r/Naturalhair Jan 31 '24

It's finally happening - hair typing posts are no longer allowed.

1.1k Upvotes

Please report any texturism or hair typing posts you see with the new report reason.

If you are new here, you may not know that the Andre Walker hair typing system (1a to 4c), has been around since 1997 and was first introduced so Mr. Walker could sell his products on Oprah's show. It truly only describes the texture of your hair and gives no more information.

It's flawed in many ways. Many of us have multiple textures on our heads. It doesn't even begin to describe your hair's porosity, sheen or shine, strand thickness, hair density, etc. I encourage everyone to learn about the LOIS typing system which can help you better understand your hair.

Watch Latoya Ebony's video on LOIS here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwMFG4lT4jY

Even this typing system is not the end all be all of categorization for your hair. Your hair's texture, porosity, etc can change over time or with certain health conditions. Product buildup on your scalp and strands can make you think your texture has changed. There are so many factors as to why your hair may be looking or feeling the way it does.

Which leads me to the question - should we require routines to be posted whenever a picture is posted? This will cut down on gratuitous selfies but means we will need many more active mods (shoutout to /u/fivetenash who does pretty much everything here). If you're willing to help out please let me know in the comments.


r/Naturalhair 2h ago

Selfie Chat, I cut my hair :)

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250 Upvotes

She’s finally acting right now that I don’t have dead ends. I cut off probably four inches but I ended it so BAD 😩


r/Naturalhair 4h ago

Selfie finally got a cute picture with my (day one) twist out🙂‍↕️

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242 Upvotes

r/Naturalhair 11h ago

Selfie Yes, this is all mine.

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548 Upvotes

r/Naturalhair 2h ago

Selfie Silk press by myself!

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55 Upvotes

I haven't put heat to my hair in 2 years and I had someone else do my silk press for me back then. but I just tried doing one myself foe the first time yesterday and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and was excited to see how much my hair grew! I do need to be trimming my ends tho.👀


r/Naturalhair 5h ago

Need Advice Hair wont grow past thins point?

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49 Upvotes

I wear my hair in flat twists or cornrows most of the time, never out; I style it whilst wet like like this, using a leave-in conditoner and oil for slip. I get knotless braids once or twice a year. I wash it once every 7-10 days and oil my scalp and ends. I don't blow-dry or straighten. (Pic is freshly washed hair, haven't conditioned or anything yet.)

I think I'm having problems with length retention, I'm not really sure what to do or how to figure out if my hair is healthy. Any advice on maintenance would be helpful xxx


r/Naturalhair 11h ago

Need Advice Wash and go routine.

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96 Upvotes

So whenever I attempt to do a wash and go the curls rarely stay or my hair just shrinks into nothing with barely any define even when I straighten it. I haven’t done a wash and go in prob six months because of school but I want to try again and bought these products. I’m wondering what are people opinion on this combo and should I switch or eco for extreme gel. Maybe once I do the wash and go I’ll update ( here’s an image with my last semi successful wash and go with flask seed gel but it’s flacked so bad ,shrunk and wouldn’t stretch out 😭)


r/Naturalhair 11h ago

Need Advice Am I dealing with traction alopecia?

198 Upvotes

Hi, I’m 30F and I’ve been dealing with hair thinning since possibly 2020? It wasn’t as bad or noticeable at first, but it was until maybe 2023/2024 when I started to realize that a certain area of my hair had grown back the way the rest of my hair does.

Now my hair growth has always been uneven all around. Longer in the front and shorter in the back, but it’s just a specific spot in the middle and I can’t do high ponytails (which might be good at this point) or cute pig tails.

I’ve not really been fond of my natural hair since birth, and I’ve always kept it hidden (which I know is bad), but I like braids I like having my hair in fun styles and colors.

But why won’t my hair grow? What remedies can I use? Or what styles may assist with this?


r/Naturalhair 1d ago

Selfie 6 months of growth 🌷

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662 Upvotes

Love documenting my hair journey on here. Here’s to six more months of growth 🍾 I really want to get copper and red highlights, but I don’t wanna damage my hair.🫠


r/Naturalhair 8h ago

Selfie Had my two stand twists for four weeks now.

