Curl typing has been around for decades, but the version most people know online is the Walker system, developed by Oprah's hair stylist Andre Walker with types like 3a and 2b. These days most people know it as a visual chart, where you're supposed to find the curl, coil, or wave pattern that matches your own.

The problem is that a large number of us have multiple curl patterns. The chart doesn't account for that. As someone who has moderated hair communities for a long time, I have watched more arguments break out over “am I a 2c or a 3a” than I care to admit.

Meanwhile, in my own writing I kept describing hair in a way the Walker chart never really accounted for: hair that mostly shrinks vs hair that mostly elongates. Because this is what tends to matter most when it comes to choosing between different products.

Once I dug deeper into the physics and genetics research, I realized those instincts weren’t random. Waves, curls, and coils aren’t separate categories, they’re variations of the same coil. The real divide that matters for actual care is shrinkage vs elongation.

So I stopped trying to force my work into a system I didn’t believe in and built the CurlsBot Curl Typing System instead. It’s designed to be simple, science-aligned, and actually useful for choosing products and techniques. And instead of trying to figure out a chart, you can find your type with your new quiz.

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Wavy? Curly? Coily? Take the quiz to find out in just 2 minutes!

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Why create a new curl typing system

The type system most commonly used on the internet is the Walker system, created in the 90s. I talk more about its history in my post on the science of hair typing, but the short version is that it is complicated, largely misunderstood, and has some serious issues around texturism.

As a moderator of several hair related communities, I can tell you that arguing about what type someone is in the Walker system is one of the most common reasons discussions melt down into nastiness.

I needed a type system for my writing here on CurlsBot too, and I really did not want to use Walker for all the reasons above. Luckily, once I went through my own writing, I realized I was already using a kind of system without naming it: I often referred to tight curls and coils versus loose curls and waves. They share a lot in common but they do have different behaviors and care needs.

That became the foundation for the new system. I wanted something that:

• Only divides hair where there are real differences in care needs
• Acknowledges that most of us have more than one texture on our heads

The scientific foundation

All curls share a core geometry

In my science of hair typing post, I discuss research from physicist Dr. Michelle Gaines that shows all human hair textures, except truly straight hair, share the same basic coil structure ^{[25] [26]}.

This actually makes a lot of sense. All humans are related, and it is likely that our ancestors all had some form of coily hair. Despite people insisting that coils, curls, and waves are completely separate categories, there are not dedicated genes for each. They are all the same shape at the root, just with more or less elongation or shrinkage.

So instead of treating waves, curls, and coils as totally different hair types, this system treats them as different versions of the same coil.

All those arguments about coily or wavy hair not being "real curls" fall apart when you look at the physics.

The true divide: shrinkage vs elongation

Shrinkage is the concept that became central to this system ^[27]. The term comes from the Natural Hair community and describes hair that, in its dry resting state, is much shorter than its fully stretched length .

Some people misunderstand it as just the difference between wet and dry length. That falls apart once you look at research on high shrinkage hair and water. In high shrinkage, tightly coiled hair, the intermolecular forces between strands include a unique form of hydrogen bonding that can repel water ^[28]. This is likely what the Natural Hair community was noticing when they used the term “low porosity” for this behavior, even though it is not about the cuticle itself.

Hair types with lower or no shrinkage have fewer of these bonds and are more easily elongated by water. The lowest shrinkage types elongate so easily that they tend to stretch out under their own weight, even when dry, unless high hold products are used. They also tend to have more pattern variation, such as the “Irish curls” pattern where the outer layer has more elongation than the inner layer.

Where straight hair fits (or does not)

As I talk about in the science of hair typing post, truly straight hair is real and behaves completely differently from the types in this system. It likely evolved at least twice: once in Asia, where it tends to have large strand width that gets called “coarse”, and again in Northern Europe, where it tends to have small strand width that gets called “fine” ^[29][30].

These hair types are not just very loose coils. They do not follow the coil geometry at all and actively resist forming a pattern. Many people with truly straight hair struggle to get it to hold a wave or curl without heat styling or perming.

The loosest type in my system, “swavy”, often gets mislabeled as straight or "1c" (even though this type in Walker's original system was straight coarse hair, no texture) online, especially on platforms like TikTok, even though it behaves very differently. Physics research confirms that this pattern is not a flat two dimensional wave ^[26]. It is another expression of a coil, just more elongated.

The zig zag type

Besides truly straight hair, the only pattern that does not look like a rounded coil is the zig zag or “kinky” pattern seen in some tightly curled hair.

I did consider making this a separate hair type. However, when I interviewed people with this pattern, they consistently told me that they did not have different care needs compared to people with more rounded coils at similar levels of shrinkage.

That said, this kind of hair is still badly under researched. It is very possible that future research will uncover important differences. If you have this pattern and notice care needs that do not fit the current system, I would genuinely love to hear from you.

Pattern is just one variable

Elongation and shrinkage are only part of your hair’s story. Your hair also has:

Porosity is roughly a measure of how easily your hair absorbs and releases water. Take our porosity quiz to find yours

Thin

Thick

Density describes how many hair strands you have per square centimeter

Fine

Coarse

Strand width refers to how thick each individual strand is, often called "fine" or "coarse"

I wanted to know whether curl pattern was strongly tied to any of these. I even ran some data analysis on research from Dr. Tina Lasisi ^[31]. I did not find strong correlations between curl pattern and density or strand width, except at the highest shrinkage levels, which tend to be fine.

