Hair type is a new one on me. I decided to ask my mum about her experience with my hair.
In 1975 She told me she asked my Auntie Val, who also had dual heritage children.
Auntie Val said to use Vaseline & Hair Gel… so off my 18 year old mum went to Shepherds bush market to fetch a tub of Vaseline and some funky coloured hair gel.
I asked my Auntie Val who told her about the Vaseline & Gel combo and she explained ‘You just watched all the West Indian Ladies on the market doing hair, I went into their beauty shops and asked lots of questions and just learnt myself… no one else was gonna teach me‘. She also mentioned ‘I always tried to cornrow but I could never get it’.
Incidentally this led me to start documenting all the many stories and experiences of other family and friends.
Ask those elders around you, what they did, where did they go, what did they use…. they got stories for days.
So, what do we mean when we talk HAIR TYPE?
Hair type is about your hairs natural curl pattern
TYPE 1 is straight
TYPE 2 has a wave to a curl
TYPE 3 is curly to a kink
TYPE 4 has kink to a coil
Don’t switch off yet brothers & sistas you may think, ‘I’ve kinda found what works off the shelf, it’s long to start that journey again, I’ll stick to what I know’… But once you have an understanding of how best your unique amazing hair type functions the styling and management becomes a great sense of joy and self bonding instead of the ball ache ‘they’ would have you believe.
The shape of your hair follicle the size, length and thickness will all have a relationship as to how your hair takes on and holds moisture.
Armed with this knowledge you will have a better relationship with your hair.
I read a lot of blogs, took many of the tests online and asked my usual hair braiding ladies and found that my hair can go from 3B to 4A to 4B depending on what product I have used or whether I have brushed or combed it out, even a difference on what comb or brush i have used. This is called combination hair… interesting!