With over 300,000 TikTok posts under the hashtag #4Chair, controversy is stirring over who actually has the hair type. From wash routines to shrinkage and growth checks, anyone with an undefined textured has begun to label it as “4C”, while comments argue whether or not their hair matches into the kind. But with porosity, length, volume and other aspects weighed into how our texture looks, what defines who has 4C hair and who doesn’t? 

Below, a curl expert settles the controversy. 

What’s the hair typing system?

The primary known hair typing system was developed within the early 1900s by Eugen Fischer, a German Nazi “scientist” who created the hair gauge, to find out “mixed race” people’s proximity to whiteness based on their hair color, according to the USHMM. Nearly a century later, Oprah Winfrey’s hairstylist, Andre Walker, developed the hair typing system, also generally known as The Hair Chart, to define hair types based on texture as a substitute of color. 

“The hair type system breaks down in a quite simple format the various hair textures from straight to coily,” celebrity hairstylist, colorist, and curl expert Sophie Rose Gutterman tells ESSENCE. The system was originally used to market Walker’s haircare line, helping customers resolve which products can be best for his or her texture, but has since been widely accepted as the usual. 

His original number system actually didn’t include lettered subcategories (first ranked from straight “type 1” to textured “type 4”) which were developed later, and was criticized for rating straight hair first and never bearing in mind qualities like density, scalp types, or individuals with a couple of texture. “With all the various those that exist in our world it’s very hard to sum up all of the curl types on a chart, so do take this chart with a grain of salt,” Gutterman says. As a substitute, she suggests you employ the chart more generally. “Find the closest possible, and based on knowing your hair and what it does, select products keeping each in mind.”

What defines 4C hair?

In response to the chart, type 4 hair is defined as kinky, with 4A hair being tight coils and 4B hair being z-angled coils. Nonetheless, type 4C hair isn’t included on Andre Walker’s chart, which explains the controversy around kinky textures which are neither 4A or 4B. Nonetheless, some charts show the 4C texture as a much tighter version of 4A coils, while others claim it’s more zig-zagged. 

Truth is? It might just be each. “When properly hydrated you will notice very small coily curls almost the scale of a rat tail comb, but in comparison with someone with 4a curls the scale of their coils when properly hydrated might be the diameter of a pen or pencil,” Gutterman says. “Often times [4C strands] will appear as a zig zag shape on account of how fragile the hair might be.” 

Is 4C hair tougher to discover than other hair types?

Between being left off of the usual typing system and appearing as tight coils, zig-zags, or each, it could be tougher to pin down what 4C hair looks like in comparison with other types. “It [also] might be harder to discover since the texture is commonly manipulated to be worn straight,” she says, along with looking “completely different” wet vs. dry. “You may just about manipulate 4c hair to remain short or elongate when using heat.”

Can your hair’s condition change how 4C hair looks?

Wet or dry? Long or short? Thick or wonderful? “All of those come into play with 4c hair,” she says. “When the hair is broken and the porosity is low you’ll notice it won’t shrink up as much.”Although hair density won’t change the feel an excessive amount of, she says hydration is essential for keeping the hair healthy.

What’s a standard mistake people make when identifying their hair type?

“Some people never even know they’ve curly hair they only think it gets frizzy,” she says, with 4C-haired people often pondering they haven’t any curls in any respect. “That is such a standard thing to listen to because they don’t properly educate themselves on find out how to handle their hair.”

In response to her, basic hair routines, like shampoo, conditioner and leave-in, will show you what you’re missing. “If a leave in isn’t enough and you’re thinking that your hair is straight consider adding some curly styling techniques and products to your routine,” she says. “That ‘frizz’ may mean you may have curly hair.”

Should the typing system expand past 4C?

“There are so many various textures even on one head that the present chart doesn’t speak to,” she says. Although the system helps with understanding different hair types, “identical to skin type or hair color everyone’s hair type is different and don’t feel such as you’re mistaken for being in between numbers or letters.” Like many Black women, your hair may very well be “5a on the highest and 4c on the underside.”