.
An even more detailed description of hair types can be found in the book Andre Talks Hair
Type 1 is plain-jane straight hair, the kind people like me find deathly boring, and the kind many Black women would love to have. (Who knows why we can’t just decide to like what we have?) Type one hair can be fine or coarse.
Type 2 is wavy hair, with gently waved s-shaped curls. The hallmark that distinguishes type 2 from type 3 is the fact that type 2 will lie flat against the head. Type 2a is fine, 2b is medium-textured, and type 2c is coarse. Isabella Rosellini and Jennifer Aniston have type 2 hair.
Type 3 is where hair starts getting curly. Type 3 hair is shiny, with soft, smooth, well-defined curls and strong elasticity. Again, it is divided into sub-types. 3A is usually very shiny with big curls. Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts have type 3A.
3B is hair that ranges from bouncy Shirley-Temple ringlets to tight corkscrews. Curls are about the diameter of sidewalk chalk. Juliana Margulies has type 3B.
Type 3C is hair with tight curls in corkscrews about the circumference of a pencil or a straw. The curls can be either kinky, or very tightly curled, with lots and lots of strands densely packed together. Type 3C is where hair starts to get ‘big’. Rachel True is a good example of 3C hair.
Type 4 hair can range from fine and thin to wiry and coarse. 4a hair has a clearly visible curl and wave pattern that ranges from pen size curls to coffee-stirrer size s-shaped coils. 4b hair has a tighter wave pattern and kinks of various size. Instead of an s-shaped curl pattern, it will usually have a z-shaped pattern. Type 4 hair tends to be less shiny than type 3. Instead it has a sheen and a soft, cottony feel. In its unlocked/unbraided state, type 4 hair can shrink up to 75% of the actual hair length.
After reading all this, I’ve decided that my 2 year old has mostly 3C hair that is very shiny, somewhat coarse, and strong. My 4 year old has a mixture of 3C and 4A hair. Her hair is softer, finer, less shiny, and more delicate than my 2 year old’s.
I found most of this information at naturallycurly.com. There you’ll find good photos of the various types of hair. Here’s a good discussion of the way children’s hair changes over the years: Typing Kids Hair: Go With The Flow And finally, here are more pictures and product recommendations, although the classification system is a little different.
This is really interesting stuff, Mary. I aprreciate your efforts to gather so much helpful information. 8^)
I am a 3A white lady and my infant daughter has soft hair, very small curls but fine… so 3C or 4A…. it does NOT lie flat…it goes straight UP!!!
I have found those websites so helpful in just giving me the confidence to manage the whole hair thing. As a child w/ curly hair, I can relate to some of it, but it really isn’t the same….
Great post!
Just found your blog. I’m a woman of African/South American descent who was raised by a white British family. My husband and I are expecting our first child, and are also going to be adopting an Ethiopian child within the next two years. You made me laugh about the hair comments – when I was a little girl, I wanted straight hair just like my English mommy. Now, I love my gorgeous curls. I think that’s true for a lot of black women – when we were younger, we didn’t know how to care for our hair and it was considered inferior but now, with sites like naturallycurly.com and blackhairmedia.com, we’ve learned how to embrace our curls and love them! You should check out those sites for info on how to care for your children’s hair (if you haven’t already done so). They have proven invaluable for me, and I get compliments on my (now) gorgeous curls and kinks whereever I go. Sorry to be so long-winded, just wanted you to know of other sites out there that can help. Congratulations on your new family (and other adoptive families on here) and may you be blessed a million times over!
whoops! I see you already knew about naturallycurly! My bad. Another great site is longhaircareforum.com. Bye!
Those websites were very helpful. Not all black hair is the same and doesnt stlye the same.
Thanks
Amanda
curlyprincesshairboutique.com