Home » Makeup Guide

Hair Types - Kinky Hair

If you have kinky hair then your hair has the following traits.; They are wiry, very tightly coiled, and brittle. Just like curly hair, kinky hair is not coarse but very fine and has lots strands densely packed together. Healthy kinky hair is not shiny but does posses a sheen. It will be silky, soft to the touch, and will not be very brittle. Good examples are legendary talk show host Oprah and actress/comedian Whoppi Goldberg.

A common misconception about kinky hair is that it’s strong and durable. This is far from the truth. Those of us with kinky hair know that it is the most fragile hair type around because of low amounts of cuticle layers. Cuticle layers are the natural protection around your hair strands, like the plastic casing around a naked wire, and the more layers you have the better protection you get from combing, brushing, straightening, and blow drying. All these grooming rituals break down the cuticle layer by robbing it of moisture. Constant moisture loss will lead to brittle hair that will eventually snap and break whenever combed.

There are two sub types for kinky hair. They are:

Sub Type C1

This type of hair has visible pen size curls and coils with an “S” type wave pattern that’s similar to wavy and curly hair types.  Most women use chemical relaxers so that their hair is easier to manage and control. In natural states, sometimes these hair strands break whenever you comb it.

Sub Type C2

This hair sub type has a “Z” pattern to it because the hair strands bend at sharp angles like the letter “Z” and do not curl or coil. They do not have a soft silky appearance of the looser type curls but instead exhibits a polished look that is soft and almost feels like cotton. The dilemma faced with this and many other types of curly and kinky hair is that the strands grow “up” and “out” instead of hanging down. Kinky hair is known to shrink up 75% of its original hair length.

Buy Now

Buy Now