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Comparing Wavy and Curly Hair

Wavy vs Curly Hair: What's the Difference?

When it comes to curls vs. waves, it can be difficult to tell the difference – even if it’s your own hair. While they share certain characteristics – texture, volume, prone to frizzing – they are generally easy to tell apart if you know what you’re looking for. And it’s important to know whether you’re rocking waves or curls because despite their similarly gorgeous appearance, they can behave very differently and need different products and regimens to make every day a great hair day.

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Wavy hair, also known as type 2 hair, lies in between straight and curly. The characteristics of wavy hair usually are:

Easy to style: because of its texture, it’s usually easy to straighten wavy hair or curl it, depending on your mood.

Easy to weigh down: unlike curly hair, which can usually handle a lot of product, it’s easy to overdo it on wavy strands and make them appear limp or greasy.

Lack of volume: because wavy hair tends to be straighter at the root and curlier at the bottom, it can appear flat at the scalp.

Dryness and frizz: wavy hair is prone to dryness and frizz, especially at the ends.

Wavy Hair

Curly hair, also known as type 3 hair, has a define curl that usually starts at the root. The characteristics of wavy hair usually are:

Harder to style: because of its texture, curly hair doesn’t love being straightened, and even a little humidity can make those curls come back. But that’s okay because who’d want to straighten a lovely curl, anyway?

Needs a lot of product: while not a universal truth, curly hair generally looks its best when given nourishing treatments that define and shape the curls.

Lots of volume: because curly hair tends to have texture from the root down, girls with curls don’t suffer from a lack of volume.

Even more dryness and frizz: because oil takes longer to travel down a curly strand than a straight one, curly hair tends to be drier and frizzier than wavy hair.

Curly Hair

If you’re still not sure what kind of hair you have, try a strand test. Take one of your strands and wrap it around your finger: if it forms a spiral around your finger, you probably have curly hair; if it’s fairly straight, you probably have wavy hair; or if it’s somewhere in between, check out our [Hair Texture Chart](/articles/hair-texture-chart/) for a more in-depth look at type 2 and type 3 hair to unlock the secrets of your strands.

Want to know more about what makes your hair, your hair? Learn more about the science behind the strands at our [Tips & Tricks](/articles/).

The Hair Strand Test

When you unlock your hair’s secrets, you unlock its full potential. Take the HairCode quiz to learn more about 1b hair, and all hair types.

Take Our Hair Quiz

Learn the difference between wavy hair and curly hair with tips from HairCode. Wavy hair and curly hair each have unique characteristics that make them different!

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