What is my Curl Type?
It is a question that frequently pops up in the natural hair community. We see it a lot in natural hair facebook groups and natural hair blogs. Yet, the answer is almost never straightforward. The thing is, several different curl types often exist on your head, so which hair texture should you choose, if you want to rock a well put together natural hairstyle that makes you look bomb?
Well, there happens to be a hair typing system to decode the curl pattern on your head. Even though the hair typing system is not exactly perfect, it can be pretty useful to give you a narrowed idea of which curl type to choose, when shopping for natural hair extensions.
Let’s start!
Your curl type is determined by the shape of your hair follicle. It is a bit counter-intuitive. The flatter the shape of your hair follicle, the curlier your hair. The rounder the shape of your hair follicle the straighter your hair. Sounds confusing right? Most women with afro-textured hair, have different curl patterns on their head. It can be a combination of wavy, curly, coily and kinky curl patterns.
The hair typing systems defines 4 broad hair types: type 1: straight hair, type 2: wavy hair, type 3: curly hair and type 4: kinky hair. Each type is then divided in 3 different subtypes. They are classified with the letters A, B and C and are based on the circumference of your curl pattern. A is the widest curl type, B lays in between and C is the tightest curl type.
Why is it important to know your curl type?
I guess the main reason women want to know their curl type is that it can provide a better understanding of your hair texture and answer all sorts of hair related questions. What type of products work best on my hair texture? What type of styles can I do with my hair texture? What type of hair extensions to buy for my hair texture? For the sake of brevity, we will only dive into curl type 3 and curl type 4 below as we only offer hair extensions in these curl types.
TYPE 3 CURLY HAIR
Type 3 curly hair ranges from big bouncy curls to small springy corkscrew type curls. The curls have medium lustre, but tend to frizz up easily.
TYPE 3A CURLS
Type 3a curls are big bouncy curls, distant cousins to wavy hair. The loose curls have quite some lustre and have a circumference about the size of a piece of sidewalk crayons.
TYPE 3B CURLS
Type 3b curls are medium sized spiral curls about the size of a permanent marker. They have medium lustre and are prone to frizz.
TYPE 3C CURLS
Type 3c curls are tight curls baring a great resemblance to corkscrews. The small curls are about the size of a blue pen. The curls are tightly packed together and have lots of natural volume.
Our HeyCurls clip-in extensions are the perfect curly clip ins for type 3b hair and type 3c hair. The curly clips come in three different lengths so it is up to you if you want to rock short curly hair, shoulder length curls or if you are more of a waist length curls type of girl.
Our HeyCoils clip-in extensions are for the inbetweenies amongst us, with different curl types on their head. Our coily clips can both match type 3 curls and type 4 coils. The coily clips come in three different lengths, so you can flex from a cute bob to lionesque hair or a bottomless mermaid style.
TYPE 4 KINKY HAIR
Kinky hair, also known as coily hair or afro hair is naturally very dry and cottony. The strands have low lustre and form extremely tight curls in a s-pattern or z-pattern, sometimes indiscernible to the eye.
TYPE 4A HAIR
Type 4a hair have tight springy coils that densely lay on top of each other. The coils are about the size of a knitting needle. The hair strands are low in lustre and can shrink up quite a bit when the hair is dry.
TYPE 4B HAIR
Type 4b hair has even tighter coils than 4a hair and come in a sharp zig zag pattern. The strands are often very coarse and wiry. Type 4a hair is low in lustre and the shrinkage is as they say pretty real.
TYPE 4C HAIR
Type 4c hair is very cottony with a curl pattern that is often invisible to the naked eye. The strands are often very fine and delicate and have a very low lustre. The hair strands can shrink up to 70% or more.
Our HeyKinks clip-in extensions are the best looking kinky clip ins for type 4b hair and type 4c hair. The kinky clips come in three different lengths so you decide if you want to rock a short afro, a shoulder length lion mane or if you want afro hair all the way down to your waist.
