Like, as an illustration, how one can brush them. My mom has straight hair and did not fairly perceive how one can cope with my curls once I was a toddler, so she would cope with unruly hair the one approach she knew how: by brushing it. Consequently, I seem like a poodle in almost each one among my elementary college pictures. In keeping with Syed, brushing and brushing curly hair is OK—however solely when the hair is moist.
Unsurprisingly, pin-straight Sort 1 hair is the best to comb or brush. Nonetheless, Sort 4 hair just isn’t 4 instances more durable to comb, as one would possibly count on, however 23 instances harder, in accordance with Syed. And that is solely when it is moist. When it is dry? “About 32 times more difficult to comb,” he says.
Curly hair and combs not mixing just isn’t new data to curly-haired people, however you won’t know why that is so. The shaft of a strand of straight hair is uniformly tubular—“like a cylinder,” says Syed—which supplies it a uniform construction and plenty of power. “Type 1 hair is almost two times stronger than the coily hair,” he says. The shaft of a strand of curly hair, nevertheless, is oval-shaped. The extra oval-shaped the shaft, in actual fact, the curlier the hair finally ends up being.
A part of this power—or lack of, within the case of curls—comes from the variety of cuticle layers and the place they’re distributed. “The straight hair has about six to 10 layers” all through, Syed says, “whereas the coily hair, where it is crimping, only has a couple of layers from the inside of the crimp and then outside six to 10. So it becomes very complicated in its physical structure.”
{Photograph}: Kat Merck
Bumble and Bumble
Hairdresser’s Invisible Oil Warmth/UV Protecting Primer
Care and Extra
Extra fragile hair means it is extra breakable. And breakage = frizz and flyaways.
“Type 3 curls (especially 3b and 3c) are highly sensitive to heat damage,” says Suzette Boozer, Dippity-Do curly hair knowledgeable and celeb hairstylist who has labored with everybody from Gwen Stefani to Janelle Monae. “It’s essential to avoid hard pressing and always use a quality heat protectant. Without this care, the curls can become limp, frizzy, or even lose their pattern permanently.”
This is among the causes that utilizing a warmth protectant in your hair care routine is so crucial—it gives a barrier between the instrument and the hair shaft to maintain it from weakening additional or drying out. And talking of drying out, when you’ve got curly hair, you would possibly wish to take into account making an attempt a hydrating hair masks or a instrument like Sample’s hair steamer, which may also help high-porosity hair take in humectants and different moisturizing elements extra simply.
“Type 4 textures, particularly 4b and 4c hair, can be more difficult to work with if the hair isn’t properly moisturized and detangled,” Boozer says. “This curl type is prone to dryness, breakage, and shrinkage, and without the right prep, the hair can tangle or snap during styling. Moisture is key, along with gentle detangling methods and protective styling choices that preserve the integrity of the hair.”
{Photograph}: Louryn Strampe
WIRED reviewer Louryn Strampe steams her Sort 2a wavy hair.
Syed additionally notes the significance of utilizing the fitting merchandise—from leave-in conditioner and masks to mousse—on your sort of hair. How effectively your hair absorbs product relies on its sort as effectively. Sort 1 has considerably much less porosity than varieties of curly hair, however the porosity will increase with the diploma of curl, with Sort 4 hair being essentially the most porous.
Hair porosity “has definite significance when it comes to weather-related styling issues, and also the product penetrations and how they make the hair behave in styling,” says Syed. “Sometimes the hair can become very unruly if the hair is very porous, because then it’s absorbing humidity.”
