So whenever you start going natural or start wearing your hair in a more natural state, people always want to find out what is your hair type? And it seems like a lot of naturals swear by the 1-4 (a-c) ranking system given to hair. Initially I was like okay, this is a nice categorization system to help me find others who have similar hair to me, and they will possibly have tips to help me find products that work best for my hair. But the more and more I play in my hair, the less and less I think of the system.
I already have issues with the social identity categories that so many people stick to so strictly, I don't know why I thought I would have an unconditional love and appreciation for the hair categories.
When I started, I was like I know I'm at the end of the spectrum. My hair is a 4c, I will never forget the day my best friend compared it to sheep's wool. But this is assuming a person has the same hair texture all around their head, and this is something I know is not true for me.
In some places of my head (like the back, nape of my neck area) my curls are extremely soft and fairly loose. If I do a twist out back there, my twists never hold! In the middle, crown area of my head, my hair is usually the most brittle. It definitely needs a little TLC. Above my left temple, there is a block of hair that can become bone straight without adding any heat to it. If I put it in a flat twist and untwist it later that day, that hair will be straight. And the area above my left temple/my bang area is where I get the best results for all of my twist outs no matter the size (even though shrinkage is always a problem).
So these are my words of advice when it comes to the 1-4 (a-c) categorization. Like most things, take it with a grain of salt. I don't want to knock the fact that in the beginning it helped, because real talk my hair is very different than someone who has a very wavy pattern, and I don't want to try the techniques they used because I would be very upset and unsatisfied with the results. But the best thing to do is learn your hair. And that happens by getting in there and playing with it, learn how the sections of your hair are the same and different from each other and what they need to flourish!
Moral of the story: Learn & Love Your Hair!
I already have issues with the social identity categories that so many people stick to so strictly, I don't know why I thought I would have an unconditional love and appreciation for the hair categories.
When I started, I was like I know I'm at the end of the spectrum. My hair is a 4c, I will never forget the day my best friend compared it to sheep's wool. But this is assuming a person has the same hair texture all around their head, and this is something I know is not true for me.
In some places of my head (like the back, nape of my neck area) my curls are extremely soft and fairly loose. If I do a twist out back there, my twists never hold! In the middle, crown area of my head, my hair is usually the most brittle. It definitely needs a little TLC. Above my left temple, there is a block of hair that can become bone straight without adding any heat to it. If I put it in a flat twist and untwist it later that day, that hair will be straight. And the area above my left temple/my bang area is where I get the best results for all of my twist outs no matter the size (even though shrinkage is always a problem).
So these are my words of advice when it comes to the 1-4 (a-c) categorization. Like most things, take it with a grain of salt. I don't want to knock the fact that in the beginning it helped, because real talk my hair is very different than someone who has a very wavy pattern, and I don't want to try the techniques they used because I would be very upset and unsatisfied with the results. But the best thing to do is learn your hair. And that happens by getting in there and playing with it, learn how the sections of your hair are the same and different from each other and what they need to flourish!
Moral of the story: Learn & Love Your Hair!
