Hair Care

Curly & coily hair: how to identify your curl pattern (3A to 4C)

It's impossible to find the right hair routine without first knowing your exact curl type. The most widely used classification system ranges from 3A (soft, well-defined curls) to 4C (very coily hair, with no visible curl pattern to the naked eye), with several stages in between.

The air-dry test

The most reliable method: wash your hair, apply a simple leave-in, then let it air-dry without touching it. The natural shape that appears once dry reveals your true curl type. Many women misjudge their type because they assess their hair while wet or styled, which completely skews the observation.

The main categories, simply explained

3A/3B: well-defined spiral-shaped curls, soft, that bounce easily. 3C: tighter curls resembling thin corkscrews, often mistaken for coily hair. 4A: very tight S-shaped curls, still visible to the naked eye when stretched. 4B: less defined pattern, zigzag rather than curl-shaped. 4C: the densest and most fragile texture, with strong shrinkage (hair can appear up to 75% shorter than its actual length once dry).

Why knowing your type changes everything

The more coily the hair (closer to 4C), the naturally drier it tends to be, because scalp sebum struggles to travel along the many twists of the hair strand down to the ends. In practical terms, that means 4C hair needs far more hydration and sealing products (oils, butters) than 3A curls, which hydrate more easily on their own.

You can have several types on the same head

This is actually the norm rather than the exception: it's very common to have looser curls on top of the head and a tighter texture at the nape. Adapting your routine zone by zone, rather than applying a single type of product everywhere, often gives much better results.