The Andre Walker Hair Typing System, also known as The Hair Chart, is a classification system for hair types created in the 1990s by
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American television presenter, talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show' ...
's stylist
Andre Walker
Andre Walker (born October 19, 1956, in Chicago, Illinois) is a hairstylist from the United States who has won seven Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling for his work on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show''. He is best known for be ...
.
It was originally created to market Walker's line of hair care products but has since been widely adopted as a
hair type classification system. Walker's system includes images of each hair type to aid classification. The system has been criticized for an apparent hierarchy which values Caucasian hair over other hair types. In 2018 the system was the subject of episodes of the
podcasts
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an episodic series of digital audio files that users can download to a personal device or stream to listen to at a time of their ...
''
99% Invisible
''99% Invisible'' is a radio show and podcast produced and created by Roman Mars that focuses on design. It began as a collaborative project between San Francisco public radio station KALW and the American Institute of Architects in San Franc ...
'' and ''The Stoop''.
Types
The system is split into four types with subtypes labeled A, B and C for some of the types. The system has added new subtypes since its original version to Type 1.
Evaluation
There has been a lot of debate in the black/curly hair community over the validity of the classification. The Walker system has been judged an improvement on some earlier systems that ranked black hair as less desirable, but is criticized for not taking into account the full variation in density and scalp types or that people's hair can vary on different parts of their heads.
Research in the ''International Journal of Women's Dermatology'' has suggested Walker's curl-classification system may be useful in conversations about
alopecia
Hair loss, also known as alopecia or baldness, refers to a loss of hair from part of the head or body. Typically at least the head is involved. The severity of hair loss can vary from a small area to the entire body. Inflammation or scarring ...
and other health conditions.
See also
*
Kinky hair
References
External links
Official website
{{Human hair
Human hair
Classification systems