Data from Dr. Tina Lasisi's dissertation, plotted in Python by myself. X axis is strand width (bottom is fine, top coarse), y axis is curvature. Hair type was self-identified which accounts for some of dots that are like wavy being in higher curvature regions. There was no correlation found between strand width and curvature.

On top of that, people can have multiple densities and strand widths on different parts of their head, just like they can have multiple curl patterns.

Right now the quiz focuses on pattern and behavior, but I would love to add optional sections that help you figure out things like density and strand width in the future.

The practical implications of the CurlsBot typing system

So what does any of this actually change for your routine

At a high level:

• High shrinkage hair

  • Often benefits from thicker or denser formulas as there is usually more hair surface area per inch of resting length
  • Benefits from a lot of emollience (like think things that lubricate the hair shaft like oils or silicones) to protect against friction between strands and even between the cuticle scales where the hair curls into itself
  • Is less damaging to detangle wet
  • May benefit more from humectants preventing dryness, which seem to reduce breakage in some studies ^[32], whereas in elongated hair types higher moisture levels are associated with more breakage ^[33] - though TBH the science here is pretty thin so far

• High elongation hair

  • Is more prone to being elongated out even further by heavy products that can make it stringy, flat, or limp, so lighter products tend to work better
  • Is more vulnerable to static flyaway frizz, making light leave-in conditioners with anti-static ingredients like silicones particularly useful in low humidity ^[34]
  • Is likely less damaging to detangle dry

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These differences can help you choose better products for your type or just get more out of products you already own.

Conditioning Trade-off Curve: As conditioning increases, volume decreases much more for wavy hair than curly hair

A good example is the popular Kinky Curly Custard. It is a dense but lightweight product in conditioning ingredients (has mostly humectants instead of emollients like oils). It is designed for high shrinkage hair types that also tend to be fine. Lower shrinkage hair types can still use it as a light product by:

• Using less
• Applying plenty of water to help distribute it

On the emotional side, a lot of people at either end of the spectrum are frustrated with how much their hair shrinks or stretches out. It is worth repeating that neither of these is a “problem” to fix. They are just different behaviors with different strengths.

• High shrinkage hair can do styles that no other type can do, like sculpted shapes, twists, and natural locs
• High elongation hair might not have a strong inherent pattern, but it takes well to all kinds of styling like heatless curls, "beach waves", or just wearing in smooth waves

NGL in some cases I've been disappointed by my wavy hair just being loose and highly elongated, but doing all this research has helped me embrace my natural texture. Each type has its own unique beauty.

Inspiration and influences

In my science of hair typing post, I wrote about the Irizarry system, created by sociologist Dr. Yasmiyn Irizarry ^[35]. It was my favorite system that I found in the literature.

Irrizary typing system

Things I especially liked:

• It uses accessible language, like “beach waves”, instead of abstract letter and number combos
• It was designed around a survey format that feels more like a quiz than a chart comparison
• It explicitly pushes back on Eurocentric assumptions about where the scale should start

My system is not the same, but it is definitely influenced by that approach. If the CurlsBot system never catches on, I hope the Irizarry one does.

The two type families, the six types

The CurlsBot curl typing system has two families

• Tight curls/coils
• Loose curls/waves

Each of these have 3 types.

Tight Curls/Coils

Tightly Coiled

75%+ shrinkage

Tight coils and sometimes zig-zag patterns with very high shrinkage and minimal elongation.

Coily

50–75% shrinkage

Tight coils and sometimes zig-zag patterns with high shrinkage that elongate slightly when wet.

Tight Curls

25–50% shrinkage

Springy, well-defined curls with noticeable shrinkage when dry.

Loose Curls/Waves

Loose Curls

Little–25% shrinkage

Loose curls that elongate easily and may stretch into waves.

Wavy

Little shrinkage

A mix of waves and occasional curls that elongate easily.

Swavy

Little to none shrinkage

Loose waves that easily elongate into straighter sections.

Take the quiz

The CurlsBot curl typing system is built around a quiz, not a chart. If you want to find your type:

• Take the quiz
• Then check out the hair types page to learn about the six different types and read the FAQ

I did not use any kind of plug and play quiz builder for this. I coded it myself, which means there may be bugs or edge cases I did not anticipate. If you find anything weird or broken, please email me. I really appreciate every bug report.

Want to know your hair type?

Wavy? Curly? Coily? Take the quiz to find out in just 2 minutes!

Take the Quiz!

The previous hair type quiz was more experimental. It took longer and was an attempt to match exactly to the Walker Chart. Discarding the Walker Chart has allowed me to build a much simpler and more useful system.

What's next

I am not done yet.

I want to have guides for each type written by people who actually have that type I already have someone lined up for swavy and tightly coiled. If you want to write a guide for any of the other types, get in touch. I pay for this work

I want to adapt CurlsBot’s tools to work with the new system. That means eventually being able to give advice that is tailored to your type rather than generic “curly hair” tips

Conclusion

The CurlsBot curl typing system is my attempt to take what we know from physics, genetics, and social science and turn it into something that:

• Treats waves, curls, and coils as a spectrum of coils
• Puts shrinkage, elongation, and behavior with water at the center
• Focuses on differences that actually change your routine

It is not perfect and it will evolve, but I hope it gives you a more useful framework than arguing about whether you are a 2b or a 3a on a chart that was never designed for real world hair care in the first place.

About the Author

Melissa McEwen is the creator of CurlsBot. She is a software developer with training in science writing and a B.S. in Agricultural Science. Her writing has appeared in publications such as NPR and Quartz.