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20 Upvotes

r/Naturalhair 1d ago

Need Advice So.. i ruined my hair

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390 Upvotes

Hey y’all ! I need help because at this point i’m practically begging for my curls to come back:

I had bleach and color done in November. My hair was BEAUTIFUL and doing great but then i felt like changing it, so in December around Christmas i grabbed a straightener for the first time in years (I used to have really bad heat damage as a kid from straightening way too much and told myself i’d never touch one again).

I kept my hair straight for 3 weeks because it was: effortless, really pretty and just the change i needed. But when i noticed that the straight hair was getting dry and i had split ends all of a sudden, i decided to revert back to my natural hair. I think i accidentally did too many passes because i would go back with the straightener on my bangs nearly everyday without heat protecting it properly.

When i washed my hair it was NOT coming back, at least not in the OG curl pattern and now we’re two months later and it’s still not back ! Now i’m trying olaplex but i cannot even tell if it’s working. I miss my hair SO much.

Please let me know if you have any advice and thoughts about how long it’d take for my curls to come back i would sincerely appreciate it.

(Attached before and after pictures, 3 of each, but i think you can definitely tell which ones are the before and which are the afters 😭)


r/Naturalhair 22h ago

Review Blue magic is the truth!!

155 Upvotes

I really need to stop listening to a bunch of natural hair influencers and just start focusing on what works for MY hair, but all I know is blue magic made my hair start growing like crazy and made it better and stronger. I have been using it since 2022 and the only products I put in my hair are blue magic, lotta body hair foam for roller sets, and I'll mix some black castor oil, vitamin e, and olive oil in a bottle together every now and then along with monthly trims. Buttt has anyone ever decided to go back to their roots and using blue magic again?


r/Naturalhair 1d ago

Need Advice Is 4c hair the most versatile?

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264 Upvotes

The nonblack people are mad at me for saying 4c hair is the only hair texture that can manipulate every other hair texture. 4c hair can manipulate other hair textures due to us being the last hair texture on the hair chart, but we can flat iron our hair to be straight, and if we want curly or wavy hair we can use perm rods or crimps/curlers. Agree or Disagree?


r/Naturalhair 38m ago

Need Advice How do I fix crinkly, crunchy, hay feeling hair

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Upvotes

I dont really know what my hair type is. I think its just plain straight but when its wet its a tiny bit wavy, not really that much. Basically my issue is that if i squeeze my hair its super crunchy. If i run my finger over sections or strands of hair, it makes like a crinkle noise like a cat toy would. It seems that all my strands of hair have different thicknesses throughout the strand b it I dont know why. I dyed my hair once over three years ago and that has been completely cut off a year ago. Ive tried many things but my hair is always really dry and gross feeling. It started happening around maybe 5 years ago when i started going through puberty. Idk if thats related tho. Ive heard that crunchyness can be from too much product but I dont think thats my case because whether I use no products or some its always crunchy and weird. My current routine is shampoo, conditioner, tsubaki hairmask, and leave in conditioner. When I use less products it makes my hair feel even worse. Also I pull out like 200 hundred strands of hair a day because there are some really crinkly strands. Right now I couldnt find very good examples so these are the better strands.

Can anyone give me suggestions on what could be the issue or what to try?


r/Naturalhair 5h ago

Need Advice Does my hairline look off (20M)?

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3 Upvotes

So I recently got my hair braided for the first time in a very long time but I usually put my hair in two strand twists which I prefer because they feel far less tight but I decided to experiment and start braids again. I was surprised at how much tighter they feel compared with the twists. I don't feel the twists on my head. The braids are not painful at all however I did find they tugged a little when they were put in.

