Q&A: Determine your Hair Type and How To Work with your Curls!

As always, thanks for your questions! For everyone that reads my blog, I have reopened the Q&A page. If you would like to ask me a question about your hair (or anything else) click here. Write me a question and I will answer it as thoroughly as I possibly can.  Here is a great question I received: 

"I have naturally curly hair that is in an in-between stage of growth.  I have length when I take a curl and pull it downward however I want my curls to have more definition and not look poofy.  I have been using natural products from beauty supply but I am not getting the results desired.  I want the curls to be more defined and loose looking as opposed to being tightly shrunk up to my head.  what advice can you give or can you suggest best products to try? I live in NY.  I would like to find a salon that specializes in African American curly hair."

First of all, thank you for your question. I would like to start out by asking you about your hair type. Do you know you hair type? Your natural hair type is determined by the curl of the coils on your head and the coils shine. Here is a short guide (I will also include a link below so you can see what each hair type looks like and get a full description):

*Type 1 hair: your hair is naturally straight. No curl definition at all. Type 1 hair is typically found naturally in Asian and Caucasian hair. Many African-Americans relax their hair to get type 1 hair (relaxing bone straight).

*Type 2 hair: your hair is wavy. Type 2 hair has three subcategories; 2A, 2B, and 2C depending on how wavy the hair is. See link below for more information. Type 2 hair if found in a plethora of different races. Type 2 hair is common for "mixed" races. Many Caucasians perm their hair to get a type to wave (perming is the opposite if relaxing).

*Type 3 hair: Type 3 hair is coily and does not reflect light as easily as types 1 and 2 (this is why it appears less shiny). Type 3 hair is typically found in African-American hair, and is also subcategorized into 3A, 3B, and 3C. Again click below for the link with pictures.

*Type 4 hair: Type 4 hair is very kinky and has an "s" or "zig-zag" pattern. It is also categorized into 3 subcategories 4A/4B/4C. African-Americans can also have this hair type.

**Here is the link for pictures of hair types and source.

You hair type has everything to do with your hair and how it behaves. You may be wanting your curls to fall in a way that isn't possible for your hair type. The way your hair behaves in it's natural state is about 75% due to genetics and 25% due to products used (this is just a rough guess-stimate on my part). It may not be the product you are using, but your curls' genetic makeup. There are products that help to define your natural curl, however you cannot change your curl pattern without using chemicals like relaxing or texturizing. 
There are some techniques to get a more defined curl, a popular one is shingling. Shingling is a technique of applying product in order to lengthen and define your curls. Here is a guide by Miss Jessie's, which is a popular brand for curly hair. You can use this technique with products other than Miss Jessie's (in the guide they are using the curly pudding). You can also use your favorite gel to shingle. 
Aveda also has a great line for curly hair called "Be Curly". It consists of a shampoo, conditioner, style prep, and curl enhancer. The curl enhancer is a great product to use for the shingling method. Here is a link to avedas site for more information. 

I hope I helped you to understand more about your hair and how it behaves. Best wishes,
        -jasmine