 Hey curlfriends, I'm Bianca Renee and you're watching Bianca Renee Today and Today. We are going to really switch it up for my switch it up challenge by talking about hair that is different than my own. I often get questions like, can you do a video for thick hair when y'all know I got thin hair? Or can you do a video about high porosity when you know I have low porosity? Or can you talk more about type four hair when you know I don't have type four hair? So I'm always like, how do y'all expect me to do that? If I could grow different hair types for the sake of my videos, I would, but I can't. I only have one hair type to work with but put on my thinking cap and I found a way where we can still talk about these topics, even if I don't have them. So I was thinking, how can I get this information if only I had some more curlfriends to reference for this knowledge than I thought of you guys. So I put some questionnaires on my Instagram. If you don't follow me, I don't know why. Follow me at MsBianca Renee and that is where you guys can put a lot of input into my videos like this one. So on my Instagram, I put a little questionnaire in my story and I asked you guys, if you have type four hair, how does your hair routine differ from mine? If you have thick hair, how does it differ from my routine? And if you have high porosity hair, how does it differ from my routine? So this is gonna be like a little mini series of me answering all those questions and similarities and differences. In today's video, I'm gonna start off with type four hair. So make sure you come back next week and the week prior to learn about tips for thick curly hair and for high porosity hair. So first let's talk about curl types. To be honest, I'm not really a fan of curl types. It kind of creates like another little divide within the curly hair community, but it's a little quick rundown. If you have type one hair, that means your hair is naturally completely straight. If you have type two hair, then your hair is wavy. If you have type three hair, you have spirals like mine. Or if you have type four hair, you have very, very, very coily hair that usually gives you the afro type look. So it kind of helps if you just want a quick identifier, but every chart is different. Some people consider my hair 3B, some say 3C. At the end of the day, we're just categorizing the shape of the curl, but even that's kind of hilarious because there's definitely more than six types of curls in the world. Like most of us have multiple patterns just on our head. What's more important is your hair porosity and your density. That's going to be a game changer more than anything. So on my Instagram, I asked you one, how does your type four hair routine differ from my type three hair routine? And I also asked you, what are your favorite products for type four hair? Which honestly doesn't mean too much because once again, your porosity and your density can change that. But I still wanted to share some of the most common answers that I got. So, yeah, girl came prepared. I got the laptop. I got a whole list of recommendations from you, my curl friends. So this is straight up factual information from actual curly hair people that have type four hair. I really appreciate that so many of you follow my channel even though I don't have type four hair. But I guess my videos are still able to help you in some way. But I know it always helps when you can just get information from people that have hair that is exactly like yours. So that's who I asked. So one of the most common things that a lot of you said that have type four hair is that you pre-poo. You like have to pre-poo. That is just how you start your wash day routine. You don't know what pre-poo is. It's the step you do to your hair before you shampoo. Often this is to help you detangle your hair even before you get in the shower. So because that was such a common thing, I also asked you what are your favorite pre-poo's and we're gonna get into that a little bit later. The second common thing for type four hair is to do a twist out. A twist out is where you're physically twisting your hair into multiple little twists to give your hair some more definition. Also to keep it under control. Many of you also sleep with your hair in twists that way when you wake up the next day you take out the twist and boom, your curls are beautiful. Granted twist outs, even though I don't do them I know that they are very tricky. And many people struggle with getting that perfect twist out but if you can master it, it looks amazing. I honestly think that twist outs look way better on type four hair than type three. Another very common tip from you guys is that you work in small sections. You guys know that with my thin hair I could just do two sections. I apply, I apply and I'm done. But if you have type four hair or thicker, coilerier type hair you have to do little sections at a time and then you detangle, you add your product, maybe you twist it, you put it away. Then you just grab another small, small section. If I did that I would definitely weigh down my hair because my hair is so thin. But even if you have thin type four hair it seems to be much easier for you to detangle by working in smaller sections. So if you haven't tried that yet break your hair down into little pieces and detangle. Next tip is finger coiling. If you do want more definition a very common thing is to finger coil. That's where you get a small like strand or section of your hair. Add your product, usually a cream, a gel to lock it in and you're literally wrapping it around your finger or using a Denman brush or some type of hair tool to really get a bunch of little spirals