The pure hair motion, created within the Nineteen Sixties, was essentially designed to be inclusive and to present Black girls an area the place they might have a good time their hair because it grew, sans manipulation. Though the motion was constructed to uplift pure hair sorts, that is not essentially what occurs in follow. In Chris Rock’s 2009 documentary “Good Hair” — an exploration of the significance of hair within the Black neighborhood — the comic says, “If hair is nappy, they don’t seem to be comfortable.” Over a decade later, we nonetheless discover ourselves in conditions the place that is true.
Time and time once more, these of us with textured hair expertise discrimination within the office, colleges, and day by day life. Certain, actions and even legal guidelines just like the CROWN Act have stepped in to assist depoliticize Black hair, however discrimination continues to be deeply embedded. The concept hair textures nearer to straight hair are extra acceptable nonetheless persists. And what is perhaps propelling these beliefs is the hair sort scale.
Consultants Featured in This Article
Jatina Nixon is Mielle’s lead hairstylist.
Michelle O’Connor is a hairstylist and Matrix’s international artist director.
Leigh Hardges is a hairstylist at Maxine Salon.
Who Created the Hair Sort Scale?
The historical past of the hair typing system is an advanced one. The unique hair sort system, the hair gauge, was developed in 1905 in present-day Namibia by Eugen Fischer — a German scientist whose concepts knowledgeable the Nazi Get together’s Nuremberg Legal guidelines — to know a person’s proximity to whiteness primarily based on their hair texture. Many years later, throughout South Africa’s apartheid, the sort of discrimination was echoed with the “pencil take a look at,” which said if a pencil might completely place itself inside your hair whilst you shook your head, you possibly can not be labeled as white.
As we speak, we frequently reference Oprah Winfrey’s former hairstylist Andre Walker because the creator of the 1A-4C system we use at present, extensively often called The Hair Chart. The dimensions separates textures into 4 classes, beginning at 1 for straight hair, 2 for wavy, 3 for unfastened curls, and 4 for the coarsest and most tightly curled texture. The dimensions then will get divided into letters A-C, with 4C hair being the kinkiest and curliest of all of them.
For a lot of, it is checked out as a information — permitting people to call their curl sample and observe routines and merchandise to swimsuit their hair sort. On TikTok, for instance, you may see over three billion views on movies about sort 4 hair: detailing product suggestions, how-tos, and hairstyles that complement the feel. “The chart shouldn’t be knowledgeable software, however as a substitute offers a visible reference for basic relatability,” Jatina Nixon, Mielle’s lead hairstylist, tells PS.
Does the Hair Sort Scale Perpetuate European Magnificence Beliefs?
Though it may be considered as frequent language to know your hair, classifying instruments have been used all through historical past to check and distinction how “white” individuals are. It is led many to imagine that The Hair Chart, which focuses solely on curl circumference, has alienated these positioned on the finish of the size. (Walker didn’t instantly reply to PS’s request for touch upon the topic.)
“It has inadvertently created a hair hierarchy, with many evaluating curl sorts with one being presumably higher and one being presumably worse,” says Michelle O’Connor, Matrix’s international artist director.
These with 4C hair are sometimes charged extra at salons for the preconceived notion that their hair is harder to cope with and would possibly take an extended time. Walker himself instructed Elle in 2011 that not like looser 1A-3C hair, “Kinky hair can have restricted styling choices; that is the one hair sort that I recommend altering with skilled enjoyable.” Sort 4 hair purchasers are additionally usually required to return with their hair absolutely detangled or blow-dried earlier than receiving braids, trims, or sew-ins.
Not solely can the size alienate sure curl sorts, but it surely additionally would not embody all hair sorts. Most naturals, myself included, have totally different curl patterns on our head. The entrance of my hair is 4A, whereas the crown is nearer to 4B and the nape and sideburns are 3B. My 4A hair might reply very otherwise from another person’s 4A hair, primarily based on merchandise — making it even more durable to create a routine that works for all the strands on my head.
“At any time when there’s a categorization, inclusivity turns into an issue,” says Leigh Hardges, a stylist at Maxine Salon. “There’ll all the time be these particular circumstances that do not discover their place inside the teams, and due to the classes, corporations and types begin to alienate the textures that are not their core demographic.”
The hair sort scale assumes all of us match neatly into these 4 containers. However some professionals and people against the size say it would not account for all of the elements that go into caring to your hair. “[The chart] shouldn’t be the whole image, as a result of there are extra hair sorts that exist than 1, 2, 3, and 4,” O’Connor says. “Issues like density, porosity, floor texture, elasticity — these are different parts that we have a look at within the skilled surroundings along with curl circumference. The circumference of your curl would not inform you if it is nice, medium, coarse, or different issues.”
How Has the Hair Sort Scale Affected the Pure Hair Motion?
Though The Hair Chart can help as a visible support to discovery, it would not essentially mesh nicely with the pure hair motion. The motion originated within the Nineteen Sixties, when Afros and pure hair had been embraced as an emblem of energy and resistance, and teams just like the Black Panthers had been main the best way with huge hair and pure curls.
After a four-decade rise in chemical straightening — girls had been beginning to be a part of the workforce extra, and straight hair was synonymous with professionalism and upward motion — the pure hair motion reemerged within the early 2000s with natural-hair bloggers on YouTube who moved away from relaxers and warmth instruments. These early influencers pored over analysis and recommendation on the way to type pure hair. Again then, the whole lot was explorative; it was thrilling, informative, however most of all, a celebration of textured hair.
Is the Hair Sort Scale Needed?
O’Connor believes the tide is altering with regards to hair typing. “I err on the aspect of warning once I say [The Hair Chart] is important as a result of curly hair is changing into so mainstream,” she says. “Going into skilled salons, the size may help bridge the hole, but it surely’s additionally not the total image of knowledge wanted.”
So what different elements decide the way to care to your hair? The consultants all agree that the chart can be utilized as a jumping-off level, however density, porosity, elasticity, and hair harm must also be thought-about. “What our hair seems to be like solely doesn’t decide how we must always take care of it,” Nixon says.
Many see the LOIS scale or Circle Hair System as options to The Hair Chart. The LOIS scale, initially printed by former web site OurHair.web, doesn’t reference numbers however as a substitute considers sheen, shine, frizz, texture, and strand thickness of the hair. It makes use of “L” to explain hair with no curve; “O” to explain hair that’s rolled up into the form of 1 or a number of zeros, like a spiral; “I” for hair that lies flat with no distinct curve or bend; and “S” for hair with a wavy line. The dimensions makes an attempt to keep away from hierarchy and visibly exhibits you in case you have a mix of various curls or textures. The Circle Hair System, created by hairstylist Pamela Ferrell in 2014, is predicated on the circle measurement figuring out the traits of your hair. For instance, when it will get moist, the circle measurement will decide if it stands up or hangs down. Ferrell states that the smaller the circle, the extra the hair shrinks.
Finally, many hair consultants agree that The Hair Chart is an non-obligatory software, not the be-all and end-all holy grail. O’Connor encourages all hairstylists to “test inside your self about any particular emotions you will have about particular curl patterns so it is not introduced in a biased strategy to the purchasers.” These steps might get us nearer to decolonizing the best way the general public views and behaves towards folks with tighter coils and spirals.
Natasha Marsh is a contract author who writes about trend, magnificence, and way of life. Previous to freelancing, she held styling employees positions at The Wall Avenue Journal, Burberry, Cosmopolitan Journal, British GQ, and Harper’s Bazaar.
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