Her 4b is not MY 4b ....hair type

[Honey Bee]

now I'm reading ALL over the board that if you're natural hair does that it's not 4b (sigh)

omg, is that true?! Damn, now I'm all confused...

I have the same issue when I claim the "DARK SKIN" tittle

I know that's right, I do that same thing, but imo, if you aint 'light skinded"... let me stop.

 

[locabouthair]

this thread looks interesting..im going back to read
but yea..4b checking in!

And my 4b doesn't look like yours. It's much kinkier.

I think I need a whole another category for myself

I really wish I took pics when I was natural.

 

[robot.]

My hair is NOTHING like 4b. Now I'm hearing that 4b and 4a are also NOTHING like. I figured that since they were in the same category, they'd be at least similar. I thought I was a 3c/4a, but maybe now I'm only in the 3's?

Oh, I don't know what to believe anymore.

 

[Nonie]

My hair is NOTHING like 4b. Now I'm hearing that 4b and 4a are also NOTHING like. I figured that since they were in the same category, they'd be at least similar. I thought I was a 3c/4a, but maybe now I'm only in the 3's?

Oh, I don't know what to believe anymore.

Believe me. 4B and 4A are similar. Both are made of tiny curls. Differences: 4A curls bigger than 4A curls, clump easily so that they can WNG and get bouncy curls that show and resemble 3's. 4B curls do not clump easily and WNGs do not look like bouncy curls but rather the hair shrinks back on itself and may only appear to clump at the ends forming what looks like a chunky afro. 4A curls may still be visible when you rake a comb through the hair and look like the phony puff I am wearing below. 4B curls disappear when you rake a comb through the hair and it looks like a cloud or wool as seen below. Usually 4B hair will look like it has no form coz it's usually brushed/combed/stretched into a style. To see the curls of 4B hair it has to be wet and well-conditioned and allowed to dry unmanipulated. I'm not talking about having products, I'm talking about DC'd hair that isn't dry. Even then, you'd have to be close up and separate the strands from each other to see the texture. Otherwise you'd just see darkness without form...cotton puff.

4A WNG hair:

4B WNG hair:

4A combed out afro puff (phony puff):

4B combed out afro puff (mine stretched and non-wet moisturizer used):

4B combed out afro puff (mine combed wet after a wash and glycerin moisturizer used):

Close up afro unstretched:

 

[HarlemHottie]

Believe me. 4B and 4A are similar. Both are made of tiny curls. Differences: 4A curls bigger than 4A curls, clump easily so that they can WNG and get bouncy curls that show and resemble 3's. 4B curls do not clump easily and WNGs do not look like bouncy curls but rather the hair shrinks back on itself and may only appear to clump at the ends forming what looks like a chunky afro. 4A curls may still be visible when you rake a comb through the hair and look like the phony puff I am wearing below. 4B curls disappear when you rake a comb through the hair and it looks like a cloud or wool as seen below. Usually 4B hair will look like it has no form coz it's usually brushed/combed/stretched into a style. To see the curls of 4B hair it has to be wet and well-conditioned and allowed to dry unmanipulated. I'm not talking about having products, I'm talking about DC'd hair that isn't dry. Even then, you'd have to be close up and separate the strands from each other to see the texture. Otherwise you'd just see darkness without form...cotton puff.

4A WNG hair:

4B WNG hair:

4A combed out afro puff (phony puff):

4B combed out afro puff (mine stretched and non-wet moisturizer used):

4B combed out afro puff (mine combed wet after a wash and glycerin moisturizer used):

Close up afro unstretched:

THANK YOU....

 

[robot.]

Nonie, your answers are so thorough! Thank you!

From what you posted, I may not be a 4 at all. I'll just have to wait and see. I have some tiny, tiny curls that like to stick close to my scalp, but I don't have a lot of them. They are silky and not kinky at all. They just make little 'o's. And some of my "curls" are more like kinky waves. They make a very big 'S,' but instead of having the curves of an 's', they almost form angles! I wish I could take a picture to show.

