Four separate answers, because the 1A–4C number only describes the curl: tap the curl that looks like yours, then your strand width, your density and how your hair behaves with water. Answer any of them — each one is reported on its own, with who says so.
Your hair type
Start anywherePick the curl that looks like yours, or answer any of the four parts.
Why there is no float test here
Curl patterns quoted from the Andre Walker system (via Wikipedia) and CurlCentric; porosity signs from Healthline; the float-test critique from Lab Muffin; density from Living Proof and CurlCentric; strand width from Inhairitance. Checked 2026-09-22.
Quick answer: your hair type is four separate things. The curl pattern runs from 1A (dead straight) through 2 (S-waves) and 3 (curls and spirals) to 4C (coils so tight no pattern shows). Then there is strand width (fine, medium or coarse against a sewing thread), density (how much hair — measure around your ponytail) and porosity (how fast it drinks water and lets it go). Products work on all four, so the tool reports all four.
How to use it
Tap the strand that looks most like a piece of your hair dried with nothing in it. If none of them is obvious, open Not sure? and answer two questions — how it dries, then which of three descriptions is closest. Then, in any order: lay one shed strand next to a sewing thread; measure around your ponytail (or part your hair under a light and look at your scalp); and answer the three water questions. Skip anything you like — every part is reported on its own, and a question you leave out is left out of the answer, never guessed.
Where 1A–4C comes from, and what it leaves out
The 1A–4C scale was “created in the 1990s by Oprah Winfrey’s stylist Andre Walker” and “was originally created to market Walker’s line of hair care products” (Wikipedia). It has since been “criticized for an apparent hierarchy which values Caucasian hair over other hair types” and for not accounting for “full variation in density and scalp types”. That second criticism is why this tool asks about density, strand width and porosity separately instead of stopping at a curl number.
The twelve curl patterns
Two descriptions of each, quoted: the system’s own words as Wikipedia records them, and CurlCentric‘s, which compares each curl to something you can hold — sidewalk chalk, a marker, a pencil, a crochet needle.
| Type | Family | Andre Walker | CurlCentric |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1A | Straight | “Hard to hold a curl, hair tends to be oily, hard to damage.” | “Straight, no bend anywhere”, with “fine, very thin, and soft” strands. |
| 1B | Straight | “Has much body. (i.e. more volume, more full).” | “Straight with a little body”, “medium-textured, with noticeably more body than 1A.” |
| 1C | Straight | “Hard to curl (i.e. bone straight).” | “Straight and thick” — “the coarsest of the Type 1s, and the most stubborn.” |
| 2A | Wavy | “Can accomplish various styles. Loose ‘S’ pattern. Hair sticks close to the head.” | “A loose S past the ears”, with “more texture than definition.” |
| 2B | Wavy | “A bit resistant to styling. Hair has more of a defined ‘S’ pattern. Hair tends to be frizzy.” | “A clear S from mid-length” — “mostly straight at the roots and then falls into S-shaped waves from the mid-length down.” |
| 2C | Wavy | “Hair has wider waves. Resistant to styling. Hair tends to be frizzy.” | “Waves from the root, a few ringlets” — the waves start “at the root instead of halfway down.” |
| 3A | Curly | “Thick and full with much body. Definite curl pattern. Hair tends to be frizzy.” | “Big loose spirals” about as wide as sidewalk chalk, “big, loose, and shiny”. |
| 3B | Curly | “Medium amount of space of the curls. Can have a combined texture.” | “Springy ringlets with bounce”, about the width of a Sharpie. |
| 3C | Curly | “Tight curls in corkscrews. The curls are very tightly curled.” | “Tight corkscrews packed close”, about pencil-width — “the most volume of any Type 3.” |
| 4A | Coily | “Tightly coiled. Has a very defined O-shaped pattern.” | “Small springy coils”, crochet-needle-width, that “hold a visible S pattern when you stretch them out.” |
| 4B | Coily | “Tightly coiled. Little less defined kink pattern. Has more of a Z-shaped pattern.” | Hair that “bends at sharp angles, closer to the letter Z than the letter S.” |
| 4C | Coily | “Tightly coiled. Almost no visible defined kink pattern, unless seen from up close.” | “So tight no curl shows, even wet”, with “even more shrinkage” than 4B. |
Strand width
Take one shed strand and lay it next to an ordinary sewing thread, or roll it between your thumb and finger. Width is not the curl and it is not density: “Density is how many strands you have on your head … Diameter is the width of each individual strand” (Inhairitance).
| Width | Next to a sewing thread | Between your fingers |
|---|---|---|
| Fine | “Noticeably thinner than the thread” | “you can barely feel it — like it might not be there at all” |
| Medium | “Roughly the same width” | “you feel a distinct, definite strand” |
| Coarse | “Thicker than the thread” | “feels strong, almost wiry, like a thread of embroidery floss” |
Density: two published scales that do not agree
Pull all your hair into one ponytail at the nape and measure around it, snugly, just above the band. Here are the two scales, word for word — and the gap between them.
| Source | In its words | As bands |
|---|---|---|
| Living Proof | “Less than 2 inches” low · “Between 2-3 inches” medium · “Four or more inches” high | under 2 in: low · 2–3 in: medium · 4 in or more: high |
| CurlCentric (Fia’s system) | “less than 2 inches” thin · “between 2–4 inches” normal · “greater than 4 inches” thick | under 2 in: thin · 2–4 in: normal · over 4 in: thick |
Living Proof's scale leaves 3 to 4 inches unassigned — it jumps from medium (2–3 in) to high (4 in and up). CurlCentric calls that range normal. Neither is wrong; they are two scales, so the tool shows both. Note the edge at 4 inches, too: Living Proof’s “four or more” counts exactly 4 in as high; CurlCentric’s “greater than 4” leaves it in normal. The tool follows each source’s own words. For scale, Living Proof puts a typical scalp at 80,000 to 120,000 hairs.
