Decoding your hair curl pattern isn’t always easy. Whether you have tight textures, coily, or wavy curl patterns, you need to know about them to understand how to manage your mane best. After all, once you know your curl pattern, you can you make informed decisions about the kind of products you need, to get your BEST curly hair.

At PLABCurlove, we like to think of curl patterns as an array of textures ranging from wavy to curls and coils. Learn more about different curl patterns below.

Curl Patterns

Wavy

Think of wavy hair as S-shaped waves that lay closer to the head. Wavy hair is bendable and more manageable and often ranges from fine to coarse textures.

If you have almost straight hair with loose bends, you likely have Type 2A waves, but if you have defined waves that start right at the roots, you may fall under the Type 2C category. Women with mostly straight hair at the root but more defined waves below the eye level fall under Type 2B.

Curly

Also known as Type 3 hair, curly hair can range from loose, bouncy loops to tight textures, but regardless of how your curls may be, dryness is a major concern. And why won’t it be as curly hair tends to be thick and coarse?

Type 3A strands are large, shiny, and lose curls, but Type 3B curls are more about medium to tight ringlets, often known as springy curls. The tighter curl pattern with Type 3 curls is Type 3C, which may have a lot of texture along with a corkscrew-like spiral.

Coily

Coily curl pattern, also known as Type 4 curls, is all about maximizing moisture as this curl type can range from small, tight, S-shaped springy coils (Type 4A) to Z coil (Type 4B) to the tightest curl pattern (Type 4C), which is all about tight and dense zig-zag curl pattern. But don’t be mistaken for its tight curls, as Type 4C is the most fragile curl type that needs special attention.

Now that you have insight into your curl pattern, find the right product for your curl pattern here.

Read our book  Know Your Curls Inside Out: A Complete Guide to Curly Hair for All. The book and journal are now available on Amazon!