Curls, Kinks, & Coils, Oh My!
Afro-textured hair comes in many gorgeous forms. With differing colors, shapes, sizes, etc., the beauty in such versatility goes beyond words. For a black woman, natural hair is one of her most prized possessions. Hair in general, straight or curly, is a part of any woman’s identity. Whether she wears wigs, extensions, braids, dye, twists, or afros, her hair is how she conducts herself and how she expresses herself. For me, it’s a double-edged sword that still always manages to make me feel so beautiful.
I wasn’t always a natural girl, but I do want to share how the big chop changed my life; especially the feeling of that first clip with my scissors. Now, my weeks are happily filled with trips to the beauty supply store styling hair, hair, and more hair. As a natural girl, hair has become a very important part of my life. Wash days? Yes, it’s actually a full day. And yes, it can be quite literally a nightmare. Protective Styles? My saving grace. Without them, I would look like a hot mess. Representation? Honestly, we’ve still got a ways to go, but after today girl, you’ll know some of the ins and outs of black hair. Of my hair. Of our hair.
NATURAL HAIR JOURNEY
For as long as I can remember, I wouldn’t wear my natural hair out. I had permed (chemically-straightened) hair for 10 years and counting, but I was always curious about my natural hair and wanted to see how thick and long it could grow. However, when I did the big chop, I was under the illusion that my natural hair’s curl pattern would only be curly. Pinterest tricked me. I didn’t know about the different hair types, so imagine my surprise when I learned my hair type was on the kinkier side, which took me a while to find beautiful because every picture on Pinterest showed me the same “good” curly hair. The day I figured out my curl pattern, finding the beauty in my hair became easier and easier over time.
What do I mean by hair type? For natural hair, there are different categories for distinguishing a girl’s curl pattern and how tight her curl might be. The numbers represent the distinction between curl patterns, or how the curl is formed. The letters describe how tight a girls curl is, A being the loosest and C being the tightest. Not all curls are the same, though, not even on the same head. The signature fro can consist of curls, coils, and/or kinks, like mine which is a mix of kinks and coils.
Starting from Category 3, those that have 3A, 3B, and/or 3C carry the infamous “good hair” curl. Don’t be fooled though, hun. All hair is good hair no matter what curl pattern! Curl definition is more likely to occur for 3A-3C. For girls with the curls, the S-pattern in their hair strands create a looser ringlet that makes for the fluffier and more voluminous afro that you may associate with Yara Shahidi, Traci Ellis Ross, or Zendaya.
The best products for these curls are mainly to minimize frizz, define curls, and maintain moisture:
Category 4 ventures into coily and kinky hair textures like mine! Girls with 4A, 4B, and/or 4C hair are described in this group. For example, I have a mix of 4B coils and 4C kinks, which make up my sponge-like afro. Curl definition isn’t as obvious for fros in their natural state due to the small size of each coil and kink, but with the right products, it’s still just as possible. These hair types are also the drier counterpart of natural hair, so 4A-4C girls are more likely to experience breakage and split ends. In this group, the common Z-pattern in each kink creates the thickness, but extreme tightness of fros that you may associate with Lupita Nyong’o, Eris The Planet, or Viola Davis.
The best products for these coils and kinks are mainly to retain length, strengthen curl strands, and maximize moisture:
SHRINKAGE: MY WORST ENEMY
Source: Word Press
Let’s talk about shrinkage. What is shrinkage? Shrinkage is the process of a natural girl’s curls, coils, or kinks shrinking towards the scalp when no manipulation has been used. Manipulated hair refers to the addition of heat or stretching techniques to elongate each strand. In the picture above, her hair is way longer when it’s straight versus as it appears curly. I deal with this as well, and my “just got out of bed” fro isn’t going to look the same as my “picked out” fro.
Water is our biggest enemy and greatest ally to shrinkage. Some fros shrink faster than others due to something called porosity, or the volume of the pores in a curly girl’s hair strand. Those with high porosity have larger pores, which allows more water to seep through the strand and wet the hair faster, which causes shrinkage quicker. Those with low porosity, like myself, have smaller pores that take time soaking up the water and it takes a little longer to shrink.
Without manipulation, my hair will stay squished to my head, which isn’t cute. However, curlier and kinkier hair types are more prone to breakage when too much manipulation is used, which is why we take long wash days and wear even longer-lasting protective styles to keep our hair safe and maintain as much length as possible.