 

[loulou82]

Nonie, your answers are so thorough! Thank you!

From what you posted, I may not be a 4 at all. I'll just have to wait and see. I have some tiny, tiny curls that like to stick close to my scalp, but I don't have a lot of them. They are silky and not kinky at all. They just make little 'o's. And some of my "curls" are more like kinky waves. They make a very big 'S,' but instead of having the curves of an 's', they almost form angles! I wish I could take a picture to show.

Your hair reminds me of Kittykat:

http://public.fotki.com/kittykat1374/going-into-my-3rd-y/from-big-cut-till-a/two-weeks-after-bc.html

Her hair has grown into a definite "S" pattern:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc3MvyCB3y8&feature=channel_page

 

[Nonie]

Nonie, your answers are so thorough! Thank you!

From what you posted, I may not be a 4 at all. I'll just have to wait and see. I have some tiny, tiny curls that like to stick close to my scalp, but I don't have a lot of them. They are silky and not kinky at all. They just make little 'o's. And some of my "curls" are more like kinky waves. They make a very big 'S,' but instead of having the curves of an 's', they almost form angles! I wish I could take a picture to show.

I think you'll know your true type when it's longer and then you try different styles with it, especially WNG, and see how it behaves. You may fall in the middle, 4A/B.

If I look at a few strands of my 4B hair (like I undid a couple of braids here) after washing and without product this is how they look wet:

Then if I don't touch it and let it dry w/o products, it still looks like this:

And then I smoothed S Curl from base to ends and this is how it looked:

To get perspective of how small the curls are, here's another pic:

It doesn't look like those few strands when it's all out. You can get an idea of how those spirals disappear when it's all out when you look at the part on the right where the strands are tightly packed. In this pic, the strands are dry and bare as in the pic before the S Curl one:

And then below is how all the hair looks when it is all S Curled. Again, you can't see the coils as you could in that pic when only a few strands are S Curled. The hair curls back into fluffy cotton-y puffs:

 

[MizzBrit]

wow when my hair is wet..i dnt see small curls like that at all

 

[Nonie]

Your hair reminds me of Kittykat:

http://public.fotki.com/kittykat1374/going-into-my-3rd-y/from-big-cut-till-a/two-weeks-after-bc.html

Her hair has grown into a definite "S" pattern:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc3MvyCB3y8&feature=channel_page

Her hair looks to me like it is in the 3 family.

 

[HarlemHottie]

I think you'll know your true type when it's longer and then you try different styles with it, especially WNG, and see how it behaves. You may fall in the middle, 4A/B.

If I look at a few strands of my 4B hair (like I undid a couple of braids here) after washing and without product this is how they look wet:

Then if I don't touch it and let it dry w/o products, it still looks like this:

And then I smoothed S Curl from base to ends and this is how it looked:

To get perspective of how small the curls are, here's another pic:

It doesn't look like those few strands when it's all out. You can get an idea of how those spirals disappear when it's all out when you look at the part on the right where the strands are tightly packed. In this pic, the strands are dry and bare as in the pic before the S Curl one:

And then below is how all the hair looks when it is all S Curled. Again, you can't see the coils as you could in that pic when only a few strands are S Curled. The hair curls back into fluffy cotton-y puffs:

SEE HERE'S THE THING FOR ME IN THIS PHOTO THE HAIR HAS JUST BEEN REMOVED FROM A BRAID WHICH TO ME IS GIVING IT IT'S FORM... IT'S LIKE WHEN I SPRAY MY BRAID OUTS WITH WATER IT GIVE THE "APPEARANCE" OF WASH AND GO HAIR BUT MY HAIR IS FAR FROM IT... LOL

 

[shunemite]

Funny

I assure you that I am a 4B

This is an example of what I consider to be 4B hair:

http://members.ebay.com/ws2/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=goodscentsperfume

This is my hair too! Except your is thicker and darker. It appears strong, but bring a fine toothed comb near it and snap snap snap!

