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Hair Type Quiz: What Is My Curl Pattern?

Eight questions about how your hair dries, shrinks and behaves in humidity, and you get your type on the 1A to 4C scale with your density, a wash-day routine, and the cut to ask for.

Most people buy products for the hair they think they have. The curly girl who has been brushing her hair straight since school swears she is wavy. The person with fine 1A hair keeps buying curl cream because a bottle promised body. Knowing your actual type ends that guessing, because every routine below it — how often to wash, what to put on, whether to touch it while it dries — follows from the pattern your hair takes when you leave it alone.

This quiz asks eight questions. It gives you a type on the 1A to 4C scale, plus your density, a routine, and a cut to ask for. It takes about two minutes.

How to get an accurate answer

Hair typing only works on hair you have left alone. Wash it and put nothing on it. Do not brush it. Do not touch it while it dries. Then look at the shape it settles into. Product, heat and brushing all flatten the pattern. That is why so many people pick a type straighter than their real one.

Look at the mid-lengths rather than the roots or the ends. Oil weighs the roots down. The ends are usually the most damaged part. Neither one tells the truth. Different sections often disagree, and that is normal. Most heads carry two patterns, and the curlier one usually sits underneath. Type by the pattern that covers the most of your head and treat the rest as a bonus.

The four families, and what the letters mean

Type 1 is straight. No bend from root to tip. 1A is fine and silky with no body at all, 1B has some weight and a slight bend at the ends, and 1C is coarse and strong with a wave that appears in humidity.

Type 2 is wavy. The hair falls in an S-shape. 2A is a loose wave that straightens if you brush it, 2B has a defined S from eye level down with frizz through the middle, and 2C waves start at the root and mix in the odd spiral.

Type 3 is curly. Actual spirals with volume at the root. 3A spirals are about the width of a wine cork, 3B ringlets about the width of a marker pen, and 3C corkscrews about the width of a pencil, packed much more densely.

Type 4 is coily. Tight coils or sharp zigzags with heavy shrinkage. 4A has small, visible coils, 4B bends at angles rather than curling and reads cottony, and 4C is the tightest pattern with up to seventy-five percent shrinkage and the least natural definition.

The letters show how tight the pattern is. They do not rank it. A 2A head of hair is not a failed 3A, and 4C hair is not “unmanageable” — it is simply the type that needs the most moisture and the gentlest handling.

Type is only one of three things that matter

Density is how many strands you have on your head, and it decides how much product you need and which cuts work. Two people can both be 3B and still need different amounts of gel. One of them simply has twice as much hair.

Porosity is how easily your hair takes in moisture and how long it keeps it. This is what decides whether a product soaks in or sits on top. It is why the same curl cream is a favorite for one person and a mess for another. Our hair porosity test takes two minutes and is worth doing straight after this quiz.

Strand width is how thick each individual hair is. Fine strands are flattened by heavy products no matter what your curl pattern is, and coarse strands can take a butter that would ruin someone else’s day.

Type tells you the shape to work with. Porosity tells you what to put on it. Density and width tell you how much to use. Put all four together and you can explain almost every “why does this work for her and not for me” moment in the beauty aisle.

Four mistakes that give people the wrong type

Typing on styled hair. If you have diffused it, brushed it or slept on it, you are typing the style, not the hair.

Typing damaged ends. Bleach and heat loosen a pattern for good. The mid-lengths are the honest part.

Assuming a type from your family. Curl pattern is genetic but it is not a copy-paste, and it can change after pregnancy, illness or chemotherapy.

Believing a higher number is better. The system was only ever a way to talk about shape. There is no ranking in it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a hair type quiz? −

It works out which curl pattern your hair falls into on the 1A to 4C scale, from straight through wavy and curly to coily. The type tells you what shape you are working with, which then decides how you wash, dry and style it.

How do I find my hair type at home? −

Wash your hair, put nothing on it, and let it air dry without brushing or touching it. Look at the mid-lengths, not the roots or the damaged ends, and match the shape: straight, an S-wave, a spiral, or a tight coil or zigzag.

What do the letters A, B and C mean? −

They describe how tight the pattern is inside each family. A is the loosest version, C is the tightest. So 2A is a soft wave and 2C is a deep wave with spirals, while 4A has visible coils and 4C is the tightest pattern of all.

Can I have two hair types at once? −

Yes, and most people do. The nape and the underneath layers are often a family curlier than the crown. Type by the pattern that covers most of your head, and treat the rest with the same moisture-first approach.

Can your hair type change? −

The pattern can change after pregnancy, illness, chemotherapy or a big hormonal shift, and bleach or repeated heat can loosen it for good. Damage-loosened curl does not come back; it has to grow out.

Is hair type or porosity more important? −

Porosity usually matters more day to day. Your type decides the shape and the styling technique, but porosity decides whether a product absorbs or sits on the surface, which is why the same cream works for one person and fails for another.

Keep going: pair your type with your hair porosity result, then pick a look from our coily hairstyles or braided hairstyles guides.