Porosity — and why there is no float test here
Porosity is “your hair’s ability to absorb and retain moisture” (Healthline). These are the signs of each level, quoted:
| Level | Signs |
|---|---|
| Low porosity | “hair products tend to sit on your hair and don’t absorb easily” · “it’s hard for water to saturate your hair when washing” · “it takes a long time for your hair to air dry” |
| Medium porosity | “your hair is easy to style and can hold styles for a good length of time” · “your hair tends to look healthy, shiny, or glossy” · “it doesn’t take too long for your hair to air dry” |
| High porosity | “water and other moisturizing products are quickly absorbed into your hair” · “your hair tends to be frizzy and dry” · “it doesn’t take much time for your hair to air dry” |
High porosity can come from “genetics or hair damage” — “blow drying, bleaching, straightening, overwashing, and using harsh products”, and “ultraviolet exposure”. (Healthline)
Healthline describes it: drop a clean strand in water, and if it floats it is low porosity, if it sinks quickly it is high. The beauty-science site Lab Muffin explains why that is not what it measures: these tests “check for damage to the surface of hair – more surface damage gets diagnosed as ‘high porosity’, while less surface damage gets diagnosed as ‘low porosity’”, because “these observations are actually to do with how water interacts with the surface of hair, not whether or not it soaks inside!” So this tool asks how your hair behaves instead — the signs Healthline itself lists.
Three worked examples
Curls about as wide as a marker pen, strands you can barely feel, a 1.8-inch ponytail, and hair that soaks up water and dries fast. That is 3B · fine · low density · high porosity. Both density scales call 1.8 in low (thin). High porosity comes from “genetics or hair damage” — if it is new, look at what changed.
Coils that show no pattern even wet, strands like embroidery floss, a 4.5-inch ponytail, and water that beads on it. 4C · coarse · high density · low porosity: every one of the three water answers points the same way.
A 3.5-inch ponytail. Living Proof’s scale has no word for it — it jumps from 2–3 in to 4 in and up — and CurlCentric calls it normal. The tool says exactly that instead of picking one.
Common mistakes
- Typing hair wet or right after styling. Look at it dried with nothing in it; product and heat change the pattern.
- Expecting one type for the whole head. 3B at the crown and 3A underneath is common — the system itself describes 3B as able to “have a combined texture”. Tap the one that covers most of it.
- Mixing up width and density. Lots of fine hairs is high density, fine width. Few coarse hairs is low density, coarse width.
- Trusting the float test. It measures the surface of the strand, not what soaks in.
- Reading the number as a ranking. 4C is not “more” anything than 1A; the numbers describe shape, and the system’s critics point out that its ordering has been read as a hierarchy.
More on Needle Style
Styles for your texture: short curly shag haircuts, awkward-length 4C hairstyles, hairstyles for thin wavy hair, bob hairstyles for fine hair, how to make thin hair look thick and summer haircuts for thick hair.
Sources, quoted as they read on the day checked: Wikipedia: Andre Walker Hair Typing System and CurlCentric (2026-09-20), Lab Muffin Beauty Science (2026-09-20), Healthline, Living Proof and Inhairitance (2026-09-22).
FAQ
What is my hair type?
Four answers, not one: the curl pattern (1A to 4C), the strand width (fine, medium, coarse), the density (low, medium, high) and the porosity (low, medium, high). The tool above asks for each separately — tap the curl that looks like yours and answer as many of the other three as you can.
How do I read a hair type chart?
The number is the family — 1 straight, 2 wavy, 3 curly, 4 coily — and the letter is how tight the wave or curl is within it, A loosest and C tightest. So 2A is a loose S past the ears and 2C is waves from the root; 3A is big loose spirals and 3C tight pencil-width corkscrews.
What is the difference between 3C and 4A?
CurlCentric’s comparison is the clearest: 3C is “tight corkscrews packed close”, about pencil-width; 4A is “small springy coils”, crochet-needle-width, which “hold a visible S pattern when you stretch them out”.
How do I test my hair porosity?
Watch how it behaves. Low porosity is hard to get wet, slow to air-dry, and products sit on top. High porosity soaks up water almost instantly, dries fast and tends to be frizzy and dry. The float test is popular, but Lab Muffin explains it measures damage to the surface of the strand, not how much water gets in.
How do I know my hair density?
Measure around a ponytail of all your hair. Under 2 inches is low on both published scales; 2 to 3 inches is medium on Living Proof’s and normal on CurlCentric’s; from 4 inches Living Proof calls it high. Between 3 and 4 inches only CurlCentric has a word — normal.
Is hair texture the same as hair type?
Not quite. “Texture” is often used for strand width — fine, medium or coarse — while “type” usually means the curl pattern. Living Proof uses texture that way: “Hair thickness refers to the width of individual hair strands. It’s also known as hair texture.”
Can my hair type change?
The pattern can shift with hormones, age and damage, and porosity changes easily — Healthline lists bleaching, heat, over-washing and sun among the causes of high porosity. Re-take the parts that might have changed rather than trusting an answer from years ago.