Hair Education

How to Find Your Hair Type (1A to 4C): The Complete Guide

By Strand Editorial  ·  June 2025  ·  8 min read

If you've ever stood in a beauty aisle completely overwhelmed, buying products that promised everything and delivered nothing, the problem likely wasn't your hair — it was that you didn't know your hair type yet.

The hair typing system, developed by stylist Andre Walker (known for his work on the Oprah Winfrey Show), classifies every texture from bone-straight to tightly coiled into four numbered families, each with three lettered sub-types. Understanding where your hair lands on that scale is the single most useful thing you can do before spending another dollar on products.

This guide will walk you through how to accurately identify your hair type — not from a photo comparison, but from your actual hair behavior — and what that means for how you should be caring for it.

Why Your Hair Type Actually Matters

Your curl pattern isn't just aesthetic. It determines how your scalp's natural oil (sebum) travels down the hair shaft. Straight hair lets oil travel easily from root to tip, which is why Type 1 hair tends to get oily quickly. The tighter and more coiled the curl pattern, the harder it is for oil to make that journey — which is why Type 4C hair is so prone to dryness at the ends.

This means that a product formulated for one hair type can actively damage another. A deep, heavy butter cream that saves dry 4C coils will completely flatten 2B waves. A clarifying shampoo that refreshes fine 1A hair will strip 3C curls of the moisture they desperately need.

Knowing your type gives you the logic behind product choices. You stop experimenting blindly and start building a routine with a reason behind every step.

Step 1: Wash and Air-Dry Your Hair — No Products

The only accurate way to identify your natural hair type is to observe your hair in its natural state. That means washing with a gentle, residue-free shampoo, then letting your hair air-dry completely without applying any products — no leave-in, no mousse, no gel, nothing.

Once it's fully dry, that pattern you see is your true hair type. This is important because many people discover their hair is curlier or wavier than they thought — years of product use and heat styling can suppress the natural pattern significantly.

Step 2: Match Your Pattern to the Four Main Types

Type 1 — Straight Hair

Type 1 hair shows no curl or wave pattern. It lies flat from root to tip. Because sebum travels easily down the shaft, Type 1 hair tends to get oily at the roots faster than any other type.

Type 2 — Wavy Hair

Type 2 hair falls between straight and curly. It has a distinct S-shaped wave pattern that ranges from barely-there beach waves (2A) to defined waves that almost curl (2C). Wavy hair is the trickiest to care for because it's easily weighed down by heavy products but still needs more moisture than straight hair.

Type 3 — Curly Hair

Type 3 hair has a definite, springy spiral or ringlet pattern. It has significant volume and can range from large, loose spirals (3A) to tight, straw-width corkscrews (3C). Type 3 hair is prone to dryness and frizz because the curl pattern makes it harder for scalp oils to reach the ends.

Type 4 — Coily Hair

Type 4 hair has the tightest curl patterns of all, ranging from a defined S-shaped coil (4A) to a tightly packed Z-pattern with almost no visible definition (4C). It is the most fragile hair type, the most prone to dryness, and experiences the most shrinkage — sometimes up to 75% of actual length. Type 4 hair requires the most moisture and the gentlest handling.

Step 3: Factor In Porosity and Density

Your curl pattern is just the starting point. Two people with 3B curls can have completely different product needs depending on their hair porosity and density — which is why the same curl cream that works for your friend might leave your hair crunchy or limp.

Porosity refers to how well your hair absorbs and holds moisture:

• Low porosity: The cuticle is tightly closed. Water and products tend to bead up rather than absorb. Hair takes a long time to get wet and a long time to dry. Avoid heavy butters and oils — they sit on top and create buildup.
• Medium (normal) porosity: The cuticle is slightly raised. Hair absorbs and retains moisture well. Most products work effectively.
• High porosity: The cuticle is very open — often from damage, chemical processing, or genetics. Hair absorbs moisture quickly but loses it just as fast, leaving it perpetually dry and frizzy. Needs heavy creams and sealing oils to lock moisture in.

Density refers to how many individual hair strands you have per square inch of scalp — not the thickness of each strand. Low density hair shows more scalp. High density hair looks very full. This affects how much product you need and which hairstyles work best.

The Bottom Line

Finding your hair type is the first step to stopping the cycle of wasted products and bad hair days. Once you know whether you're a 2C, a 3B, or a 4A, everything else — shampoo choice, conditioning frequency, styling techniques, and product ingredients — follows logically.

You don't have to memorize every detail of the system. You just need to know your number and letter, understand your porosity, and use that knowledge to make smarter choices at every step of your routine.

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