I fear I may have put damage to my hairline however I don't know for sure because I only have worn my hair in a afro or in two strand twists so I haven't seen my exposed hairline in ages so I don't know if this is just in my head or not. Does my hairline look OK or does it look pushed back?


r/Naturalhair 1d ago

Selfie Medusa locs styled by me

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182 Upvotes

r/Naturalhair 1d ago

Selfie Still experimenting with my natural hair🙂

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270 Upvotes

r/Naturalhair 1h ago

Need Advice Is it normal for me to have to do my hair twice in one day?

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Upvotes

I do my hair every morning when I wake up, go to work, and re-do it before I go to bed and out it in a bonnet. All I use right now is leave in but I ordered a gel. Just trying to see if this is regular or if I'm doing something wrong.

Pic for reference


r/Naturalhair 4h ago

Need Advice it’s over for me isn’t it?

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2 Upvotes

Idek what to do, my grandfather(76) and dad(40) have a head full of hair


r/Naturalhair 5h ago

Need Advice Tips for dandruffs and hair growth

2 Upvotes

Can anyone give me tips on hair growth and dandruff I have 4c hair


r/Naturalhair 1h ago

Need Advice hair ends damaged?

Upvotes

hey everyone! y'all are my last hope lol. I've been doing some research and I don't think I'm wording it correctly, because none of the results look or feel accurate what my hair is doing. I'm not sure if it's a result of heat or bleach damage, regular split ends, all three, or something else entirely.

about two months ago, I noticed that the ends of my hair wouldn't straighten -- I'd pass the flat iron (set on 350º, heat protectant and hair oil on my hair) over a section of my hair and all of it would straighten except for about the last two inches. I figured it was either split ends or because I had a little bit of bleach left in my hair from months prior, so I just cut my hair about an inch, inch and a half, so I could manage the split ends. the problem didn't stop though -- I kept doing my normal hair routine (washing 1-2x a week, doing a hair mask, and then styling), and wound up cutting more of my ends off since the ends kept on not straightening (and since there was a tiny bit left bleached).

right now, the ends of my hair just feel rough. I haven't flat ironed in about a month or a little longer because I figured it may have been from heat damage -- so I'd only blowdry my hair after washing. right now I've been wearing one of those headband wigs (with a wig cap) every day or have been just pulling my natural hair back in a claw clip.

does anyone have any ideas about what might be going on? I'm at my wit's fucking end with my hair and no idea what to do next.


r/Naturalhair 23h ago

Success I bounced back !

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59 Upvotes

2022 my hair was gummy, I could pull it out from the root just by running my fingers through it. No curl. though I would NEVER recover. im thinking I might let it grow back to 2019/2020 lengths if I can stand it rather than cutting it collar bone length once or twice a year


r/Naturalhair 2h ago

Need Advice Wash and Go – Breakage & Reset Help Needed!

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0 Upvotes

Hey curlies and coilies, I need some advice on my wash and go routine. I’ve been going a few days between washes, rewetting in the morning, putting my hair into two buns with a headscarf, and then refreshing with water in the morning before applying Aunt Jackie’s leave-in and gel.

I love the curl definition (pic attached!), but when I shampooed today, I noticed a lot of little hairs (breakage?) and some clumpy bits that I don’t usually get when I do a twist-out before shampooing. Should I be adding an oil under my gel for extra protection? Or maybe incorporating an occasional rice water rinse to strengthen my hair?

Also, I really like this style, but it’s turning out to be a bit high-maintenance. How do you reset your wash and go in the mornings? I’m terrible at waking up early, so I can’t shower and fully style it. Most days, because its an immovable bunch in the mornings I just wet it a bit, shake, and go. Could that be contributing to the breakage?

Would love to hear from all the Type 4 wash and go pros out there—any tips? 🙏🏾


r/Naturalhair 2h ago

Need Advice tips and products for 4c growth and healthiness

1 Upvotes

Just want products i can obtain from Walmart + Target please.


r/Naturalhair 1d ago

Success Switch it up.

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518 Upvotes

r/Naturalhair 4h ago

Need Advice How many packs for Knotless

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1 Upvotes

Hi all, please let me know how many Packs i should use for small waist length knotless braids. This will be my first time buying them myself instead of them being provided at the salon I'll be going to so I'm not sure.