The Truth About 3C Natural Hair

My cousins and I all have very different hair textures, I am what the curl chart would call a 4A, but in my opinion that isn’t set in stone. The front of my hair is loose and wavy, the middle is super kinky* and coily, and  the back is a mix of the two. My hair is crazy fine and can tangle at the drop of a dime.

Two of my cousins have very loose wavy curls, the kind of curls that you might wish you had because their hair care seems so easy and effortless.

They have probably heard throughout the years that they have ‘good hair’ because where we are from (The Caribbean) that is a term that is commonly used to describe their texture of hair.

I would like to think we have moved on from the ‘good hair’ thing, we hardly ever hear it these days, except from time to time on social media when someone feels particularly ignorant. These days healthy hair is good hair and we are all striving for it.

Like many of your families my cousins are also my best friends and we share style ideas and talk about hair all the time. Over the years I have come to learn that they have some of the same hair issues I have; chronic dryness, breakage, dry scalp sometimes, and most recently a hot topic amongst us has been the loss in curl pattern and how to get it back.

One of the cool things about the times we are living in is that there is now an avid appreciation of what our hair should look like naturally. Many of us have taken the plunge to discover our roots literally, learned our curl pattern, and have developed a new found love affair with our curls.

I have learned a lot over the years about curly hair and I have also learned a lot about myself from talking to them. I have realized that I made some assumptions about their texture that I should not have made that is actually rooted in the whole ‘good hair’ phenomenon. Here are some assumptions we tend to make about women with 3C hair that need to be rethought.

They do not need to big chop

Big chops are not just exclusive to women with relaxed hair, if you have loose curls but you have flat ironed your hair for years, or colored it and your curls look limp, it is ok to do a big chop to bring your curls back to life.

One of my cousins recently big chopped and she is seriously thinking about chopping a bit more to give her curls the best chance at coming back to life the way she knows it should.

They do not suffer from dryness

Curly hair gets dry period! It does not matter if you are 4C or 3A dryness does not discriminate because the structure of the hair is what determines how it retains moisture.

Even though looser hair textures have less bends and twists in comparison to a kinky* coily strand, moisture still finds it difficult to get to all areas of the strand from the roots. This means that you have to constantly add moisture to your hair to prevent dryness.

3C hair is easier to manage

I used to believe this myself but the truth is 3C hair care is not easier than any other hair type! There is such a fine line between having limp hair with no personality and striking the right balance with your hair that gives you that big curly, volume based fro.

Striking the balance takes time and consistency, which is true for all women with natural hair regardless of your hair’s texture.

They can use any product

These days we are all more aware of what we are putting in our hair regardless of hair texture. Women with loose curls are also realizing that their curls thrive better with all natural options and have walked away from products filled with cones and artificial ingredients that are not considered healthy.

Products are now catering to all textures of hair, and they are healthier and more varied than they have ever been before.

Women with loose curls only have loose curls

Just like me with a variety of textures in my own head women with 3C curls will also have sections of their hair that are kinkier than other sections.

This means that they might have an alternate technique for different areas of their hair. Some parts might tangle easier than others and they have to be just as gentle with their 3C curls as I would be with my 4A curls.

The point is, at the end of the day we can all learn something from each other once we strip away some of the assumptions we have about how hair care is done for certain groups.

We might find that we have more in common than we think! Do you have 3C curls? What are some of the assumptions you have heard about your hair that are wrong?