On your journey to healthier hair, it is important to know your hair type and its characteristics. Typing your hair will help you bypass a great deal of trial and error in choosing hair products, hairstyles, and in building a hair regimen.
This article will guide you to discover your hair’s porosity, curl pattern, strand size, density and length.
- Relaxed/texlaxed: Hair that has been chemically straightened or loosened.
- Transitioning: Hair that hasn’t been retouched in a long while, so it has two textures- natural at the roots and relaxed at the ends.
- Natural: Hair that hasn’t been damaged or chemically altered. It’s best to type your hair in its natural form.
Hair Porosity
Your hair porosity could be low, medium or high.
The test: Make sure your hair is washed and clean. Take a strand of hair from your head and put it in a cup of water. If it floats atop the water, it’s Low Porosity. If it sinks to the bottom, it’s High Porosity. If it floats at mid-level (neither top nor bottom), it’s Medium Porosity.
Curl pattern:
Type 1: Straight hair
Type 2: Wavy hair
Type 3: Curly hair
Type 4: Kinky hair (Most black Africans have this type of hair).
Strand Sizes or Hair Width:
Fine (a), Medium (b), Coarse (c)
The test: Hold a strand of your hair up to the light. If it’s barely visible, it’s fine hair. If it’s wide and very visible, it’s coarse. If it’s in-between, it’s medium.
Type:
Your hair type is a combination of your curl pattern and hair width.
The test: take a strand of your hair and compare its curl pattern with the ones in this picture.
Density: Your hair could be low density, medium density or high density.
The test: let your hair hang loose and unparted. If you can easily see your scalp, you have low density hair. If you can see your scalp with a little effort, medium density. If it’s difficult to see your scalp, you have high density hair.
Length: There are various markers for hair length, eg Ear Length, Shoulder Length, Bra Strap Length, etc. You can also determine exact length by measuring your hair with a tape or ruler. Short hair is less than 2inches. Medium length is 2-10inches. Long hair is above 10inches.
Based on this article, I have medium length, low porosity, high density, 4b natural hair. What’s yours?