Curls of Wisdom.

They say the grass is always greener. Well if you have grown up with naturally curly hair, you’ve heard this so many times you want to poke your eyes out. As a child (pictured here on the right with my cute (n’ curly) cousin CAMP and sweet Granny), I never liked my curly hair. It was always a wild mess (or “rat’s nest”), didn’t look like any of my friends’ hair and it certainly didn’t look like any Disney princesses’ hair that I had ever seen. I was always trying to find ways to make it preform differently.  I even tried a few at-home perms to tame the mane to a more soft, rolling wave. Nothing worked to get my hair to cooperate— though being a kid in the 80’s helped a little, as big hair was in. I just didn’t want it for my preteen brace-face self.

As it turns out all of those ladies in my youth offering wisdom such as, “you’ll love them one day…”  and  “ most women would *pay* to have those curls…”, etc. etc.….were right.  Just when I was starting to dig those curls, they went away with my postpartum days. Not completely, but I do miss that body- and oh what I wouldn’t do for a little more of that thickness I had back in the day. Oh well.

Now raising three kiddos (destined since conception for those curly locks having both parents “heavily blessed” in curly do’s), I’m working on teaching them to embrace them- and early on.  In the back of my mind I can hear my kid and teenage-self saying the same frustrating things my oldest is already saying –but I try to put a sock in those voices and power through telling her what all those ladies told me. And in addition, show the kids some fun ways to rock them<— like these!

I will say that living in a very humid climate, I still get the “Monica Geller on vacation without a hairdryer” look from time to time (see below):

And since I never learned the technique of the roll brush, I do still have a hard time with the frizz. I’ve been trying a few new solutions (and always open for suggestions).  Thus far, my favorite remedy for a rough do’ day is just to road trip out west. Oh that nice dry, low humidity climate– it’s the for-sure cure for the rogue hair troubles. But to play a little more realistically, a more *practical* approach for solving any curly do issues you may be experiencing  (whether of your own or of someone you love), this product, Simply Smooth Xtend Keratin Reparative Magic Potion, has been quite helpful! My sweet hair-cutter friend (thank you Maria at Salon Twenty-Ten!) laughed in my face when I recently asked her for bangs, as she knows that I’m a little “low maintenance” (ie: lazy) when it comes to the fixin’ of my hair. She finally obliged under the condition of me scoring some of this Simply Smooth to avoid the naturally curly mall bangs look. It’s great if you’re looking for a (Sulfate, Paraben & Sodium Chloride free) product to sleek up your locks.

Though my best advice for taking charge of your curly locks is just to embrace that body. My grandmother used to have a sign hanging in her log cabin that said “bless this mess”. Here, here. Curls are bangin. Rock ‘em while you got em’.