>>393068I’m not convinced it only applies to certain ‘4c’ hair though, because in my experience (and in some anecdotes) my hair was completely indistinguishable from any other 4c. so what would be the distinction? if everything is the same i think it would be odd to assume they’re any different.
i have the time so i’ll spout my theory. i’ve put an autistic amount of effort and research into my hair because of how much trouble it was giving me and came to the following conclusions: 1, all moisturised and detangled hair, 4c or otherwise, naturally inclines to clumping waves/curls together; 2, the curlier the individual follicle the more moisture it needs to hold itself into clumps; and 3, curlier hair types are dryer because less hair clumps means less moisture retained.
basically what i found is that the more progress i made with my hair the more follicles bunched together and followed the same direction. it ended up progressing from typically 4c to reminiscent of 4a/4b to curl bunches the size associated with type 2/3 hair (but the curl shape looks different, more random meandering and coils upward at the tips, sort of water-like). picrel is not my photo but looks exactly the same as how my 4c hair looked when i first noticed the curls clumping after a veryyy long couple of hours trying to wash a hair mask out.
i’m simply convinced people are too busy putting money into wigs and extensions etc to experiment with research around our natural hair. current hair science is geared to caucasian hair types, from shampoos to conditioners - we don’t have the luxury of products scientists have literally
researched to work for us, i would even argue this for ‘black hair products’ (like greases, they seal out moisture that just isn’t in the follicle). as a result all we have are anecdotes when there could be concrete science on this matter, especially since it seems so disputed.
saw the last reply so disclaimer - while i think locking moisture into hair is probably beneficial long term i don’t consider either ‘good’ or ‘bad’ hair. i dislike when people get
trigger-happy over this topic regardless of what you say, and as i said i prefer ‘4c’ texture for certain styles. but this is my experience and, once i shared what i’ve done with my hair to friends and family who also have 4c hair, the
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