September 1st update

Thanks to Rochelle,

I snapped a couple pics of my hair in its current state. Here's the back. Please note, I am transitioning out of a no-lye "Just for me" texture softener - texturizer. Please don't be fooled. Texturizer is perm. I didn't realize that...and my hair suffered. I lost my natural curls. In fact, even when I used to perm my hair in high school, it was never as straight as that box made it. My stylist was applying it maybe every ten weeks. I couldn't understand why no curl was left. I think "No Lye" is the culprit. In my perm days, we always used Lye relaxers which resulted in a loose ringlet texture to my wet hair.

N E Wayzzz, no one asked about all that. I have several inches of natural hair, and in these photos, it has not been straigthened out or "Stretched" to show length.

Here is how the front looks.  According to the chart below.  The hair at the front of my scalp is type IV in it's natural state.  At the nape, and lower part of the sides it is type V.  At the centre of the back it is time VI.  My favourite areas to style are type V.   Using other charts I usually see, I believe that the texture at the front of my hair is 3b, while the back it 4a, with some 4b.

Knowing your hair type is important if you want to grow it.  The hair with a looser texture appears to grow like a weed, and never seems to break.  It is stronger, but it is also better maintained because I can see it.  I tend to pull my hair back often.  The "IV" hair gets regular watering from leave in conditioners and styling gels used to slick my hair back.  The rest of my hair is often neglected.

the more fragile hair at the back suffers from contact with my clothing, my pillow, and from heat.  Because it's coarser, I take longer to flat iron this portion.  That really dries out each strand.  So yep, the front is much longer than the back.  But we're working on that!