by
The Natural Haven
I remember smiling when I read this witty comment by BGLH blog reader A Simple Thing on the article about the types of naturals who should avoid heat:
‘ It’s like having fine and kinky hair is the universe’s way of saying “Everyone’s hair is versatile – except yours.” It’s like Oprah giving everyone a car, except you. ‘
All jokes aside, it is a thorn in the side of some naturals that fine kinky 4c hair seems to always come with a warning label. Is it really less versatile?
1. For the Motion
There are so many reasons why it can be argued that fine 4c hair lacks versatility . These reasons are mostly hinged on what fine, kinky 4c hair either cannot do well or does to an extreme including:
-Heat straightening without getting damaged /split ends. Needing a trim after a heat styling session.
-Hair cannot be detangled easily within 15 – 20 mins.
-Necessity to handle strands very gently to avoid breakage.
-Susceptibility to mid-shaft splits and single strand as well as complex knots.
-Very high shrinkage even with minor wetting.
-General necessity to protectively style hair most of the time to gain length.
2. Against the Motion
While all the reasons listed previously are above, it is possible to issue a rebuttal against each one:
– Fine kinky 4c hair can be heat straightened but it just has to be kept to a minimum and it has to accepted that some damage will be accrued.
– You can reduce detangling time by maintaining styles that reduce knotting and tangling which are the two main factors that increase detangling time.
– Handling hair gently enough to avoid breakage is necessary for anyone who wants to grow longer hair. Some of us just have to be more gentle than others.
-Mid shaft splits and knotting can be exacerbated by styling and therefore can also be reduced by modifying how you style your hair.
– Stretched styles are great if you do not want to embrace shrinkage. Slipping your free hair into a bun when it starts drizzling is also an easy way to control minor wetting shrinkage.
– Most long haired 4c naturals will sing the praises of protective styling and there are so many beautiful styles within that genre that it is redundant to suggest it as a limiting factor.
Summary
Your hair is as versatile as you deem it to be. There are things that those of us with fine 4c kinky hair will know without doubt will break or damage our hair. However, some of us will do them anyway because we accept that we will sacrifice a little bit of progress and enjoy, for example, a straight hair day. There are others in the bunch who do not accept this as they want to make a steady march towards length. Accept it for what it can do, work with its properties to get into the style you desire or just work with styles that you know it can do well. Ultimately, it is your hair and you should enjoy it rather than let it shackle you.
4C ladies, chime in! What are your thoughts on this?
44 Responses
A lot of people on this post can’t read. She said FINE hair that is 4C… That’s a different kettle of fish from regular 4C hair. I’ve seen youtube videos where women with obvious 4C hair were handling their hair 10x more roughly than I can afford to handle mine— if I want to keep it on my head.
And I’ve seen some 4C naturals get curls to stay in their heads with a little pink oil and some perm rods after their hair was stretched out. Yeah….okay….lasting 5 minutes in zero humidity.
My FINE hair, dang near zero-porosity hair, goes from mushy to over-protein-ed in a split second. My hair grows just fine. But when it’s not in braids, it’s hard to keep from breaking it. And It doesn’t matter how gentle I am with knots, my hair breaks at least 2 times out of 10….may not seem like much to you, but I assure you it is
It’s not divisive to ask somebody to address specific hair issues. If you DO NOT have FINE hair that’s 4C then move on to a post that addresses YOUR hair because most 4C posts do almost nothing for me.
…including this one, unfortunately.
FINE hair that is 4C requires special handling AND a giving up of certain things that other 4Cs can do. But there’s nothing here about the what fine 4Cs can definitely do (as far as styles that don’t require putting your hair away)
It’s a shame that the post with the most positive responses is the one where the woman gave up. But if FINE 4C hair is rarely addressed, I see how she got there. And I’d go that way too truthfully except my fine 4C hair HATES relaxers, chemicals, perms period — more than my natural hair hates mechanical breakage from my hands or breaking because I let it go an extra two hours with a spritz of water at exactly the right moment.
I am old to the comments here, but personally I think my fine 4c hair does best in dreadlocks.
I have fine 4c hair and honestly my biggest concerns are retaining length and the knots that often form out of no place. I never had an issue with growth, but the breakage.. smh. I’m still trying to learn how to wear my hair freely without breakage. I can only gain length if I keep my hair put away in protective styles.
This describes mine and my daughters hair to a tee. I have always hated it. Currently trying to learn to embrace it. Even braid outs look terrible on me. My hair loves sew-ins and grows amazingly with them. That being said who wants to spend their whole life hiding their hair. I’m at a loss. Have t permed yet but every time I try to style my natural hair I think about it.