WASH DAY!
It’s Wash Day, everybody. Here is my process of washing a head full of 4B/4C hair. Mind you, women with tighter curls, coils, and kinks wash their hair about once every 1-2 weeks. More frequent washes would strip the hair and scalp of their natural oils, which dries out the hair way more than usual. This may not work best for your curls if you have a different hair type. For anyone looking for a few new tricks, don’t worry hun, I got you.
Steps:
(Just a reminder, this is my process and the products that work best for me - make sure to find the correct concoction products that work best for you!)
1. Separate hair into five big sections
2. In one section, pull a small piece of hair and spritz it with warm-hot water and apply Shea Moisture Black Castor Oil Restoring Mask. Detangle carefully with a Tangle Teezer Brush or a wide tooth comb and twist it.
3. Repeat Step 2 in order to detangle each section until you finish twisting your entire head.
4. In the shower, rinse out the mask with warm-hot water, but keep the twists in.
5. Apply Pantene Gold Series Moisture-Boost Shampoo and focus at the roots. Avoid rubbing too much shampoo at your ends to prevent stripping your hair. Focus at the roots to clean out your scalp from all of the product buildup.
6. Rinse thoroughly.
7. Apply Pantene Gold Series Moisture Boost Conditioner and Shea Moisture Black Castor Oil Restoring Deep Conditioner to whole head. Place shower cap on your head.
8. After 10 minutes, take off shower cap and rinse it out thoroughly.
9. Separate twists into five sections from before.
10. In each section, untwist each piece of hair and apply the LOC (Leave In Conditioner, Oil, Curling Cream) Method to each twist in that order: use Pantene Gold Series Leave-In Conditioner, Unrefined Coconut Oil, ORS Olive Oil Hair Lotion, and then Pantene Gold Series Curl Defining Cream. This method is used to maximize moisture and define your curls.
11. Once you apply the products, either retwist or braid each piece of hair in each section.
12. An optional step: In the morning, you can take out the twists/braids for a twist-out or braid-out. You can leave them in for mini-twists or mini-braids and add gold hair accessories. You can also start putting in extra hair to create a protective style. The choice is yours hun!
PROTECTIVE STYLES
Protective styles are the holy grail of natural hair. You can do so many things to express yourself in so many styles and colors. I personally prefer protective styling over wearing my fro because I don’t have to worry about doing my hair every single day and it helps my hair grow faster since it isn’t constantly being manipulated. Make sure to protect your hair before installing additional hair for protective styles, whether that’s to blow dry your hair with heat protectant or twist down your hair to seal those precious ends. If you don’t protect beforehand, the protective style isn’t protecting anything. Here are some of my favorites that you can try:
1. Cornrows
A perfect way to show off your face and keep your hair out of the way. You can accessorize with beads and gold hair pieces. You can add different colors to create cute ombré looks like shown. This style will look fresh for up to a week and a half.
2. Afro Spring Twists (Medium-Sized)
This is a very natural-looking style. A fun way to lengthen your twists for a cute summer feel. Try adding beads or different colors to highlight your hair.
3. Picked out Afro
Source: Instagram: @tobi_ojora
Although this isn’t a protective style, this is a beautiful way to show off the thickness, length, and strength of your gorgeous fro.
4. Faux Locs
Source: Instagram: @torinashtun
When you want to loc your hair, but you don’t want to commit to permanent locs, try faux locs! There are so many kinds of locs; distressed locs, butterfly locs, goddess locs, soft locs, thick locs, skinny locs, whatever you want. This is my absolute favorite hairstyle. Try lighter colors to blend your natural hair better and to make them look more natural!
5. Braids
Source: Instagram: @alissa.ashley
Last, but certainly not least, you can try braids. So many different ways to do braids: Knotless, Jumbo, Goddess, Micro, etc. It’s the oldest, but most common and reliable protective style in the book! Just make sure to moisturize your scalp at least 1-2 times a week to keep those roots looking right.
CONCLUSION
Black hair is so beautiful. No matter what kind of curl you got, just know that there’s something, some product, some routine, or some style that’s perfect for every curl, coil, and kink. I hope you’ve picked up something new, whether it was new knowledge about your friend’s hair, or some new products to try for your own beautiful head of curls. Our hair isn’t something to be tamed, shamed, hidden, or anything in between. Our curls stand out naturally. It’s our identity. Don’t forget that, hun.