Am I 2C or 3A?
Tie-breaker
Is the curl a full circle (3A) or still an S-shape (2C) when it dries?
Guide · The master reference
Find your
hair type.
Twelve types, one system, no gatekeeping. Photographed, cited, and reviewed by a working celebrity stylist.
12 Types, fully covered
8 Border-case comparators
1 Shoot, same lighting
Last reviewed · April 20, 2026
The master
hair-type chart.
Component 6.1 · photographed once, same lighting, same length
Every cell below was shot in the same studio, same length, same neutral background — so the differences you see between 3B and 3C are the differences that actually matter. Tap a cell for the full spoke.
Wavy · 2A–2C Curly · 3A–3C Coily · 4A–4C Porosity / density
Coming soon
Type 2A Fine, loose S-bend mid-length
Coming soon
Type 2B Defined S-wave from the root
Coming soon
Type 2C Waves tightening toward loops
Coming soon
Type 3A Chalk-wide loose spirals
Coming soon
06 · Curly Type 3B Sharpie-wide springy curls
Type 3C Pencil-wide corkscrews
Coming soon
Type 4A Defined S-pattern coils
Coming soon
Type 4B Sharp Z-pattern, high shrinkage
Coming soon
10 · Porosity Type 4C Tightest coil, densest pack
Low porosity Flat cuticle, water beads
Coming soon
High porosity Raised cuticle, drinks product
Coming soon
Fine hair Diameter, not density — lightweight formulas
Photographed April 2026 · same model length · same studio · same neutral ground See the porosity axis →
Not sure where you fit? Four questions.
Four questions.
Your type.
We’ll ask what your hair does, not what you already know. Behavioral answers only — no prior texture-typing required. Your result saves to a sharable URL.
01 What it does wet
02 Curl & loop shape
03 Float test
04 Density test
start the quiz ~ 90 seconds · 4 questions
Wavy isn’t “curly with the dial turned down.” It’s its own physics.
If your hair dries with any visible S-shape — no matter how subtle — you are wavy. You don’t need to fight for a loop to count. Three subtypes, three product weights. Start with the lightest.
Coming soon
Type 2A Fine, loose S-bend mid-length
Coming soon
Type 2B Defined S-wave from the root
Coming soon
Type 2C Waves tightening toward loops
The 3-scale is a ruler, not a ranking. Your job is to hold a spiral up and measure its width.
Hold one washed, defined curl against an object. Sidewalk chalk? You’re 3A. Sharpie width? 3B. Pencil or straw? 3C. The routine changes with the loop size — not the other way around.
Coming soon
Type 3A Chalk-wide loose spirals
Coming soon
06 · Curly Type 3B Sharpie-wide springy curls
Type 3C Pencil-wide corkscrews
4C hair grows. The reason you haven’t seen it is you haven’t stretched it.
This section is written and photographed by a team with 4-type authority — not Mara, though she reviews every word. We don’t use “manage.” We don’t use “unruly.” We don’t use “difficult.” 4A, 4B, 4C are three distinct patterns — not a scale of quality.
Coming soon
Type 4A Defined S-pattern coils
Coming soon
Type 4B Sharp Z-pattern, high shrinkage
Coming soon
Type 4C Tightest coil, densest pack
Low porosity hair doesn’t want more product. It wants warmer water and more patience.
Porosity is the second axis — it decides what your routine can absorb, no matter which curl pattern you have. If your products sit on top, or drink in and disappear, this is the dimension to diagnose.
Low
Flat cuticle
Water beads on top. Product sits.
Medium
Slight lift
Balanced absorption. Easiest.
High
Raised cuticle
Drinks product, loses it fast.
10 · Porosity
Low porosity Flat cuticle, water beads
Coming soon
High porosity Raised cuticle, drinks product
“Fine” is how thick each strand is. “Thin” is how many strands you have. They’re different problems.
A lot of what searchers call “fine hair” is actually thinning. It’s a quiet anxiety question, and it deserves an honest answer, not upsell. Here’s the disambiguation test before anything else.
Fine — strand diameter
Pull one clean hair between your thumb and index finger. If you barely feel it, it’s fine. Fine hair is healthy. It just needs lightweight formulas and more frequent washes.
Test · single-strand pinchThin — overall density
Part your hair and photograph the scalp line. If more scalp shows than you remember, density is the question — not diameter. If shedding is recent or sudden, that’s a conversation with a derm, and we’ll route you there.
Test · scalp-line photo Coming soon
Fine hair Lightweight cleansing, no heavy oils, build volume at the root.
The confusion
lines.
Eight places where searchers get stuck: 2C or 3A? 3B or 3C? Fine or thin? Each card holds the tie-breaker question we actually use in the quiz — side-by-side at identical magnification.
Am I 3A or 3B?
Tie-breaker
Loop width: sidewalk chalk (3A) or sharpie (3B)?
Am I 3B or 3C?
Tie-breaker
Sharpie-wide (3B) or pencil-to-straw-wide (3C)?
Am I 3C or 4A?
Tie-breaker
Crochet-needle coil (4A) or pencil spiral (3C)?
Am I 4A or 4B?
Tie-breaker
Stretch one coil — does it form an S (4A) or a Z (4B)?
Am I 4B or 4C?
Tie-breaker
Can you see individual coils unstretched (4B) or only once stretched (4C)?
Low or high porosity?
60-second float test
Drop a clean strand in water. Floats (low) or sinks (high)?
Fine or thin?
Tie-breaker
Feel one strand (fine = diameter). Count the part (thin = density). They’re different.
Is this me?
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You know your hair does something — it just doesn’t match any YouTube video cleanly.
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You’ve been called two different types by two different people.
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Porosity and density feel like they matter more than the curl number.
Not sure? Here’s the tell.
The quiz asks about behavior, not identity. Four questions. Shareable result. If it still feels between two types, the tie-breaker lives on the border-case cards above.
take the 90-second quizFeatured tools.
Diagnostics that tell you what to do next — not what you are.
Tool 01 Live now
Hair type quiz.
Four behavioral questions. Single-question-per-screen. Shareable result URL — no email required to see your type.
90 seconds
Tool 02 Live guide
Porosity routing.
Use water behavior, product sitting, and dry-time clues to decide whether porosity matters more than curl pattern.
Guide
Tool 03 Live hub
Symptom diagnostic.
Start from what’s wrong (“dry at the ends, oily at the root”) and work backward to the one thing to change.
8 concerns