My hair type is fine 4c, this was my story. I was natural for 7 years. I tried EVERYTHING!!! My hair simply was difficult to style, PERIOD! There is nothing to get offended over, it’s just the truth. In order for my hair to have “definition” I would have to leave it twisted, FOR DAYS!!! Then I would have awesome hair FOR 2 DAYS. And then my hair would slowly revert, shrink, lose texture, etc due to unavoidable things, humidity.
THE LAST STRAW FOR ME WAS WHEN I SPENT 6 HOURS WASHING, BLOW OUT, TWISTING MY HAIR FOR AN EVENT. WHEN I TOOK MY HAIR DOWN IT WAS GORGEOUS, CURLY AND FLOWING PAST MY SHOULDERS. BY THE TIME I GOT TO MY EVENT, THE HUMIDITY DESTROYED MY HAIR!!! IT HAD SHRUNK TO MY EARLOBS AND LOST ALL DEFINITION. IT WAS NOT CUTE AND LOOKED LIKE I DID NOTHING TO MY HAIR. PEOPLE WERE EVEN MAKING UGLY COMMENTS AND STARING AT MY HAIR LIKE “WHY WOULD SHE LEAVE THE HOUSE LOOKING LIKE THAT?!” THIS DESTROYED ME! SO I SAID F*CK NATURAL HAIR! I KNEW THIS WAS NOT FOR ME!!!
So I got a relaxer. I stretch my relaxers to every 9 weeks. I do protein treatments the wash before and after my relaxer. And guess what, my hair is HEALTHY, BEAUTIFUL AND GROWING!!! When I got my 1st relaxer my hair was shoulder length. Now a year and 3 months later it’s bra strap length. I get constant compliments on my hair and people think it’s weave. I love to bust their bubble by telling them it’s my REAL hair. And now I can do a perfect twist out with my relaxed hair.
This website helped me to realize my natural hair will NEVER look the way I want it to. It’s not my styling method, it’s just my texture!!!!
So no NATURAL HAIR is not for everyone!!!
This is not just a black women issue, so please don’t throw that afro-centric self hate mumbo jumbo in my face. Some women of all races do not stick with the natural hair they are born with. Nicole Kidmon and Mila Kunis both have naturally super curly hair and THEY BOTH STRAIGHTEN IT!!!
Thank you!!!! All I have to say
i completely agree. i’ve been natural my entire life. the overrall shape of my hair/afro , does not fit my face. no matter how long it gets, it will shrink as much as it can to my scalp. my hair will look like a big chop and be past my damn shoulders stretched out.
my head of hair is very dense, with very VERY fine hairs. so fine i think most products don’t work because theres just no surface area.
so i will be rocking my lace frontal wigs with no shame. especially since i been living the natural hair life – my whole damn life. idc what any ~5 year natural has to say LOL
hmmm dont think I agree with 4c hair lacking versatility..if anything it is the most versatile because of its thickness ..just more time consuming to maintain because of its coarsness. I myself in addition to deep conditioning, protective styles etc,take vitamins, drink plenty of water, and eat foods high in antioxidants, this helps in maintaining healthy hair and hair growth,thus preventing breakage. 🙂
I agree with you on 4c thick hair. But the issue is with 4c thin fun hair.
Some people will never feel their hair is versatile, regardless of what it looks like because they don’t know how to take care of it and they don’t know how to make it look how they want.
It isn’t about hair type, its about learning what your particular hair can do. If it can’t do it, find something it can do that you like. There are so many styles. Straight smooth hair can’t do dreadlocks either, someone with that type of hair might feel its not versatile if that’s what they want but if they look at the options they do have, they would enjoy their hair.
Funny, I just wrote something related to this last night: http://mybigfatafro.blogspot.com/2014/11/are-4c-hair-bloggers-boring.html
I think if you have fine 4C strands you have to accept that there are limitations to what your hair can do. It’s when people interpret this as a negative thing that it becomes a problem. I’m a fine 4Cer and im perfectly happy with not wearing my fro out every day, not trying high manipulation methods like MHM, not wearing wash and gos…it’s just not that serious.
I have fine hair although not 4c. I have tried blowouts a few times and mu hair was not happy. hooded dyers better for me.