 

[Nonie]

wow when my hair is wet..i dnt see small curls like that at all

I don't think 4B's who actually want to keep their hair would see that when they wash all their hair. Notice I took a very small part to do this "no manipulation exercise". Also I don't use combs and can go a whole year w/o using a comb or brush nor do I stretch it in a pony often. I bet you if you were to take a small section of your hair the next time you DC as narrow a section as I did, and instead of combing it like you do the rest of your hair or whatever it is you do when you DC to keep it from tangling, just use your fingers to separate the strands. You may need to stretch as you detangle (make sure you have shampoo or conditioner for slip) but let it boing back into place. The same when you condition. All your finger are doing is trying to keep strands separate. When you rinse, use your fingers to detangle (no brush no comb). I bet you you will start to see waves. Do this again--that is keep hair unmanipulated except for preventing tangling, and the same coils you see in your puff will appear. You just don't see them coz you comb/brush and style your hair often. That's why it appears straight coz that's how you wear it, pulled back straight.

 

[Nonie]

SEE HERE'S THE THING FOR ME IN THIS PHOTO THE HAIR HAS JUST BEEN REMOVED FROM A BRAID WHICH TO ME IS GIVING IT IT'S FORM... IT'S LIKE WHEN I SPRAY MY BRAID OUTS WITH WATER IT GIVE THE "APPEARANCE" OF WASH AND GO HAIR BUT MY HAIR IS FAR FROM IT... LOL

The Lisa Simpson puff was after I had been out of braids for 3 months.

My hair immediately out of a braids looks more like this:

And like this when that is detangled:

And this is more of my hair out of braids:

I usually braid it in bigger braids after removing the extensions to keep it from shrinking and being unbearable until I have washed it and conditioned and applied S Curl so a comb can glide. So these are big braids of hair that's just been taken out of extensions:

I do not put a comb through my hair until it is wet and drenched in conditioner so that the comb is slippery as seen in this vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCcoXph8tF4

BTW, I keep telling you all that 4B hair doesn't look curly because of manipulation, right? Well the hair you just saw going boing in that vid was braided after it had been combed through--as I do when washing my hair if I wash it out and not in tiny braids/twists--with conditioner still on:

And then when I started rinsing, I undid the braid and combed with water running through it to fully rinse, and then braided it wet so it'd not shrink back into an unmanageable state as it dried. And how did the hair look when I undid it? Like this:

BTW, that is the same section which when a few strands were wet, conditioned and finger-combed ie not raked with a comb looked like this:

In both cases, no products were used on the hair after conditioner was rinsed out.

 

[robot.]

Your hair reminds me of Kittykat:

http://public.fotki.com/kittykat1374/going-into-my-3rd-y/from-big-cut-till-a/two-weeks-after-bc.html

Her hair has grown into a definite "S" pattern:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc3MvyCB3y8&feature=channel_page

Her hair is gorgeous! I see a little bit of my hair in her BC. Thank you for posting.

Nonie, would you says she's just a 3? Or has a bit of a mix?

ETA: Nvm, I see your answer!

 

[MizzBrit]

ahh i see!
very detailed!

 

[JollyGal]

The truth is...There are over 100 different black hair textures, trust.

This is so true.

What you described OP is how a section of my hair behaves but that section doesn't look like the pictures posted.

I'm really confused and think I may have 4 different types to my hair.

Can 4B hair hold styles such as twist outs without heat/manipulation?

 

[bedazzled]

IMO, there is no way to mistake the infamous 4B. I've heard some (via web) say that my hair is a "soft looking 4a"...But IMO this is the criteria that is needed to distinguish a 4B.

• Your new growth looks like a puffball made out of carpet.
• After moisturizing, 10 minutes later it looks dry again.
• When it's wet it doesn't LOOK WET.

