4b Natural Curls

[SummerSolstice]

theres some smart ladies in here. i'm a 4a and I couldnt really get any definition in the shape of a curl until I did a bkt treatment. the only reason why I say that I am a 4a is b/c my hair does have sheen, but its in more of a wave than a curl...
hair is just confusing. I hope you love yours when you go natural tho! When I stopped fighting with mine is when I finally loved it. And now I just enjoy playing with it and seeing what happens next. That to me is my favorite part.

 

[Mook's hair]

Ahhhhh, the illusive 4b Natrual Curls.

Yes they do exist.
They are small & better described as coils rather than curls as you can see in Noni's fantastic pics.

But getting them to actually pop... Easier said than done. As is clearly the general consensus reading through all the posts in this thread.

The only way I've found to achieve the clumping look is through twistouts and wet twistouts. This works very well.
l will speak more on products that I use to get my coils to stay moist and cooperate with each other. Favorites are Bee Mine Curly Butter, Juicy and LUSCIOUS. A bit cheaper...Hawaiian Silky 14 in 1.

Another thing that helps id baggying daily. Just the ends or the whole head. And regular deep conditioning.

I got some curl popping on the ends of my twists one time after some major deep conditioning and baggying with bee mine juicy & luscious every night. My hair fed on the moisture and the coils on the ends popped. This never happens for me on loose hair.

This is my hair wet, no product.

This is it after blow drying.

Twistout that frizzed after humidity.

 

[Tiye]

^^ I've seen quite a few albums with hair like yours (mook) where ppl claim 4a. The coils in Noni's pics are very uniform - I thought the definition of 4b hair is that the coils are not uniform. Not to mention of course some have different types of hair in different parts of their head and some have different types of strands growing in the same areas of the head. So I agree it's confusing. The 4 category system is incomplete and a guideline not the final word on anything. There was a link to the naani website where "ms naani" or someone else has added an additional category and now there are 5 types.

 

[hopeful]

Mook, our hair is so similiar, not even just cousins, more like sisters. That is how my natural hair looked after about 2 years of growth. I guess I might have to break down and get some Bee Mine after I bc.

 

[Nonie]

^^ I've seen quite a few albums with hair like yours (mook) where ppl claim 4a. The coils in Noni's pics are very uniform - I thought the definition of 4b hair is that the coils are not uniform. Not to mention of course some have different types of hair in different parts of their head and some have different types of strands growing in the same areas of the head. So I agree it's confusing. The 4 category system is incomplete and a guideline not the final word on anything. There was a link to the naani website where "ms naani" or someone else has added an additional category and now there are 5 types.

Coils that are flexible rarely stay 100% uniform throughout their length, especially if they have a very small diameter. But the general shape is a coil/curl even if some parts don't form perfect shapes. I don't think there's a single person with curly hair who doesn't have that direction change somewhere in his/her tresses.

Examples:

This is clearly 4A hair, known to get well defined clumped coils with a WNG:

But a close look at the coils shows that they aren't all perfect coils:

And here's a type 3 head. No question about whether this hair has coils/curls, right?

A close look at this type 3 hair shows you that coils don't really have a set rule on how they look, but there's no mistaking the general shape:

Likewise, type 4B coils can also seem to change direction here and there but they are still coils nonetheless. Even in the pics I posted of my coils, there are some that form weird bends like the hair you see above. See right next to my nail in the pic to the left:

Such is the manner in which flexible curls/coils behave. Lack of uniformity isn't only in 4B. It's in all curly hair.

Even Miss Curly Locks herself, Shirley Temple, was not exempt from coils doing their own thang, but coz they're compact, they seem perfect. But Im sure if you stretched them out, you'd see this common trait of non-uniformity

And here's one more curly head with all sorts of strange things going on and hardly any uniformity, but no one would deny that she has curly hair:

 

[dicapr]

4b coils don't pop, but they can be visible. I use a curling conditioner, my normal leave in, and add gel in sections. I then seal with S-curl. The coils don't look 3c, but my hair does have a curl pattern they are just small. I had a picture taken recently after this method and it was clear that my hair was curly. Your just have to find what works with you. It takes about 10-15 minutes to define my hair.

 

[lushcoils]

Yea, I never understand why people say 4B hair doesn't have curls. Coils are curls. The hair strands that fall out of my hair are not straight or wavy. I have curls. My curls just look like one big ball far away.

 

[Mook's hair]

HAve any 4B's tried the shingling technique like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZSAMl0fO0Q&feature=related
I never have...do you think it would work? I can't tell whether she is a 3 or 4. I'm thinking 3 because I don't really think this would work on my hair.

 

[Nonie]

HAve any 4B's tried the shingling technique like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZSAMl0fO0Q&feature=related
I never have...do you think it would work? I can't tell whether she is a 3 or 4. I'm thinking 3 because I don't really think this would work on my hair.

Tkj25 has and it looked really nice. He used to have the pic in his siggy. You can see the results in his 2009-01-03 album and photos 16 and 17 show the dried results. It looks nice . So if you've got the dedication/patience, you can pull it off.

 

[Tiye]

Here's what I think is meant when it is said that 4b hair has no regular curl/coil pattern. I don't have the best camera phone however I think there's enough resolution to see how the strands go in willy nilly twists, turns and free form squiggles rather than in neat watch spring type formation. This "swatch" has been conditioner rinsed but has not been loaded with pudding type product, scrunched and then dried in place or anything like that. I am of the opinion however for those techniques to create clumpage and definition there has to be underlying uniformity that is not found in this sample. Yes it's that kind of Saturday afternoon.

 

[Nonie]

That is true of manipulated 4B hair. When I take my hair out of braids, or if I have been wearing it stretched, then it looks like that even after conditioning until it contracts fully. A DC seems to hasten the process pronto. I don't use products so no clarifying is necessary, but if I did, I think it'd be necessary. That's why people see their true texture when they use bentonite clay because it lets the hair return to its naked state.

Is your hair braided or twisted? The part where your finger is holding it appears to be clumped as if it's worn in some style and what we are seeing is the end?

What you post looks like my hair here: