Naturally straight hair is the first type of hair. This kind of hair has more layers of cuticles which means the hair is more resistant to damage. That's a good thing but also a bad thing. This protection also means the strands of hair are more resistant to shaping or styling. When damaged, straight hair is dry and brittle and forms thin ends.

Straight hair comes in 3 subtypes; fine, medium and course. Hair that is fine and straight is usually thin, very soft and naturally shiny. Medium straight hair is more textured and has lots of body. Course straight hair is the most resistant to styling.

Wavy hair is the next kind of hair. It is kind of hard to classify but normally is can be thought of as not quite curly yet not quite straight. An easier way to detect it is to examine a single strand on a table. The individual strands will form S shapes when dry (unstyled). Oddly enough wavy hair can be difficult to style or curl.

There are 3 separate kinds of wavy hair. Just as with straight hair, wavy comes in fine, medium and course. The fine kind is actually able to be straightened or curled in normal circumstances. Medium hair has a harder time with styling and sometimes gets frizzy. Lastly, course wavy hair is very prone to frizzing and is very difficult to style.

Curly hair is our next type. It quite often is 'loopy' and makes a very distinct S pattern when you look and individual strands. It often has a lot of bounce, is soft and can be quite fine. The cuticles are formed smoothly and that yields a less shiny hair than straight or wavy. When wet, curly hair often straightens and oddly enough when the humidity gets high the curls get even tighter and frizz.

Curly hair only comes in 2 different subtypes. There is loosely curled hair and tightly curled hair. The loose variety is almost straight when its cut short and when grown long it makes big curls that can even be shiny. Tightly curled hair appears almost as cork screws. One thing worth noting is that some people with curly hair have both types in various places through out their head.

The fourth type of hair is kinky hair. This hair is very fragile, soft and prone to breakage. Kinky hair is often wound really tightly. It can have a slight sheen to it but normally it is not shiny at all. This kind of hair is made up of many thin strands of hair that are really packed tight together. All of these factors make kinky hair very hard to grow to any decent length.

Kinky hair only comes in 2 subtypes. First is S pattern hair and second is Z pattern. The pattern refers to how a single strand of hair looks when it is stretched out a bit. S type hair contains a bit of moisture whereas Z type has very little moisture when compared to the other hair types.

There you have it. Ten unique and distinct hair types. Now, knowing this, it should be easier for you to decide exactly what specific type of hair you possess. That is important because you will get better styling results if you work with what nature gave you rather than against it. For example, if you have tight curly hair but you love the look of straight hair, you may not get the best results with a hair straightener. Or, if you have coarse straight hair but want to get tight curls, knowing that your hair will resist this type of styling helps you decide the best hair style for you.