My 4B hair when wet, it'll look like dry with water droplets on it. My 4a/3C areas in the crown actual looks like wet hair. Think of it this way a wet cotton ball vs. a wet barbie doll.

Here are my 4B pics.

Notice below in my upclose shots of a piece of my nape pulled out. There is NO curl pattern. Just a whole bunch of zig zagged X, Y and Z's.

&

moisturized & looks dry but if you stretch these naps out & rub along it, it feels really soft. :/

So yer, I agree. Alot of 4b's dont look like my 4B.

I am glad this thread was done so now i can look through all the 4b's that replied & stalk their fotki's & view their reggies.

 

[Nonie]

This is so true.

What you described OP is how a section of my hair behaves but that section doesn't look like the pictures posted.

I'm really confused and think I may have 4 different types to my hair.

Can 4B hair hold styles such as twist outs without heat/manipulation?

Absolutely. I think if any hair can do that it's 4B hair.

This is braid out on my 4B hair. Hair was washed many times in small braids and then unbraided after it was dry. No heat used but hair took the shape of the braid waves:

This is a twist-out also after hair had been washed in twists and allowed to dry in twists. My twists aren't fluffy because of my twisting method. I first twirl each strand on its axis before wrapping the two strands around each other. So you can see 4B's ability to maintain the shape you set it in. Again, no heat used so twist-out turned out like this:

Another twist-out (bangs) with a bit of fluffing out:

Now I have done a braid out on straightened hair although that wasn't the plan. I'd been wearing my hair in small plaits and I forgot my comb and didn't realize I had not carried it till I'd undone my braids so just let them be and this was the braid out:

To see how easy it is to set 4B into a braid out w/o heat, look at the wave on my hair when I undid one of these braids:

I hadn't even washed my hair or wet the braid here. I had undone tiny braids and braided my hair as seen above to keep from detangling. Then when I undid it the next day, I had waves imitating the pattern of braiding:

The section at the base that wasn't in the rope part of the braid didn't have the wave. If I had brushed the base before braiding or pulled it tight, I might've had straight smooth base. Now it's textured like dry 4B stretched-not-brushed hair.

 

[Nonie]

IMO, there is no way to mistake the infamous 4B. I've heard some (via web) say that my hair is a "soft looking 4a"...But IMO this is the criteria that is needed to distinguish a 4B.

• Your new growth looks like a puffball made out of carpet.
• After moisturizing, 10 minutes later it looks dry again.
• When it's wet it doesn't LOOK WET.

My 4B hair when wet, it'll look like dry with water droplets on it. My 4a/3C areas in the crown actual looks like wet hair. Think of it this way a wet cotton ball vs. a wet barbie doll.

Here are my 4B pics.

Notice below in my upclose shots of a piece of my nape pulled out. There is NO curl pattern. Just a whole bunch of zig zagged X, Y and Z's.

&

moisturized & looks dry but if you stretch these naps out & rub along it, it feels really soft. :/

So yer, I agree. Alot of 4b's dont look like my 4B.

I am glad this thread was done so now i can look through all the 4b's that replied & stalk their fotki's & view their reggies.

Your hair reminds me a lot of my hair. Like I said earlier in this thread or the other one, my new growth felt rough and hard. It also felt that way when I used products like butters. It's not been like that since I went natural and cut back on products to only use S Curl. In fact when I have no products on my hair, while it may feel dry to one used to feeling moist hair, it is very soft. It is particularly this softness that makes me forever afflicted with HIH. Remember I have NO products in my braided hair. I also think my hair "became soft" after I started DCing so learned how to have moisturized hair even if not coated in moisture.

