It might surprise you to discover that human hair can be found in 10 different varieties. There are 4 main hair types and each one of those can have up to 3 subtypes. All that variety can lead to confusion when it comes to buying the proper hair styling products.

The first hair type is straight hair which is not easy to style or shape. The reason is the cuticles that form the hair itself are lined up in such a way as to keep the hair straight and stiff. That extra protection is what gives straight hair resistance to styling. If straight hair does get damaged, from being over styled for example, it normally is dry and easily broken.

There are 3 varieties of straight hair. They are fine, medium and course. Fine hair is shiny soft and usually very thin. Medium hair has a good amount of body and texture. Course hair is the thickest and as such is most resistant to being styled.

Hair type number 2 is wavy hair. This kind of hair shows up as S patterns when you look at a single strand. In addition, this hair type has a hard time being curled and it really does lack any kind of bounce.

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.

Our third hair type is curly hair. This kind of hair has a definite S pattern that often forms loops. When stretched out it bounces back like a slinky toy. Normally it is very soft and fine in texture. The layers of cuticles are smooth and not flat. That also means that this kind of hair has less shine than straight or wavy. It has lots of body and when wet straightens out. But in high humidity the curls tighten and it is prone to frizzing.

There are only 2 subtypes of curly hair. The first is loosely curled. This kind of hair looks almost straight when cut short. But when grown long, it usually has shiny big curls. The second subtype is medium to tight curly hair. This kind of hair form medium to tight cork screw type curls. It is interesting to note that quite often people with curly hair will have both subtypes in different areas of their hair.

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.

Knowing exactly what type of hair you have is important for two reasons. First, it will help you make better choices when it comes to buying the right styling products (shampoo, conditioner, etc). Second, knowing your type well may help prevent you from trying to force something on your hair that is really against what nature intended. For example if you have really tightly curled hair you may not get the best results trying to straighten it with a hair straightener. And conversely if you have course straight hair, you are naturally going to have challenges trying to curl it.

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Marcy Givens is a hair care buff who felt obliged to learn more about the wild variety of hair care products. She has some useful free tips and secrets for selecting the best Sedu straighteners and Chi hair straightener.