All You Need to Know Pt 1: Type 4 Hair

Type 4 hair ranges anywhere from fine and thin to wiry and coarse with lots of strands tightly packed together. Coily hair has less cuticle layers than any other hair types. This means that the strands have less protection from damage such as combing, brushing, curling, blow-drying and straightening.

4A Type Hair/ Coily Spingy: 4A Type hair is tightly coiled with an "S" pattern. It has more moisture than 4B and curls have a definite curl pattern. The circumference of 4A curls are about the size of a crochet needle. 

Photo Credit: Naturallycurly.com

Tips: Begin co-washing hair. This will cleanse and condition coils without stripping strands from its natural oils. Also, be sure to always keep creams, butters and oils on hand. These make best stylers for 4 hair. 

4A Celebrity: Solange Knowles

4B Type Hair/ Coily Crimpy: Type 4b hair has a "Z" pattern, with less of a defined curl pattern. Unlike 4a hair that curls and coils 4b bends in a sharp angle like a "Z". This type of hair also has a cotton feeling, wiry, tightly coiled and fragile. Type 4b hair often shrinks up to 75% of actual hair length.

Photo Credit: Naturallycurl.com

Tips: Detangling this hair type is very important. Use a conditioner with a lot of slip while detangling to make the process more manageable. Seal in moisture and add shine to hair with hair milks and styling butters. Also deep conditioning is very important to keeping 4b strands moisturized and strong.  

4B Celebrity: Esperanza Spalding

4C Type Hair/Coily Ziggly: 4c hair is composed of curl patterns that will hardly clump without doing a specific hair style. 4c hair has been described as more a challenging version on 4b hair. 4c hair curls are tightly kinked and have almost no definition. This hair type shrinks more than 75% of hair.

Photo Credit: Naturallycurl.com

Tips: Cleanse hair with heavy co-washing conditioners. Use products such as butters, creams and oils to moisturize and seal strands. When Styling use heavy puddings and creams to elongate and strengthen strands. And don't forget to deep condition often!