Also my hair never looks wet when wet unless I take a few strands so you can see water glistening on them. This hair is dripping wet:

I do not see zigzags. I see curls. The curls I enclose in the red rectangle of your attached pic are no different from those I see at the base of my hair here:

 

[Junebug D]

^^ What Nonie said. mine looked like that too! May i ask what state your hair was in when you took the pulled nape pics, bedazzled? When mine had been manipulated in some way, it would look like that. Even just the bottom of my scarf pressed against the nape for 30 minutes or so would cause it to take that shape. And when wet & post-conditioned it looked like the coilies Nonie has been posting.

(So odd having to refer to my natural hair in the past tense now, heh...)

 

[bedazzled]

Your hair reminds me a lot of my hair. Like I said earlier in this thread or the other one, my new growth felt rough and hard. It also felt that way when I used products like butters. It's not been like that since I went natural and cut back on products to only use S Curl. In fact when I have no products on my hair, while it may feel dry to one used to feeling moist hair, it is very soft. It is particularly this softness that makes me forever afflicted with HIH. Remember I have NO products in my braided hair. I also think my hair "became soft" after I started DCing so learned how to have moisturized hair even if not coated in moisture.

Also my hair never looks wet when wet unless I take a few strands so you can see water glistening on them. This hair is dripping wet:

I do not see zigzags. I see curls. The curls I enclose in the red rectangle of your attached pic are no different from those I see at the base of my hair here:

I don't have not ONE curl like yours in my head. Not one defined curl except in the middle of my hair but my curls are alot bigger cause the middle of my hair has some 4a/3c. IMO yours seems like more of an actual curl pattern to me but MAYBE the difference is sense I relax, I have scab hair or I just need to wait until my hair grows out more because my hair looks like your hair at your hairline (as far as similarities go). If thats how my 4B hair will look if I go natural, I think I might actually want to go natural

^^ What Nonie said. mine looked like that too! May i ask what state your hair was in when you took the pulled nape pics, bedazzled? When mine had been manipulated in some way, it would look like that. Even just the bottom of my scarf pressed against the nape for 30 minutes or so would cause it to take that shape. And when wet & post-conditioned it looked like the coilies Nonie has been posting.

(So odd having to refer to my natural hair in the past tense now, heh...)

Well my hair was washed & dc'd last night but thats about it... But thats how it looks after conditioning. I never have coilies like Nonie. Not at all. This is the closest thing I have to what my natural hair looks like & this is when my nape fell out a a year ago. But even then as it grew out it never looked like nonie's curls. It grew out as a bush post-conditioned and everything. Nonie's curls looks 4a to me. I even asked my mother if my hair looked like nonie's and she said no her texture is looser than mine.

 

[Chevelure618]

Envy I am so glad you came out on this point. I noticed the same thing. I see people saying they are 4b when they are probably more like in the 3b to 4a range. And then their hair seems non-porous or less dense. 4b to me means wiry, coarse, no curl pattern hair that if left to dry on its own in its natural state would be a tight TWA.

I remember back in the day when everyone wore a 'fro, most people could wear one, but the girls with the big, Angela Davis type fros usually had looser hair types. Today I would characterize their hair as 3b/4a. The girls who would have to use "Blow-Out" on their hair, (this was a mild relaxer that would loosen the hair just enough to give you a bigger fro) usually had the wiry truly type 4b hair.

My hair is 4b coarse through the midback and sides. It is 4a on the top and edges and maybe 2b at the nape. But darned if the 4b, which breaks and is resistant to relaxers doesn't get all my attention and it happens to be the hair that has to be long to make my hair look long all over. That is why I would say I am 4b. The other softer hair doesn't even matter on my head.

Now don't blast me for this but I've said it before. MaCherieamour does NOT have 4b hair. I saw her roots when she did a 17 weeks stretch. She uses a Super Relaxer strength...well no wonder why her hair gets so dern straight. Sylver2's hair is not 4b. Her hair to me looks like 4a but it is thick and dense. I think she says she is 4a/4b. My hair is similar to hers, but only in some sections. What I'm trying to say is that you are right. True 4b DOES NOT HAVE a curl or wave pattern unless you stretch it out and then you will see a very tight S or Z.