all over your head. This definitely is time consuming. I personally have tried it once and I was way too lazy to continue to do that. But this works on both type three and type four hair. The finger coil will always give you more definition. Many of you with type four hair also said your hair loves gel. Do not be afraid of gel. Gel is going to give you that hold especially for doing a twist out or braid out. If you spent all that time twisting or braiding your hair you definitely want it to last because that took a long time. So a gel is going to lock in that style so when you either unravel it for the next day or even if you just do a wash and go it's going to last a lot longer. A sad kind of common thing that I got when I asked you like how does your routine different? A couple of you actually said that your routine requires you crying in the shower. I don't want to hear that. But I guess that it takes you so long to wash your hair and to tangle that you literally cry in the shower and that makes me sad. So I hope that these tips can make your routine a little bit easier. I do not want you crying in the shower but if you are then that means it's taking a long time and if it's taking a long time to go through your wash day your washing goes or styles have to last. So I really hope you're using a gel that will keep those results for as long as possible. This was an interesting one. Hair mask before washing. I haven't done that before. So it seems like many of you like to add your hair mask first. Maybe let it sit for like 20 minutes which actually will help the tangle the hair a little bit if you have a really good one. Then you rinse that out. Then you use shampoo. Then you add your conditioner to bring your moisture back. Interesting. So your mask is kind of like a pre-poo but if you're getting in those nutrients if you're letting it to tangle it makes sense. The only thing that always makes me kind of like iffy with using a hair mask first is that I don't really like applying products on my dirty hair. I feel like all the product from the week is just on there. So now I'm applying a mask on top of all that like product or product buildup. So I will probably at least do like a water rinse before applying a hair mask. Many of you also said that you are heavy handed with product so you like to use a lot of product and I do see this a lot. Especially when I watch type four hair like YouTube videos you often can see a bunch of like the white cream or gel literally on their hair like everyone's hair is white but if you have high-prosy hair it soaks it up so quick that even though it starts off with looking like product is just sitting on your hair your hair eventually soaks it all up and it looks amazing. So don't be afraid to use a lot of product to really get in that moisture or to hold your style. Another one I have on here is conditioner before shampoo. I saw my friend do this Alyssa Marie on Instagram this actually would inspire this whole video is I've never done a conditioner first. We're so conditioned to do shampoo then conditioner then deep conditioner but a lot of you wrote me and said that you use your conditioner first to detangle your hair because once you put in the shampoo it just makes it more tangled with the shampoo making it even harder to detangle with your conditioner. The more you know. So if you're gonna do this order then I would suggest doing a conditioner to detangle your hair, shampoo and then end it off with a deep conditioner. You never really wanna end your routine with the shampoo because that is kind of like well I mean if it's sulfide free it shouldn't be stripping up natural oils but it is cleansing it usually not making it very moisturized so you definitely wanna add in that moisture like now with the deep conditioner at least a leaving conditioner after. But I do wanna note that if your hair is getting more tangled when you shampoo you might be shampooing incorrectly. Do not get caught up with the commercials that you see on TV where everyone's shampooing their hair like this. You know this is creating knots so we can't do that if you have curly hair and I do catch myself doing that sometimes like when I'm massaging my scalp but just like your conditioner you should be applying your shampoo down. Do not scrunch it up making it a bunch of knots. Add your shampoo, cleanse it down, cleanse the scalp and just keep everything down or to the side but you don't wanna just push it all up in a ball like you know a Pantene Pro-Ve commercial. No scrunching, wow. That's definitely a difference. I am the scrunch queen. My hands automatically go smooth to scrunch. Like I can't, it's just they're made to do that now but that makes sense. For my curl type or anything looser of a curl than mine we have to scrunch to make our curls like stay curled and like be more defined where if you have type four hair or very coily texture scrunching is not gonna do anything for you. Like your hair is already as scrunched as possible and it's not going to change the look of your hair. So that one definitely makes a lot of sense. A lot of you wrote me saying that scrunching just creates more shrinkage. Shrinkage, you wanna talk about shrinkage? Yes, it's real. Yes, I also experience shrinkage but nobody experiences real shrinkage like those who that have type four hair. Y'all are the MVPs. Your hair is so long but so many people wouldn't even know. Like I've seen girls that look like that they have a very compact afro and then they're able to go and it stretches far. Like it's amazing what type four curls can do. Like I wish somebody would come up to you and think that their hair is longer and you could be like, say