Close Friends Have Said This Is My Best Kept Secret, But Secrets Are No Fun. Let's Talk: Hair!
Hair. A gift to many, but a curse to the unfortunate.
My hair has progressively given me more and more issues as I have gotten older, and let me tell you, I’ve just about had enough. Enough of trying to cover it up with hats, straighten it every day to hide the unappealing texture, coloring it repeatedly to match whatever the trend may be, and cutting it only to find that half of it just seems to die regardless. Dedicated to giving my hair some major re-coop time has led me to the biggest dilemma of my daily beauty routine: How to embrace my naturally curly hair.
Secrets out of the bag!!!!! This is what I look like. But you knew that. haha
Okay but to be real, I actually have curly hair. And I post these photos not only to embarrass myself, but to actually show proof so that when I know someone who has curly hair comes to me and says, “You totally don’t have curly hair!” (because anyone with curly hair knows the struggles of curly hair and feels total exclusivity in terms of allowing other girls to share in the curly haired community of mutual struggle) I can say, “Oh but I do.”
Now that we’ve established that I have curly hair, its important that I do acknowledge that I am very blessed with naturally thick hair that allows me to style it in many different ways. My hair usually holds curls from a curling iron well, obviously straightens to look fairly naturally straight, and stays pretty voluminous no matter what. I don’t have to wash it as often as if I had thin hair, and it doesn’t look as greasy as fast. I am very thankful for thick hair. And I wouldn’t trade that for anything.
On the flip side, frizzy does not begin to describe what my hair turns into after a shower, especially if I brush through it once it’s dry. Theres a photo that my sister loves to bring up, usually around my birthday, so kindly *, every year which features just how much of a mayne my hair becomes. Good thing it’s not as long as it used to be though. That was a whole other ballgame.
To give you a sense of the frizz, Ive attached some photos below which demonstrate, not the full extent (because that would just be too embarrassing) but, examples my natural hair poofy. Accompanied by a photo of me having to put my hair in a bun because we were at a nice restaurant and my family was genuinely embarrassed by my hair being down- if that gives you a sense. (ignore napkin poncho, thank you Mom for always keeping us warm)
So now that we understand the curliness and the frizziness, its easy to understand that I am at a bit of a standstill on how to not use so much heat to tame or style my hair, yet still keep it looking nice, professional, and maintained.
So far, the slicked back low bun has been my best friend for work. Even though there are still waves along the sides going into the bun, I am able to make this look fairly clean cut and put together. My hair is pretty not salvageable after I take the bun out, except to put it back in another low bun the next morning; but it is an easy route that is pretty much guaranteed to work if I don’t plan on needing to have it down or styled for anything before its next wash.
As I have started to ween off of the heat appliances a bit more, my hair has become curlier- which is actually a pretty good thing. I used to have extremely dead hair that was just a wavy straight mixture with straight patches and very curly patches throughout (depending on how damaged that particular section of my head was). So overall, the curlier, the better. As long as its consistent, I feel like I’m more capable of learning how to style and maintain it well.
The one thing that I think I need to try before going full curly is learning how to properly blow dry my hair with a round brush. It sounds like common sense, but I think this might be a very good alternative to straightening my hair. Round brushing hair allows for it to have volume and a natural wave or texture while adding just enough structure and plenty of movement without the frizz.
Below is a picture of the one time I successfully round brushed and teased my hair in the 12th grade. I was having to send in practice videos for Pom and we were supposed to have full performance hair and makeup in preparation for games. After many trial runs, I can say that I was very pleased with the result.
I don’t know why I look disgusted in this photo? I wish I could go back and tell myself to be appreciative! Now I have like half the amount of hair and can’t grow it that long to save my life:/ Aging. ugh.
So this next step is to learn how to style my curly hair to wear every day and round brush it when trying to do it nicely. I have high hopes that as I continue to wear my hair natural more often, it will adjust accordingly and hopefully settle more naturally in a nice, manageable way. I hope.
As much as I wished I had an easy takeaway or solution to this dilemma, I really don’t. But I hope that I can learn from others around me that have mastered the art of their natural hair. On this journey, I’ve been so inspired by popular figures and even just passers by in New York who fully embrace their hair for what it is. I am aiming to take from them and embody that confidence through my own hair. I’ll keep you guys updated on how this goes! Keeping my hopes high and my hair higher!