 

[Nonie]

Well my hair was washed & dc'd last night but thats about it... But thats how it looks after conditioning. I never have coilies like Nonie. Not at all. This is the closest thing I have to what my natural hair looks like & this is when my nape fell out a a year ago. But even then as it grew out it never looked like nonie's curls. It grew out as a bush post-conditioned and everything. Nonie's curls looks 4a to me. I even asked my mother if my hair looked like nonie's and she said no her texture is looser than mine.

Your hair is relaxed though right? As I mentioned somewhere, my new growth looked and like yours and was rough as a brush when I was relaxed. Like I said, my hair looked like yours when I was relaxed. I guess like Kurlee says, it's all in perception coz I swear I'm looking at your hair and it looks like mine. Your hair may be coarser than mine (thicker strands) but my hair would never be defined as having a looser texture to any hair. Nothing in my nappy head is loose.

I asked my hubby whether my hair is looser than yours in that pic, he looked at me like I'm smoking crack.

 

[bedazzled]

Your hair is relaxed though right? As I mentioned somewhere, my new growth looked and like yours and was rough as a brush when I was relaxed. Like I said, my hair looked like yours when I was relaxed. I guess like Kurlee says, it's all in perception coz I swear I'm looking at your hair and it looks like mine. Your hair may be coarser than mine (thicker strands) but my hair would never be defined as having a looser texture to any hair. Nothing in my nappy head is loose.

I asked my hubby whether my hair is looser than yours in that pic, he looked at me like I'm smoking crack.

LMAO. Amen. 4B's unite. I think its definitely because I am relaxed. Gosh this makes me want to go natural!!!!! Pass me that fotki so I can stalk you! I thought my hair was going to feel rough as a brush as a natural! :/ ...going might be an option after all. TY! You are motivation!!!

 

[virtuenow]

LMAO. Amen. 4B's unite. I think its definitely because I am relaxed. Gosh this makes me want to go natural!!!!! Pass me that fotki so I can stalk you! I thought my hair was going to feel rough as a brush as a natural! :/ ...going might be an option after all. TY! You are motivation!!!

Well, just so you know, Nonie is not the only true 4b who is working the natural look. My texture is very similar (if not identical). Let this be more encouragement to you b/c I have been where you are.

The only thing consistent and predictable about my relaxer was that it would chew off all of the hair in the back of my head without warning. Just like your hair. I could get get to a good length and become confident w/my hair all swinging- go on a stretch and everything; once I pop a relaxer in, all of hair in the back, poof, gone! That is when I decided to do this (click to enlarge TWA pics- before I ever heard of LHCF or a "twistout)):

 

[bedazzled]

Well, just so you know, Nonie is not the only true 4b who is working the natural look. My texture is very similar (if not identical). Let this be more encouragement to you b/c I have been where you are.

The only thing consistent and predictable about my relaxer was that it would chew off all of the hair in the back of my head without warning. Just like your hair. I could get get to a good length and become confident w/my hair all swinging- go on a stretch and everything; once I pop a relaxer in, all of hair in the back, poof, gone! That is when I decided to do this (click to enlarge TWA pics- before I ever heard of LHCF or a "twistout)):

DROPS JAW. WOW Your hair is beautiful. This is so motivational. I am going to PM you back because i want to ask you some questions.

 

[Choirgirl]

All this time, I thought I was 4a/4b combo. I now realize that I am a 3c/4a combo.

I think I'm right there with you...

 

[trynagrow]

Seriously, this is one of the best threads I've read and I think anyone trying to learn their hair type should read it. Especially anyone who is a type 4 period.

Some people might not care about typing their hair but it seems important for true 4bers so they don't go chasing products/styles/results they see other people with. Love, love, love this thread!

 

[SignatureBeauty]

Thanks Nonie! For the Clarification I had!

I am a 4a/4b!