As someone with fine and thin natural hair it is a struggle. When I was relaxed my hair was thin, I thought it was just due to the relaxing. I thought going natural would make my hair thick and coarse just like what I’d seen in all the YouTube videos. Well my hair is thicker than when I was relaxed but not as thick as I want it. My twistout/braidouts/bantu knots look way too scalpy , any hairstyle I try looks like that! I can’t help but envy thicker haired naturals. Modifying styles and techniques have helped my hairstyles look less scalpy as well as extensions , contrary to popular opinions dying my hair has actually helped create the illusion of thicker and hasn’t broken my hair due to attentive care.
If you don’t mind me asking what is your hair type
My sister has hair that is 4c. Her hair is gorgeous natural. She would keep curl with its texture. Just absolutely gorgeous! She has to be careful with heat though. But when you have hair that looks that good naturally, why bother?
I have fine 4C hair and I must say, I also did not really like this article BGLH. I rarely comment but I had to chime in. I would much rather you had posted links to styles that the fine 4C haired ladies such as myself can do with our hair rather than lamenting the fact that we can’t heat the curls out of it. Honestly, I don’t even see why the label on this article even singles out us fine haired 4C ladies. Each of your arguments speaks to everyone in the natural hair community. If you weren’t specifically mentioning fine 4C hair I could paint that brush on any hair texture 3B and up at least! Anyway, it’s clear from the comments that we 4C hair types are tired of our hair being marginalized especially coming from a place where we are looking for inclusion.
thank you. the article was pretty close to worthless
*sigh*
Do any other hair textures get as many things you can’t/ shouldn’t/ wouldn’t/ better not ever so with your hair? I understand that our hair is unique and presents some challenges that people with other textures don’t have to deal with, but I’m tired of constantly hearing about difficult 4c hair is from such negative perspectives.
Can we stick to things that are actually constructive, educational, and useful, which extend our knowledge of hair textures in general? Merci!
Versatile according to whose standards?
Put another way: Is all hair versatile except fine type 1 hair?
– Because it’s so slippery, it needs product in order to hold many styles.
– Contrary to popular belief, it requires extra care when it’s long otherwise it can get scraggly. (I have known many women with this hair type who can’t grow it past APL because the ends thin out and break off. I’ve actually pointed a few to the Long Hair Community site to learn about the joys of protective styling.)
– And let’s not talk about how hard it is to get it to hold curls, much less style it into a true ‘fro…
Afro-textured hair is the most versatile hair on the PLANET.
why does hair have to be versatile?
So that it doesn’t become boring
While I don’t have 4c hair , I don’t understand that bad rap that 4c hair keeps getting. It seems like alot articles I tend to read about 4c hair is always knocking the texture down. How can u encourage naturals to love their hair when there’s always a comparison with textures. Some articles make naturals feel like if they don’t have hair like Tracey Ellis Ross or the singer, Elle that it’s over when really it’s not.
Awww, I was going through a bit of a rubbish patch with my hair and was saddened by another option seemingly being snatched from my grasp, haha!
I think rules can be helpful, but it’s useful as well to experiment, to find what works well for your hair.
Also, versatility can be subjective – I have to put in a lot of effort regularly and can do lots of things with my hair (sometimes, the choice is overwhelming!).
Whereas my friend from China can get away with doing next to nothing with her hair on a regular basis, but when she does want to do something different, it takes a LOT of effort.
These two are not true for my fine, low porosity, 4c hair:
-Hair cannot be detangled easily within 15 – 20 mins
–As long as I’m not sleeping on loose hair for more than a week, I can detangle my hair — while wet and/or with conditioner in it — in 15-20 minutes every time. The only time it takes longer is when I’ve let my hair completely shrink and matte up.
-General necessity to protectively style hair most of the time to gain length
–I only protective style in the winter. My hair has no problem growing the rest of the year as long as I’m patient with it and taking the necessary precautions (moisturize, cleanse, gentle handling), as Happy said.
I have 4C hair and I’ve been staying away from heat as much as possible. No matter which heat protectent I’ve used, my ends get extremely damaged.
Let me take something back. I do not have 4c hair. I will not continue to use those labels. I have Debria Tykeisha Johnson type hair.
I’m sorry but this is division is crazy. Writing about the “natural hair division” and why kinkier hair is so “terrible” only keeps this division alive. Move on for the love of lil wayne! I have 4c hair and I do anything I want with my hair. If you’re struggling, be patient and start doing what you want with your hair and it’ll respond accordingly.
I find this is the same with ALL Fine haired type 4’s. I’m a Fine haired 4A and I have to be sooo careful with my hair. The majority of type 4’s have coarse or medium strands. People often forget about us kinky girls with fine strands. I stopped relaxing a year and a half ago because it was making my hair thinner and stunting my growth. But I have to be careful with heat styling because fine hair suffers heat damage the easiest. It’s a catch 22.
