Get To Know Your Hair Type: Straight, Wavy, Curly, or Coily?
Your journey to beautiful, healthy hair begins with understanding your unique hair characteristics. From straight to coily strands, each hair type comes with its own set of needs and styling techniques. In this comprehensive guide, we'll break down the various hair types, offer personalized care tips, and guide you toward achieving your hair goals. Let's dive in!
What is hair type?
Hair type refers to the tightness of your natural curl pattern, if you do not have any curls your hair is straight. Your hair type is pre-determined by genetics meaning you can not style for curls, either you have it naturally or you do not.
Hair type is divided into four main types: Straight, Wavy, Curly, and Coily. Each of these has subcategories that further define its texture and pattern, but we will stick to the main types for simplicity. On a general note, the more curly your hair is, the more maintenance and care it needs as the hair strands become more fragile and dry.
For all hair types, we recommend that you follow the Natural Hair Journey, embracing your natural beautiful hair by avoiding damaging ingredients among others.
Straight Hair
Straight hair has no natural waves or curls and often appears smooth and sleek. This hair type tends to be shiny and less dry as the natural oils can travel from the root to the ends easily. A side effect of this is that the hair is prone to greasiness and the strands lie flat against the scalp - minimal volume.
In general, straight hair requires less work compared to the other hair types. It is easier to manage, style, and brush. But that doesn’t mean that you should neglect your hair. All hair needs love!
Caring Tips
Use a sulfate-free shampoo to remove oil and product build-up. Do not wash more than 3 times a week, over-washing and sulfates can cause your scalp to overproduce oils, making it even more greasy! Use a conditioner and leave-in conditioner, and add a hair masque into the mix if your hair is damaged and needs extra nourishment.
Styling Tips
Never brush your hair when wet, gently detangle dry with a detangling brush, and try to limit brushing in general as it can cause your hair to break. If your hair tends to be dry then add a leave-in conditioner for extra moisture. If you are using heat styling tools like straighteners, curling irons, and blow driers, always apply a heat protector beforehand. Use an oil if your hair is dry or frizzy by the weather. A dry shampoo can absorb excess oil and grease from the scalp and keep your hair refreshed longer.
Wavy Hair
Wavy hair is often overlooked, sitting between the straight and curly spectrum from loose loops to 'S' shaped waves. If your hair has a slight bend to it when drying naturally, chances are that you have wavy hair!
Wavy hair requires more manipulation, calling for a good scrunch to pop and the right products to last and look their best. Waves are the least dry among the curl types and more prone to build-up and greasiness as they are close in texture to straight hair.
Caring Tips
Use a sulfate-free shampoo to remove oil and build-up. Wash 1-2 times a week, no over-washing and sulfates as they can cause your scalp to overproduce oils. Always use a conditioner and deep condition every second week with a hair masque. Only brush your hair when wet and conditioned, detangle gently with a detangling brush, wide-tooth comb, or your fingers.
Styling Tips
Go for lightweight styling products. If you have low density stick to a mousse or sea salt spray for voluminous waves, if your hair tends to be dry then add a leave-in spray. If you have higher density, use a curl cream combined with a mousse or light gel for more definition. Apply the styling products in sections to wet hair or soaking wet for bigger curl clumps and less frizz. Scrunch, scrunch, scrunch every styling product into your hair! Move your hair to different positions and scrunch some more. Plop your hair with a t-shirt or microfiber towel to encourage wave formation while removing excess water. Try to not touch your waves while drying as this will cause frizz. Air dry or pixie diffuse for tighter waves and volume, always apply heat protection beforehand. Use an oil if your waves become dry or frizzy, also detangle gently any knots with the oil and your fingers.
Curly Hair
Curly hair is described as having either ‘O’ or corkscrew-shaped curls. While wet, the curls often appear as waves, transforming into a three-dimensional swirl shape as they dry.
Curly hair tends to be dry and frizzy as the curly texture blocks the oil from traveling down to the ends. Moisture and hydration are key along with the right routine to keep the curls looking their best. They require attention and care, do not worry we got the essential tips you need.
Caring Tips
Preserve the natural oils by washing less frequently, 1-2 times a week, with a cleansing conditioner (co-wash) and a sulfate-free shampoo every 4-5 wash to remove build-up. Conditioning is key! Find a good conditioner for your curls and deep condition weekly with a hair masque. Never ever brush your hair when dry as it will disturb the curl pattern. Detangle gently when wet and conditioned with a detangling brush, wide-tooth comb, or your fingers.
Styling Tips
Curly hair needs extra moisture, so layering moisturizing styling products helps the curls stay moisturized for longer. Always use a leave-in conditioner and curl cream for extra moisture and curl definition. If you have low density, then go for lighter products such as sprays, and if you have high porosity and/or density, then go for heavier creamy products. Follow by a mousse or gel depending on whether you want voluminous and less defined curls (recommended for low density) or more defined and long-lasting results. Apply the styling products to soaking wet hair in sections to ensure the products are distributed evenly and potential frizz is minimized. Scrunch your curls after applying each styling product or do a thorough scrunch at the end. Plop or micro plop your hair with a t-shirt or microfiber towel to encourage curl formation while removing excess water. Try not to touch your curls while drying as this will cause frizz. Air dry or pixie diffuse for tighter curls and volume, always apply heat protection beforehand.
Coily Hair
Coily hair, also known as kinky hair, is tightly coiled with a zig-zag pattern, luxurious volume, and major shrinkage. The downside of this tight curl pattern is that the scalp’s natural oils are unable to smear the hair strands making this hair type the most dry, fragile, and damage-prone of all. On top of that, coily hair is often highly porous, making it difficult for your hair to retain moisture - a need for special care and techniques to lock in moisture.
Preserving the natural oils as much as possible, while adding and locking extra moisture is key! Failing at doing so, your coily pattern will be undefined, very frizzy, and you will experience a lot of breakage. People with coily hair often state that caring for their coils feels like an impossible task, but we have the right tips that will transform your hair.
Caring Tips
Never ever touch a shampoo with sulfates! This will completely strip your vital natural oils. Wash your hair less often, maximum 1-2 times a week, with a cleansing conditioner (co-wash). Use a clarifying sulfate-free shampoo every 4-5 washes to remove build-up. Deep condition every time with a hair masque and let it sit for 5-10 minutes or longer with heat if you have low porosity. Only brush and detangle your hair when wet and conditioned. Gently detangle with a wide-tooth comb or your fingers, if you must use a brush, then use a detangling brush with flexible bristles.
Styling Tips
Coily hair needs a lot of moisture! Layer creamy moisturizing styling products to help the coils stay moisturized for longer. The best technique for this is the “LOC method” = Leave-in conditioner, Oil, and Cream. On soaking wet hair, apply in sections a leave-in conditioner, sealing oil like castor oil or jojoba oil, and curl cream. If you have low porosity, the oil may not be necessary. Follow up with a gel for defined and long-lasting coils. Scrunch your coils after applying each styling product or do a thorough scrunch at the end. Micro plop your hair with a t-shirt or microfiber towel to remove excess water. Try not to touch your coils while drying as this will cause frizz. If you have high porosity, you should just let your hair air dry - it will dry very fast anyway. If you want to blow dry, then hover and pixie diffuse, remember to apply heat protection beforehand.
How to find my hair type?
Self-assessing your own hair type is a thing of the past! Compar is the first company to introduce AI that identifies your hair type with just a simple selfie. Get our Compar App and meet your personal AI hair care advisor, who can identify your hair features, recommend products, perform in-depth ingredients analysis, and help you take care of your hair.