what? Excuse me, what? Are you worth saying what? That's what I would do. With that being said, a lot of you also said that you like to do a lot of stretching and elongating. And I did it. That shrinkage is pretty crazy. So you do certain techniques in your routine to help with stretching your curls whether it be using your blow dryer to kind of like pull straightened down or sleeping in twists or braid outs to kind of hold the stretched look. You wash out the deep conditioner while your hair is still in twists. That's a good tip. I would probably think to untwist it and then rinse it out. But you're saying to twist your hair with product in the shower and then rinse it out and then unravel. Hmm, okay. I like to style my hair in the shower while my hair is soaking wet. I got this one a couple of times too. So that means you guys are doing shampoo, conditioner or conditioner, shampoo, whatever. And then you're applying your stylers while in the shower. Very interesting. And if you do see the best results of applying product while your hair is soaking wet, makes sense. Your hair is not gonna be any more wet than it is in the shower. So why get out, get dressed, add a bunch more water. I like that tip. So definitely give these a try. See how they work for you. And try applying your stylers while your hair is soaking wet in the shower. I reapply with water while styling. Okay, so if you do get out the shower you are applying even more water. So that is different than my routine when I know I have some friends even with thicker hair they like to do this. My hair is so fine that sometimes I dry my curls with a microfiber towel to get rid of some water. And then I apply my product where for coilyer textures or thicker textures it's better to keep adding in that water even when you apply the product. So I did do a video with one of my favorite Instagrammers, YouTubers, Coby Lomax. We did a whole video for the fellas and his routine won't work for anybody. Not just for the guys. But he adds product and then more water. And like product and more water and his results were amazing. That is a great tip. Double go back and watch our collab video and try adding more water even after you apply your stylers. No refreshing. Oh, y'all ain't refreshing? Interesting. I guess it would be pretty hard to refresh like a twist out because it was so like pristine and like how do you, you don't wanna like comb it out after you twisted it. So I guess your wash days have to be like pristine so that it can last as long as possible. And this is something that even Coby Lomax said in his video, he uses so much gel and so much product and so much time on his day one wash day that he doesn't even have to touch his hair for the rest of the week because it's just set. Don't diffuse. You don't diffuse? Hmm, hmm, hmm. I guess you really wouldn't have to. Like I also diffuse to kind of like scrunch my hair and to make it get volume. But like type four hair has the best volume like ever. Like you just wake up and you have beautiful volume all the time. I can see why you might not need to diffuse. Especially if you have high porosity hair is gonna dry really fast. So maybe if you want to dry quicker or maybe if you want to elongate your hair you might wanna use a blow dryer. Maybe you don't have to diffuse. That was an interesting one. Many of you also said you use a cream or a leave-in before the gel. This is common even for type three hair. I'm just the weird one. I don't really like to always use a cream and a gel together. It does give you a great shine and some more moisture if you need it but it seems like it's a absolute gotta use it for type four or qualier hair. All of you said gotta use at least a leave-in first and then the gel. If not leave-in cream gel. Someone wrote me saying I don't do any plopping. This also makes sense. Same with scrunching. If I put all my hair upside down into a towel and I'm trying to plop my hair to stay like this I'm basically holding it in a scrunch. But if your hair is already like shaped like an afro or it's already like perfectly compact you plopping is not going to change anything. Like your hair is already set. You're not making your hair curlier. Like it's as curly as it could possibly get. So plopping would definitely be a waste of time. It probably would just give you like a really weird shape that you probably weren't going for. So yeah, that would make sense. Next tip. Detangling with a tool, a Denman brush or a wide tooth comb. I could also see this being very true. I don't see finger detangling really being the best method for tight for hair because your curls are so tight that you really want to be able to get in there and make sure all the little knots are gone. And you will get a much better detangling result from using something like, well, the Denman brush really? Oh, you guys know how I feel about that brush. I would never recommend the Denman brush for detangling. Like that was one of the worst experiences. It's great for definition. I'd probably use a wide tooth comb or another brush. I would like to be here for brush, even on tight for hair to detangle and then maybe go over with the Denman brush for more definition, but that's just me though. I do see a lot of people with tight for hair to tangle with the Denman brush. So maybe there's something to it. But for my hair, it was like ripping it out and I was just not a fan. But do your boo. If it works, it works. I'm taking your advice today. And last but not least, a lot of you said that you always pre-poo with an oil and you use products like oils, butters and pomade. This is also going to come into play when we talk about your hair porosity