What Percentage of People Have Curly Hair? A Look at the Prevalence of Curls

Curly hair is beautiful, but it can also be challenging to manage. If you have curly locks, you’ve probably wondered at some point just how common your curl pattern is. What percentage of the population has curly hair? The answer is more complex than you might think. Keep reading as we explore the prevalence of curls worldwide.

How Common Are Curls?

There is no definitive statistic on the percentage of curly heads globally. However, we do have survey data that gives us a general sense of curl popularity in certain countries.

• In the United States, an estimated 15% of women self-identify as having curly hair. For comparison, over 50% say they have straight hair.

• In Britain, only 9% of women consider themselves curly. About 60% report having straight hair.

• One study found that 45% of Caucasians have straight hair, while 15% have curly hair. The remaining 40% are wavy.

So while curly hair is rarer than straight hair overall, there are still tens of millions of curlies worldwide! The prevalence also varies significantly based on ethnic background.

Curl Popularity by Ethnicity

Not all ethnic groups are equally curly. Here’s an overview of curl patterns among different populations:

African Descent

• Tight, coiled curls are the norm in this group. Fewer than 10% of Black individuals have straight hair.

• The common Afro-textured hair owes its tight curl pattern to the shape of the follicle itself. oval or kidney-shaped follicles produce more twists.

European Descent

• As noted above, 45% of Caucasians have straight hair while 40% are wavy and 15% curly.

• Curly is a dominant trait in this population. If one parent has curly hair, the child likely will too.

• Redheads are more likely to be curly than blondes or brunettes. Up to 80% may have some curl.

Asian Descent

• Over 90% of East Asians have straight, thick black hair. Coiled curls are extremely rare.

• However, looser waves are more common in certain subgroups like South Asians.

• The EDAR gene variant common in this population codes for straight, dense hair.

Native American Descent

• Thanks to intermarriage, hair varies more in this group. Texture may be straight, wavy, or curly.

• Many Latin Americans have curly hair reflecting Native American ancestry.

• The exact curl prevalence is unknown but is likely higher than in Europeans.

Middle Eastern Descent

• This region has a range of hair textures including loose curls.

• However, pencil-straight hair is still common in many areas like Turkey and Iran.

• Arabian curls became trendy in the 1960s but are less common than Western media suggest.

Why So Few People Have Curly Hair ancestors likely all had tightly coiled hair similar to African locks. So why do relatively few modern people have curly hair? There are a couple of leading theories.

Evolutionary Adaptations

Straight hair may have given some ancestral human populations an evolutionary advantage.

• During the Ice Age, straight, dense hair could have protected the head from cold.

• Straight hair may also allow more effective distribution of protective oils down the shaft.

• People with straight hair were more reproductively successful and passed down straight-hair genes.

Random Genetic Mutations

Changes in certain genes lead to alterations in the hair follicle that result in straight fibers.

• In Europeans, a mutation in the TCHH gene explains some straight fibers. It changes the amino acid sequence in a hair protein.

• In Asians, the EDAR gene variant leads to straight, thick hair. It arose about 65,000 years ago.

• These mutations occurred randomly but became more common via natural selection.

Creating Curl Classifications

There’s no consensus on exactly how to categorize curl types. But two systems dominate modern attempts to bring some order to the curly world.

The Andre Walker System

Andre Walker is a celebrity stylist who styled Oprah Winfrey’s hair for many years. In the 1990s, he created a curl classification system that’s still widely used today. It consists of four main types:

• Type 1 is straight hair. This constitutes around half of the global population.

• Type 2 is wavy hair that forms loose S-shaped patterns. It accounts for about 40% of Caucasians.

• Type 3 is curly hair with well-defined spirals ranging from big loops to tight corkscrews. Andre designated A, B, and C subtypes based on curl size.

• Type 4 is tightly coiled hair with Afro-textured ringlets. This is the norm among groups like sub-Saharan Africans.

A key drawback of the Andre Walker system is that it doesn’t account for variations within one head. Most people have multiple curl patterns instead of uniform texture.

The Devachan System

Lorraine Massey founded the Devachan salon and devised another classification approach in the 1990s. Like Andre Walker, she defined four main curl categories:

• Wavy is similar to Andre’s Type 2. These looser waves can have an S-shape or more of a zigzag pattern.

• Curly resembles Andre’s Type 3 locks with spiral curls rather than waves. There are subgroups ranging from loose spirals to very tight corkscrews.

• Kinky is equivalent to Andre’s Type 4 and features very tight coils, often with sharper angles rather than spirals.

• Coily is also kinky, but the coils are rounder rather than having defined angles or zigzags.

What’s useful about Devachan’s system is the recognition that most people have multiple curl patterns on their head. The salon helps clients identify their unique combinations of wave, curly, kinky, and coily.

Measuring Curl Prevalence by Country

While we have rough estimates for the popularity of curls in a few nations, we lack hard data for most countries. Systematic studies are needed to measure curl prevalence globally.

Some potential approaches include:

• Large-scale surveys: Asking people to self-report their natural hair texture via questionnaires.

• Salon studies: Gathering data on client natural hair types at salons in a representative sample of areas.

• School studies: Assessing hair texture in a diverse sample of schoolchildren of different ethnicities.

• Census questions: Adding curl pattern to census questions on race/ethnicity in different nations.

• Photographic analysis: Using software to systematically categorize curl types based on anonmyized photos.

With emerging technology like automated image analysis, it should be possible to get accurate statistics on natural curl patterns across the globe.

The Impact of Environment on Hair Texture

Genes aren’t the only influence on curl pattern. Environmental factors also play a role.

• Heat styling can damage hair and alter the structure of strands so they lose their curl over time.

• Chemical processing like relaxers and perms substantially change the hair’s structure.

• Hair products containing heavy waxes or oils may weigh curls down.

• Age can affect curl pattern, often loosening texture over time. Teen curls differ from child and adult curls.

• Hormones like estrogen and testosterone can increase curl formation during puberty but decrease it with aging.

• Weather like humidity expands the hair cuticle, enhancing natural texture. Dry climates reduce spring.

So while ethnicity predicts curl likelihood, lifestyle and environment also shape how curls express themselves in each unique individual.

The Takeaway on Curly Hair Prevalence

Though estimates vary by country, it’s clear that curly hair is relatively uncommon globally. However, tens of millions still struggle with managing corkscrew locks. There’s no one definitive statistic on the percentage with curls since prevalence depends heavily on ethnic ancestry. Moving forward, better data will help reveal just how many people there are out there sharing your curly hair journey. No matter what, you certainly aren’t alone!