CURLY HAIR

HAVE YOU GOT NATURALLY CURLY/WAVY HAIR?

If so, have you gone thru life struggling to tame it? What if I tell you that the more you embrace it the easier it becomes to love it and flow with it.

As a naturally wavy/curly haired brunette I can admit to going thru all the stages of trying to tame, change and find easy fixes for it. Only to come to one conclusion,

to love it in its natural form. Not necessarily the colour, but the texture.

HOW HAS THE PAST INFLUENCED YOU?

Have you ever looked back at old photos and ever noticed how many styles, cuts and colours you've gone thru?

I have.

And honestly, I can write a whole book on it. Every style depicts a different time period in my life, a different mood, a big change in my lifestyle/life, or even the place I was living in with all the hopes and dreams that came with each change.

HAVE YOU NOTICED CHANGES IN YOUR HAIR AS YOU GROW OLDER?

As someone with very thick naturally wavy/curly hair, I have had to navigate how to tame my hair over the years, especially as I grow older and the texture is changing again and as the greys become more prominent. My hair seems to have a mind of it's own.

But I have realised I need to stop fighting it and just embrace it as is.

Easier said than done, right? Especially when the desired hair is thin silky straight hair, and when you are not born with this type of hair, you are made to believe you are

never going to "fit in", but honestly, who wants to? Not me!

MY BEST TIPS FOR DRY, THICK, WAVY/CURLY HAIR:

Firstly, you need to read "The Curly Girl Method" by: Lorraine Massey.

Or watch YouTube videos on how it all works. For me, it was fun learning about it and going down that rabbit hole, but it just got too much to worry about hairs all day long.

So, I simplified it to suit my life, these are some of the tips I can give you:

1) Only wash your hair when it is dirty.

2) Use the strongest conditioner you can find to use.

3) Brush your hair only when it is freshly washed and wet.

4) When in doubt, put your hair in a bun or ponytail.

5) Try not to use heat on your hair, especially no GHD.

6) Use Argan Oil in your hair once freshly washed.

7) If you use hair gel, hairspray, creams or mousse know that you will need to wash again within a day or so from the buildup of product and it will make the hair smell much faster.

8) Once you straighten your hair, it will get oilier much faster and will need to be washed sooner than normal.

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVOURITE HAIR STYLES:

In my life I have tried out every hair cut from boy short, to waist length, which is where I'm almost at again. And have gone from brunette, to red, to blonde, to black.

I can't say I have tried out any crazy colours such as purple, green, blue or pink, but I may want to one day if that is what my soul wants me to do.

THE STRESS OF STRAIGHTENING YOUR HAIR:

I'm sure those of us who have tried to straighten our hair only to realise as soon as you step outside of the door that you just wasted 2 hours of your life doing the impossible.

It never works unless you go to extremes like I did for over a decade and get the Japanese or Korean Straight perm done onto your hair, which really only lasts 6 months and then you need to re-do it. It is the only way the hairs get tamed, but the destruction is deep. I think if I had just accepted my hair as it was from a young age I wouldn't have bothered with it as much as I did.

A big factor for hair that frizzes is humidity and rain, it hates them so much.

The weather plays a huge factor for curly hair in the styles you can have for that day.

Even though there are plenty of products that tame the hair, they are never permanent.

Now in winter I pretty much live with it tied back so I don't have to deal with it all the time. That also creates a new set of issues, headaches, broken hair and boring-ish

hairstyles to choose from.

STYLES YOU CAN AND CAN'T DO:

Have you ever gone to the hairdresser to ask for a cut you loved in a photo of a model only to go home and see the biggest disaster on your head? I have, plenty of times. The last time that happened I decided to stop emulating impossible styles and just find the things I like and can do on my head. It makes life easier.

WHAT ABOUT HAIR DYES FOR GREY HAIR?

Grey hairs are some of the most difficult things to deal with on your head.

Just as I had decided to stop dying my hair, the greys started to appear in full rage.

And as someone with dark hair I was fighting a battle I knew I couldn't win. So,

instead of fighting it, I decided to do an experiment and go lighter, to match the greys.

Hair dyes rarely cover greys. And if your hair grows fast like mine does, you are constantly with a packet of hair dye in your hands, more often than you'd like.

So, my saying is, if you can't beat them join them.

HAIR MATTERS:

Your hair says a lot about you. It shows how much you look after yourself and what your personality is like without you even saying a word. Most people don't think about it or realise how important the hair on their head really is. Unwashed, dirty or not brushed well shows sloppy laziness. It's simple really, it shows you don't really care about yourself or how you look. It's not vain, it's about self-respect.

Cos hair matters, matter.

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Did you enjoy matters of the hair, or do you not really think about it much?

Either way, hair is on almost everyone's head and we all, wanting to or not, have to think about it. Did this give you something to think about? I hope so.

I'll see you on the next one, cheers.

The Style Secrets.