If your hair is wavy underneath but straight on top, does that make it straight or wavy?
Both! Often, people feel like they have to have one hair type, and one hair type only. I’m not really sure why we have this tendency to categorize our hair in a single way. It’s very common for people to have multiple hair textures. If your hair is wavy in spots but straight in spots, then you have some straight hair and some wavy hair! It’s both.
What Causes Hair to be Straight on Top but Wavy Underneath?
Nature. Uneven curl pattern is sometimes just natural
Sun Damage. The outer layer of hair is often more damaged by the sun. Especially true for gray or blonde hair as the melanin in dark hair protects it from the sun.
Transition Phase. Sometimes it happens when hair is undergoing changes due to hormonal differences (such as in preteens, pregnant, postpartum, or menopausal women). Sometimes the transition from straight to curly hair happens unevenly across the head but will eventually even out.
Moisture Differences. Hair near the neck sometimes curls up tighter because the hair there is often finer and may be more sweaty/oily which results in it being better moisturized than the top layer. Also, the outer layer of the hair is exposed to the environment so when the air is dry, it can steal water from our hair and the outer layer may be the most affected.
Product Build Up. Sometimes the outer layer gets more product build up because most people apply their hair products to the outer layer of their hair first, which can result in more product being applied there.
Hard Water Build Up. Sometimes the outer layer of hair gets more hard water build up due to standing under the shower with the outer layer of the back of your hair hitting the water first.
Shower Head Damage. Using a really aggressive showerhead can cause physical damage to the hair and if this happens it’s usually primarily on the outer layer of the back of the head as that’s usually the part of your hair that hits the shower head first.
Heat Damage. The outer layer can suffer more heat damage. Often when curling or straightening our hair, we’re really particular about getting the top layer to look ‘perfect’ because it’s the most visible. This can mean running the hair straightener over sections of hair more times on the top vs the bottom, or re-curling locks of hair more on top than underneath. If you’ve heat styled your hair a lot, you may have done more heat damage to the outer layer resulting in it getting straighter from the damage.
Can I Get The Top Of My Hair To Curl Like The Bottom?
When you have a natural difference in curl pattern, it’s unlikely to be able to get your hair to be perfectly identical when styling. However, you certainly can embrace some techniques to even out your curl pattern as much as you reasonably can.
If you haven’t been using hair stylers with hold (like gel or mousse), you may find that if you switch to using a styler when your hair is wet, it’ll help the straight layer dry more wavy curly and will match the underlayer more. If you’d like a starter routine, I’d recommend my post sharing the easiest curly girl method wavy hair routine.
If you’ve already been styling your hair wavy with a styling product with hold but still find that your top layer is straight while the underside is wavy, giving extra TLC to the top layer can help really maximize its wavy potential. For example:
- Diffuse the outer layer first so it dries fastest. If necessary, let your underlayer air dry or wait a while before you diffuse it to elongate it.
- Scrunching the top layer harder or longer than you scrunch the underside.
- Get a haircut that shortens the outer layer so that the curlier underside can show through more.
- Finger-coil or brush style the top layer to tighten the curl pattern of the straighter pieces.
If your outer layer is different because it is more damaged, you may be able to get more cohesive hair if you work to reduce how much damage is happening to the outer layer. This will be a longterm solution as it’ll require being gentle on your hair and letting the old damage grow out. Still, ideas for that include:
Use UV protecting hair products to reduce damage. This will require a longterm commitment rather than creating sudden results. However, if your outer layer of hair is sun-damaged, then protecting it from sun damage starting now can result in your hair eventually being less damaged on the outer layer.
If your outer layer is straighter because it’s more damaged by heat, then treating your hair gently by reducing how often you heat style, lowering the temp on your heat tools, and/or using heat protectant products and allowing it to grow out may result in your hair curling better in the future.
