Long 4c Natural Hair Case Studies: An Introduction

My '4c' shed hair!

I have 4c hair - noting that I do not care for hair typing and technically 4c was invented by naturals; the same texture used to be 4a in 2002 but is now widely called 4c, so for the purpose of clarity, I am using the term 4c.  Having got that little rant out, I do find that it is very common to lament about 4c hair

1. 'Oh my hair is brittle'
2. 'You never see popular youtubers with 4c hair'
3. 'My hair is 4c and grows slowly'
4. 'My styling options are limited by 4c hair, I cannot style it straight'

I would challenge every single point on that list.

1. Hair breaks because of how you handle it.
2. There are 4c youtubers but equally there are many examples outside of youtube
3. 4c hair does not inherently grow slowly, it certainly may require more trimming which compromises length retention but can you have long 4c hair - DEFINITELY
4. You can style 4c hair fairly straight without heat (African threading) or if your hair is suited to heat use, it is equally possible to style with direct heat.

This leads me to tell you about the new series that you will find here on the blog every Friday. It was inspired by a comment where I said that in the past 10 years or so I have NEVER seen someone with 4c hair manage to grow long hair without some element of protective styling. This does not mean the person does not style in other ways but that for main management of hair, they choose to protective style. I also have NEVER seen anyone with 4c hair and long hair state that they can wash hair daily during the growing period and still gain long hair.

I understand my hair type. I have studied women with my hair type thanks to the internet! I will share with you these studies and hope that they help you. 4c hair case studies coming up!