Welcome back to Style Secrets with A & B!

Since starting my curly transition journey I’ve learnt that hair actually has a type, which I never really knew before. I’ve always just either thought of my hair as curly, wavy or damaged; I now know otherwise.

Here is a simple hair type breakdown:

– Type 1s are straight
– Type 2s are wavy
– Type 3s are curly
– Type 4s are coily/kinky.

I’ve placed myself into the type 3 category as my hair seems to resemble the type 3 curl pattern. While Busi describes her hair type as the 4th category.

Did you know that within these four categories there are sub-categories? These sub-categories go from A-C. Confused? I was too. So let’s break it down even further.

Example:

Type 3 – Curly
– Type 3A
– Type 3B
– Type 3C

Image credit by luxjunnaturalhairproducts.com

My hair right now is a hot mess as it is a combination of wavy and curly hair but I’d classify my natural born curl as 3B/C. A type 3B/C can be generally described as a curl that looks somewhat like a little spring. Know the little spring in your pen, it’s shaped like that or looks like ringlets.

Busi’s hair is 4B, she describes it as a bit dense but not as dense as 4C, with the zigzag pattern and quite kinky.

Here are potential quizzes that you could use to find out what type of hair you have.

Porosity

So what is hair porosity? Well that simply means how well your hair absorbs and retains moisture. There are different hair porosities, namely low porosity, medium/normal porosity and high porosity.

If you have low porosity hair, the hair cuticles (which is the tough, protective outer layer of your hair that’s made up of smaller cuticles that overlap each other), this makes it difficult for moisture to penetrate the hair shaft. Products tend to sit on your hair and don’t absorb quickly.

With medium or normal porosity hair, the cuticles aren’t too close together, but aren’t too open either, the cuticles are somewhat in the middle as the name suggests. This means that moisture can penetrate the hair shaft easier and retain moisture. Normal porosity can change over time if you’re not careful with heat and chemical processes.

High porosity hair allows moisture to be absorbed into the hair shaft easily, yet can’t retain moisture for long. This means the cuticles tend to have gaps or spaces between them. Water and moisturising products are quickly absorbed into your hair.
My hair is medium porosity as I’ve come to know and Busi’s is high porosity.

Medium porosity hair characteristics:

– Hair is easy to style and can hold styles for a good length of time
– Hair takes colour well (I’ve never dyed my hair before)
– Hair tends to look healthy, shiny, or glossy
– It doesn’t take too long for your hair to air dry

High porosity hair characteristics:

– Doesn’t take long to air dry, can instantly dry with a towel
– It’s hard to maintain a style, so it’s better to use hair gel to make sure your style last longer
– Hair tends to look dry, fluffy and puffy
– When dyed, the chemicals can change the texture/curl pattern

Read more on porosity here and you can even find out how to test your hair porosity.

So why is it important to know your hair type and porosity?

Well the answer is simple really. The better you know your hair the more knowledge you gain on what type of products you should use. You get to know what works best for your wash day routine; you finally realise that, oh my gosh, that product doesn’t really work for me.
Getting to know my hair type and porosity has helped me to manage my hair routine and gotten my hair healthier than ever. I’m really happy with the progress I’ve made this far, and as I transition I hope to share my knowledge and understanding with you.

For this week, we would like to shout out to Milly@M, we see your support and thank you for commenting your encouragement.
Happy natural hair journey!

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Read our first blog on natural hair here

Tell us: What type would you classify your hair as?