Remember when mousse was the only option for curly hair? Or the eighties? We've come a long way since then, thankfully, with a bountiful explosion of products for every hair type and texture. But when it comes time to face the aisle of gels, creams, gel-creams, and custards, it's a lot. There are smoothing creams, but will that create smooth curls or leave them flat? Texturizers, but are those for handling what you have or just aimed at straight hair looking to liven up? The questions are endless. There are answers, though, and hairstylists say they lie in figuring out your curl type.

While it can seem intimidating at first (what doesn't in the curly world? #diffusers), resources like Naturally Curly have pioneered an easy, widely agreed-upon classification system. The number refers to curl families, while the letter, from A to C, points to how tightly wound your curls are within that. Curl type 1 is pretty much the absence of curl—in other words, straight. Type 2 means waves, while 3s are spiraled curls, and 4s are kinks and coils.

Graphic by Maureen Dougherty.

Why Knowing Your Curl Type Matters

While your curl pattern is usually pretty clear just from looking in the mirror, listening to it makes a big difference, says hairstylist Shai Amiel ("The Curl Doctor" on Instagram). Curl types are a good blueprint for figuring out your routine. So if you have major curls, you can avoid wasting time with too-weak products and go for the heavy-hitting curl creams (SheaMoisture Coconut & Hibiscus Curl Enhancing Smoothie has rave reviews from curly girls). Or vice versa—if you've got fine waves, you can focus on the stuff that won't weigh them down (try DevaCurl's Wavemaker).

Also, because most products aren't classified by the numerical system, knowing your type helps you home in on buzzwords when you're wandering the hair-care aisle, says celebrity curly-hair stylist Vernon Francois. "Everyone is constantly faced with what their hair texture is and how to enhance it, and this simplifies it," he says. "Then you can investigate from there according to your needs."

A leave-in product (we love this one from DevaCurl) and a curl definer (like Ouidad's Featherlight Styling Cream) make up the standard routine, but both Amiel and Francois agree there are more factors to finding your best curl. The system thought up by the curly community works pretty well—but as with everything, the better you can know your hair, the easier it will be to pick the best products for your curl pattern.

3 Factors That'll Help You Determine the Best Products for Your Curl Type

Porosity