I’m 4c and very low porosity and I never knew that before march when I big chopped. No transition, I just chopped off all my bleached blonde heat damaged hair because I was tired of not knowing how to take care of it! Now I’m early in my hair journey and I’ve been scared of heat because of my old hair life haha but not protective styling either just twist outs and refreshing every 3 days ever since I could actually twist it, my hair is about 4in long.
I have to disagree about all hair being versatile except 4c kinky hair./ I mean with straight hair what can you do??? curl it? braid it? With 4c hair, although you have to be careful you can curl it, straighten it, two strand twist it, twist out braid out, and my afev, the puff. You can do a lot more than you can with straight wavy or even loose curly hair.
The article says Fine 4c hair not all 4c hair
I have very fine 4c hair with a little 4b, and I must say it is very fragile. It breaks, splits and knots very easily, it does require extreme gentle care but, I have found that 4c hair is actually very versatile when it comes to styling. I can wear a full kinky fro or stretched version, my hair can be straight, wavy, curly, kinky or blown out, I can literally make it look like anything. And even though my hair is extremely fine, on the plus side because its also very kinky, I can make it look fuller and thicker than what it actually is. I loovvve the versatility of my natural kinky hair!
This hair type requires a certain type of skill and mastery with regards to styling. The more you have in your repertoire, the easier it is to handle and the more versatile it becomes. The frustration comes in when people have few styling skills and little patience with it. I suggest learning basic styling skills, finding compatible products and really learning how to master and not fear 4c. It also makes a big difference when you do everything on stretched hair and keep it well moisturised.
Hmmm…well i have 4c hair. My individual strands are thin but my hair is dense overall. Ive actually always considered type 4 hair to be the most versatile. As for my 4c hair i think anything can be done to it as long as you follow proper precautions. I use heat periodically (once every 3-4 months) and do various styles. However i will admit that daily manipulation does more harm than good. Ill do a style that lasts for 1-2 weeks (an updo) and i do alot of longterm protective styles (braids and sew-ins) as well. Everyonce inawhile ill wear it stretched out but only for 2-4 days max, i keep the hair stretched with rollers at night. The trick is to only touch the hair when it is damp and has some type conditioner or oil etc (aloe vera water and shea butter/leave in conditioner does wonders for me).
The ONLY hair you know, is your own. Natural hair gurus/scientists/stylists and other know-it-alls can claim they know the dos and don’ts of ‘4C’ hair – but they don’t!
Let’s stop presenting information as ‘academic lecture’ by self-appointed leaders and start sharing experiences as individuals. 4C hair that ‘doesn’t act’ like 4C hair isn’t unicorn hair, it’s reality. By strictly assigning behavior to certain hair types, we lose the freedom that the natural hair journey is all about.
“Let’s stop presenting information as ‘academic lecture’ by self-appointed leaders and start sharing experiences as individuals.”
Thank you! I’m so tired of hearing anecdotes from a very small, non-SRS sample being used as scientific evidence for any claim. JC/ Natural Hair Haven has a bad habit of doing this.
Instead of written by The Natural Haven
Should say, by The Natural Hater
Fine 4 C will find no shelter in her laboratory.
@Elle: STANDING OVATION for this comment!!! I couldn’t have said it better!
This s**t right here. …
Thank you, BGLH, for continuing to perpetuate the “hair type division” within the natural community. I knew there was a reason I started to fall back from this site, and lo and behold this article proves me right. I’m done ..
This particular author though… She always talks about how 4c hair can’t do anything but be put in a protective style 24/7 and be finger detangled.
I have fine 4C hair which I love. It’s true what the article says in the summary. At times we may want to do something different like use heat but generally my top tip is to know your own hair and find what works best. After a year fully natural and a year transitioning before that, I have learned that heat & I don’t have to be friends, that protein is my friend and that Protective Styles are important to me. I have blow dried my hair twice and straightened just once the other week since starting my journey and I’m happy with my healthy and growing neck/collarbone length hair. Trimming and dusting are also important to control split ends as and when needed.
Conclusion, your fine 4C hair can be versatile while STILL doing what it needs done.
it’s hard to do much with my hair…i have to be very careful and i dont style it at all
after a year of no heat, i blew dry my hair and had to get it cut from all the splits…i do everything to protect my hair and it still seems to split
sounds terrible but wigs are my friend
agree with you, wigs and 80% protective staying for me…2strand twists is all that do..
Wigs are my best Friend too