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.
Built by Maya Brooks, reviewed by Hazel Casey
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.
Hair type chart: 1A to 4C at a glance
Use this hair type chart to compare all twelve curl patterns side by side. Look at a clean, product-free section of hair that has air-dried, and match the shape, not the length.
| Type | What it looks like | Curl or wave size | Common struggle | What helps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1A | Pin-straight, fine and silky | No bend at all | Gets oily fast, will not hold a curl | Light volumizing products, dry shampoo |
| 1B | Straight with a little body | Slight bend at the ends | Can look flat at the roots | Root lift spray, a blow-dry with a round brush |
| 1C | Straight but thick and coarse | Loose bend, waves in humidity | Frizz and puffiness | Smoothing cream, anti-humidity spray |
| 2A | Loose, barely-there S waves | Wide, soft S | Waves fall flat easily | Mousse or sea salt spray, scrunch and air-dry |
| 2B | Clear S waves from mid-length | Defined S | Frizz through the middle | Curl cream plus a light gel, diffuse |
| 2C | Thick waves from the root, a few ringlets | Deep S, some spirals | Frizz and dryness | Leave-in, gel, plopping |
| 3A | Big, loose spirals | About the width of a wine cork | Curls loosen when brushed dry | Finger-detangle wet, light gel |
| 3B | Springy ringlets | About the width of a marker | Dry ends, frizzy halo | Leave-in, curl cream, gel |
| 3C | Tight corkscrews, very dense | About the width of a pencil | Shrinkage, dryness, tangles | Rich leave-in, gel, gentle detangling |
| 4A | Small, tight S-shaped coils | About the width of a knitting needle | Dryness, shrinkage | Leave-in, butters, twist-outs |
| 4B | Zigzag bends instead of coils | Sharp Z shape | Little definition, breakage | Moisture layering, braid-outs, protective styles |
| 4C | The tightest coils, very little definition | Tiny zigzag, up to 75 percent shrinkage | Dryness, shrinkage, breakage | LOC or LCO method, low manipulation |
Most heads of hair have two or three types at once, often looser at the crown and tighter at the nape. Go with the type that covers most of your head.
1A hair
1A hair is the straightest type: fine, soft and shiny with no bend from root to tip. It shows oil quickly because oil slides straight down the strand, and it often drops a curl within an hour. Light volumizing products, a dry shampoo between washes and a blow-dry at the roots work better than heavy creams.
1C hair
1C hair is straight but thick and coarse, with a loose bend that turns into waves when the air is humid. It can look puffy or frizzy rather than flat. A smoothing cream on damp hair and an anti-humidity spray keep it sleek, and it holds heat styles better than 1A.
3B hair
3B hair forms springy ringlets about the width of a marker, with plenty of volume. The ends dry out fast and a frizzy halo is common. Detangle only when wet, layer a leave-in with a curl cream and a gel, then let it dry without touching. Our curly hairstyles are a good match for this type.
3C hair
3C hair has tight corkscrew curls about the width of a pencil, packed densely together, so it looks full and has noticeable shrinkage. It tangles easily and needs more moisture than looser curls. Use a rich leave-in, a strong-hold gel to clump the curls, and wide-tooth or finger detangling.
4A hair
4A hair has small, tight coils in a clear S shape, about the width of a knitting needle. It is the most defined of the type 4 family but still shrinks a lot and dries quickly. Water-based leave-ins sealed with a butter or oil, twist-outs and wash-and-gos all suit 4A.
4B hair and 4B hairstyles
4B hair bends in sharp zigzags instead of coils, so it looks fluffy and soft with less natural definition. It is fragile when dry, so moisture and low manipulation matter most. Popular 4B hairstyles include twist-outs, braid-outs, high puffs, Bantu knots and protective styles like box braids. Browse our coily hairstyles and box braids for ideas, and check your hair porosity to pick the right products.
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
Keep going: pair your type with your hair porosity result, then pick a look from our coily hairstyles or braided hairstyles guides.
