As I got a little older and my hair got longer, I would still comb it but usually ended up with the same problems. The worst memory I have about my hair is when another girl made fun of it in school. I remember her saying that I needed a hair dryer and a brush or something. The truth was that I had never learned how to take good care of my frizzy locks!

My older sisters gave me a push in the right direction of hair-care. I indeed did learn the power of hair gel as well as how to blow-dry and straighten…but there was a small problem: my parents were convinced that straightening hair caused hair to turn gray prematurely and forbade me from using a hair iron more than once a month! Times have changed and my parents have loosened up, but back then the hair straightening ban was cause for many a tear.

I needed to learn to live with my hair, so by the time I was well-into my teens, I had learned to hand-comb my hair, and to use good quality hair products. I would agree to never ever take a comb or brush to curly, frizzy hair, especially when it is naturally voluminous. Use products that fit your hair type and experiment until you get the right ones. I’ve used sunsilk for years and completely love it. Also, growing hair longer can be better for the frizz- the more weighed-down your hair is, the less poof. Recently I’ve found that leaving in a hair oil before showering helps with manageability and softness.

When straightening hair, for a while I thought I could just let my hair air-dry and then attack in with a flat iron, but that actually does more damage than is necessary. Using a round brush and hair dryer concentrating heat down the shaft of hair when it is damp is THE best method for healthy, good-looking hair. A hair iron should be used after that, but as a finishing tool to fight frizz but not to iron it down until its super super flat and the ends split and look dead. Its actually one of my pet peeves to see girls -especially brown girls- do that to their hair. Sometimes I completely blow-dry and only partially straight-iron my hair so that I end up with partially voluminous hair with ends that naturally curl every which way. Most girls I know don’t do this, but I think styling hair is about finding something that works for you, and I’m really happy with my results. I agree that Hair is a part of personal style, and as we can see, there can be interesting stories behind it.

I’m glad to say that girls at school now give me compliments on my hair. =) Happy hair care to everyone and I hope your hair stories have happy ends (whether they be curly ends, straight ends, or split ends)!

To do this, I’d tie one hairdye at the very tip of the ponytail, to keep it from getting tangled. Then one at the top, the next one about an inch below that one, and so forth until I reached the bottom. I ended up with something of a ninja braid, only it wasn’t braided, just had hairties in even intervals, about an inch apart. I’d leave it like this all day, then brush it out and replace the bands the next day.

And I always have one band at the very tip of the ponytail, to avoid tangles. I also keep a large-toothed comb in the shower, for use during and after shampooing. Yes, blow-drying with hot air is evil, because hot air plus wet hair equals humidity which is evil. Serums work well, but can sometimes be expensive. For special occasions, I use staightening balms with a flat-iron, which works well. But on normal days, my hair is certainly not limp, but is under control with those two hair-ties. Good luck, girls!