My hair has an uneven curl pattern with the white and silver wanting to be straighter and the blonde hair underneath the back being actually curly. The tighter waves go all the way up the back of my head. I have deep S waves on the sides. I wear it in a Bob and love it as it is more forgiving for straight hair days. My hair is super fine, low density and high porosity 2A mostly. I am 78 but enjoy being stylish. Once I knew my hair was textured, I went with it. It has a lot more curl when long but I am done with that look at my age. I also live with extremely dry air in the front range southern mountains of Colorado. I avoid glycerin in my products. With oily roots I wash every 3rd day. I’m trying Aveeno Green shampoo and conditioner and still use only gel to style. Suggestions ?
Help! Most of my hair is incredibly wavy, even in ringlets naturally, but the very top layer and part you see by my face is straight. How do I get my hair to be uniform all over because it looks awful as it is? Ideally all super wavy or even just loose waves. It’s also a bit frizzy despite using Frizzease shampoo etc. Using mousse etc can make the top slightly wavier, but all my waves drop out if I brush my hair. I don’t wash my hair daily (it is super thick and takes forever to dry) and I can’t just go days without brushing my hair in order to protect the curl!
Hi 🙂
It’s really common for people to have an uneven curl pattern. I have a blog post about it that goes over some techniques you can use to try to get the straighter section of your hair to curl up a bit tighter. In most cases, people can’t get all of their hair to be perfectly uniform, but we can tighten up the looser parts some to make the difference less stark.
Here’s that post:
https://wavyhaircarer.com/uneven-curl-pattern-how-i-tighten-my-straighter-section/
It’s also really common for wavy hair to fall straight if it’s brushed. Some people use their fingers to detangle or a wide tooth comb, as those can stretch hair out less than a brush would, but they’ll likely still result in your hair becoming straighter. Unfortunately, it sometimes comes down to whether you want to detangle your hair or protect your curls. Often, people who feel like their hair tangles enough that they really need to brush will go ahead and brush, but then re-wet their hair and scrunch in more mousse or gel to help it curl back up..but when you have thick hair that takes a long time to dry, that can still be time consuming. Im not sure of any other solutions though, I think you may have to choose between those options but if you ever find a different solution that allows you to detangle without straightening your curls or having to refresh please let me know! 🙂
Sounds like my hair for sure. I only brush BEFORE I wash it. When putting in my conditioner, I comb through with my fingers, but you can use a comb. I also scrunch with the conditioner in and don’t rinse until I’ve finished washing and shaving. I scrunch again before putting on a towel, finger comb and shape, and let dry naturally whenever possible. I wear my hair in layers and that helps with the top layers holding curl better than when it gets long.
Hey! I just wanted to ask you something about my hair. I’ve had straight hair since I was small not pin straight but straight like (1b) all my life. But then last Saturday I woke up and brushed my hair like I do every morning I then saw my hair was wavy on the bottom half but still pretty straight on the top half. I’m not sure if it’s nature, hormonal changes or sun damage, but I’m turning 14 this year and you have mentioned preteens have this I’m not sure what to decide on. if my hairs changing or something has happened to it. it’d be great if you could help me.
By the way my Mom and grandma and Older sister have wavy-curly hair Especially my Mom she has 3b hair so I don’t know if it’s a gene thing?
Hey there! Given your age, my guess is that your hair has been changing in response to hormonal changes. The top layer may just naturally be straighter (none of us have perfectly even curl patterns across our entire heads) or it could be that the sun, brushing/combing your hair, wearing hats, sleeping on your pillow, etc have slightly damaged the exterior layer which have resulted it in being straighter. Or sometimes the underlayer of our hair stays more moisturized. Lots of possibilities, and only time will tell for sure if your hair will get wavier as you finish growing up or not. I’d think it could be possible that you may end up with hair closer to your mom, grandma and older sister, but you may also have straighter hair genes from your dad or others in your background – or you may land right in the middle at wavy. If you want to embrace the wavy look, you can try using a gel or a mousse, skip over brushing/combing, and diffuse your hair dry rather than air drying, to see if the exterior layer will wave up to match the underlayer or not. Totally okay to not do that too, though! Whatever makes you feel best. 🙂