Can You Learn Anything From A Naturalista With A Different Texture From You?

‘Guuurl there is no way, that sistah with the 3C curls is going to be able to tell me anything about my 4XZ, I mean seriously is she even a sistah?! Let’s keep it real, she couldn’t contribute to my hair journey even if she tried.’

How many times have you heard or read comments like that from a natural woman about another? It’s sad because the truth is we can all learn something from each other regardless of what the texture your hair is.

‘If I was a 3c I woulda never relaxed my hair!’ is another common but incorrect admonishment.

Again, this is patently untrue because most of us probably had the same struggles, the same horrible relaxer stories, and stressful transitions. We actually have much more in common than we allow each other to believe.

The beauty of natural hair is that no two heads are the same, and though we have hair type and texture charts as guides, often the charts can get in the way of some serious learning and education. Of course, it is never enough to just say that around these parts we like to dig a little deeper so brace yourself.

What the 3A-3C can learn from the 4A-4C

Creative Ways To Add Moisture

If you are in the 4A-4C category more than likely you are in a continuous cycle of trying to keep your naturally dry hair moisturized. In comparison to the 3 category curly girls, keeping moisture in is harder for you because your hair is curlier and moisture doesn’t travel well along a curvy road.

The type 4 curly girls know how to moisturize, they often have the best recipes hands down for moisture retention. If they are not in the kitchen making a concoction they can often give a very thorough review of a product that absolutely works and does what it claims to do.

For product reviews and DIY’s for moisture retention, type 4 curly girls win hands down.

How To Do A Wicked Updo

Our type 4 curly girls tend to practice a lot of protective styling because like we said before there is an ever-present battle to retain moisture on a daily basis.

They know that the less manipulation the better it will be for their curls so they tend to take protective styling to a whole other level. With just a couple of bobby pins* and some hair butter that they probably made themselves they make tucking and rolling an art form. If you need some updo styling ideas, check out a fierce type 4 curly girl, she won’t disappoint you.

Gentle Detangling Techniques

Detangling is not easy for type 4 curlies, but with that challenge comes acceptance and ways to overcome it. Often if you are on YouTube and you watch a type 4 hair guru you will pick up on some ingenious ways to detangle your hair that you would never have thought of.

Type 4’s have more than likely tried every hair tool in the book and can tell you which ones are the best of the best. If you are having trouble with detangling the best people to learn from are the ones that have the most difficulty regardless of your own hair type.

Chances are they would have covered the easy and hard techniques as they work through there own detangling woes and finally settled on the best method for them.

Consistency And Organisation

Lord knows these women will not let a wash day pass despite knowing how much work it entails. If wash day is Sunday, just know that you won’t see your type 4 curly friend, mom, sister, or daughter for a while.

All their oils*, cleansers and conditioners will be laid out on the countertop in categories because this girl is organized and efficient. Do not disturb a type 4 curly on wash day, just watch and learn girls, watch and learn!

What the 4A-4C can learn from the 3A-3C

How To Create Volume

Masters of disguise these type 3 curlies are. They love big hair, and especially if their hair tends to be on the fine side, they know how to turn what seems like spaghetti noodles starting out into an obnoxious, overwhelming, larger than life fro. This no joke, these girls are pros!

If you want to learn how to create volume, find a girl with some 3c curls and a diffuser, she will show you exactly how to make your hair command attention with a few simple techniques.

How To Do Cute Braided Styles

Just like our type 4 curlies, type 3 curlies have magic fingers too. They can french braid, fishtail braid, braid to the side, braid upside down with a bun on top, you name it they can do it. Styling options are many and these women have tried it all so don’t sleep on a 3 naturalista with 10 fingers and a tutorial, you will not be disappointed.

Frugality – How To Use As Little Product As Possible

Type 3 curlies know how to make a product stretch. How many times have you heard a type 3 curly on a YouTube video say, ‘…and you don’t need a lot’ and by golly, they actually only put a dime size amount in their little hands and somehow their hair looks complete.

If you are a half-a-jar-using type 4 curly you might be giving us the side eye right about now, but it is true! Really you do not need a lot of product for your hair to behave the way it naturally behaves.

Product problems only arise when you are trying to get your hair to do something it doesn’t want to do (like lay perfectly flat), it is important to recognize that when making decisions on product types and how much to use.

How to Enjoy Their Hair

A type 3 curly will have purple hair color with some pink undertones one day and the next day they will go back to a signature black and straightened in the name of boredom.

They might be a bit more daring than their type 4 curly haired friends and despite the dangers of overdoing some things they are willing to take the chance and enjoy what they have here and now.

In every scenario, there needs to be extra care when using heat or color and sometimes because being natural is so new to us, we don’t want to do anything that could mess things up which means that many of us wind up wearing one style and one style only!

It is important to enjoy the experience of being natural regardless of what category you fall into and a purple haired type 3 curly will tell you, ‘its only hair’. If you make a mistake all is not lost, it’s all a part of the learning process so enjoy your hair now and in the moment.

Bottom line is that we can all learn from each other because there is something there for us all to appreciate our various hair journeys.