and the density and all that jazz. So with my hair, because it's so thin, butters, pomades and oils really weigh down my hair. But it is possible to have even type three hair that's high porosity that might love these types of products. So because I got so many people saying that you like to pre-poo, I also asked you what are the best products to pre-poo with if you have type four hair. And these are the top answers that I receive. The most common answer that you guys were really hyping up for type four hair pre-poo is the African Pride pre-poo. I've never tried it, but according to you guys, it's amazing, so I check it out. The second most common answer that I got was the main choice pre-poo. Apparently these both have amazing slip. They're really moisturizing and they help before you apply your shampoo. Another common answer was coconut oil. I have pre-poo with coconut oil and coconut oil can be an amazing detangler that just slips out any knots. So I've tried that one if you want a more DIY approach. A lot of you also recommended olive oil, Jamaican Black Castor oil, avocado oil, grape seed oil, or just doing a hot oil treatment. Funnily enough, I've actually never done a hot oil treatment. I know I should get my natural card revoked for that one. That is a very common pre-poo thing. A lot of you also said aloe vera. Using just a straight up aloe vera leaf, gonna apply some slip, give you shine, has great natural benefits. And then the only other products that some of you recommended was curl Smith. I have tried curl Smith. The curl Smith Bond Rehab Solve and Olaplex. So those are both pre-pairing treatments that you apply before your shampoo. I don't know if I've actually tried to detangle with either of those products, but it's definitely a good mask to do before your shower. And then a couple of you also said you love the curl Smith prebiotic primer. That one is great. I'm not exactly blown away by the slip of that product, but I still love to use it because of the ingredients. Like it's made with rice water, and that's what we like to DIY to make our hair grow, but it doesn't smell like rice water and it takes out the whole DIY aspect. So I use that for the ingredients, not really for the slip, but it is a game changer when it comes to using it before your shampoo and conditioner. And last but not least, let's talk about products. What are the best products for type four hair according to people with type four hair? Now I asked you guys to get specific with the brand name and the product, so I'm y'all didn't listen, so I just got brand names. But the most common recommendation brand, I got a lot of people saying that they love melanin hair care, like everything. I got a lot of myelorganics. I got a lot of pattern beauty. I got a lot of responses saying Uncle Funky's Daughter, TGIN was another popular one. Main choice, Aunt Jackie's, African Pride, Trey Luxe, Camille Rose, Kinky Curly was on there a lot. Eco Styler, fan favorite. Some of you said curls, some of you said curl mix, Sienna Naturals and Ottawa Beauty. And one of the number one answers was Shea Moisture. Shea Moisture was on there a lot. But a lot of those I still haven't tried, which is crazy knowing how many products that I have and there's still so many. So if you guys wanna help people out and be even more specific, leave me a comment and let everyone know what is the specific product that you love to use from those specific brands? Like the best shampoo for type four hair, best conditioner, best deep conditioner, best gel, best cream, leave all of your type four hair product recommendations below to help another girlfriend. That was a lot of information. And I'm so thankful that you guys took the time to write me and let me know all these tips so I can help as many people as possible, even if you have a different hair type than me. At the end of the day, I understand that I only could do so much having one hair type myself and it is a little bit easier to see exactly how to apply a product from someone that has hair that looks exactly like yours. So I also asked you, who are your favorite type four hair influencers that actually committed their channel or Instagram to helping those that also have type four hair? And these were your recommendations. Creators that you guys recommended. I've checked out their pages and they are legit, I love what they're doing with their YouTube's or their Instagram. So make sure you follow them. So you have someone to follow that could maybe be even a little bit more helpful than me with learning how to style and love your naturally beautiful hair. If you found this video helpful, make sure to give me a thumbs up and subscribe. What tip was the most helpful for you that you're excited to try? If you have any other tips of your own for type four hair, leave a comment below. Or if there's an Instagram or YouTuber that I missed, also leave their handle below so we can check out and follow more natural hair creators. Next up, I will be doing a video on tips for thick curly hair and then we'll do a video on high porosity hair. So if you don't want to miss those videos, which you shouldn't want to miss them, make sure to hit that subscribe button and the bell to be notified as soon as I post a new video. Also, follow me on Instagram. That way you get tips all the time instead of just on Sundays. So my Instagram is at Miz Beyond Grenade which is also my TikTok and my Twitter. I hope to see you guys next time. Thanks for watching Beyond Grenade today. Oh, side note, my tank top hot curls somewhere because you know what is. It's from a new small black-owned business. If you want one for yourself, check out enjoycurls.com.