Curly Hair Dilema

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO POSTED ME A REPLY.

I`VE NOW HAD MY WEDDING AND MY HAIR WAS PERFECT - SO HOW DID I DO IT??

WELL, BASICALLY MY HAIR WAS STRAIGHTENED OUT THE DAY BEFORE (SHOULD NEVER WASH HAIR ON DAY OF WEDDING) THIS ALLOWS THE HAIR TO HOLD LONGER. I GUESS THAT MEANS THE DIRTIER THE HAIR THE BETTER?!? ON THE MORNING OF THE WEDDING MY HAIR WAS SECTIONED AND THEN CURLED USING A NARROW SPIRAL TONG. EACH SECTION WAS FIRST COATED IN GEL TO ENSURE IT HELD. ONCE STYLED INTO SHAPE (I HAD THE TOP OF MY HAIR PINNED UP HIGH BEHIND MY HEAD WITH THE BACK LEFT DOWN), IT WAS SPRAYED WITH SHINE-HAIRSPRAY. MY VEIL WAS THEN ATTACHED TO THE BACK OF MY HEAD UNDER A HEAP OF CURLS. SOME CURLS WERE LEFT TO ESCAPE THE SIDE OF MY FACE. THE RESULT - I WAS EXTREMELY IMPRESSED AND LOOKED STUNNING ON MY DAY...

Oh my... I can relate to MOST of you, if not all. Well, I guess I`m here (on the web) looking for solutions for my curly hair...seems as though I have damaged my hair so badly because I`ve fought it for so long (straightening, etc). I am multi-racial and if I wear my hair naturally, on a regular (w/out straightening or constant blow drying), I have a beautiful set of wavy, s-pattern (not loose though) curls. Only problem is... B/c of the straightening, my hair is DRY and I had to cut about 4 inches off. Why? Because some curl-expert idiots told me to LAYER my hair. Sure. Right. I was left with an absolute mess so I had it all cut off evenly except in the front (slightly shorter than the rest). I guess I`m really looking for "the best" conditioner (reg. And leave in) out there. Any suggestions? Also, my hair needs constant moisture. I live in Chicago and the wind kills my hair. Help!

Hey Anna, I have one of those ceramic straight irons and they are great. The hair comes really straight and the ceramic in the iron has special ions which keep it soft and protect the hair. My sister has long curly hair and we straightened her hair a couple of weeks ago. It went dead straight and she has a hard time getting straight hair. The key is not to buy a cheap straightner. You have to purchase the expensive kind that will run you from 80.00 - 200.00. Don`t buy it from your local Walmart you have to buy it from a beauty supply store. The new heat activated shampoo and conditioner from Thermasilk works wonderful as the shampoo works with the heat. Hope that helps - Good Luck

I`m not sure if you have the same type of curly hair as I do, but I finally figured out how to tame my hair. My mom has stick straight hair and didn`t know what to do with mine so when I was going up my hair was a mess, and usually cut short to help keep it under control. I hated my hair. About 5 years ago I started using Tresseme products. They are amazing. I use the Vitamin E moisturinzing Shampoo and kind of a lot of the Vitamin E conditioner (brown trim). When my hair is wet I put in Tresseme SMOOTH gel De-fizz something (blue trim). I rinse my hair, but try to not rinse all of the conditioner out. You are right that alcohol is bad for your hair. It dries it out (and curly hair is dry to begin with). The Tresseme gel doesn`t seem to have alcohol in it - or not as much as most gels - so your hair stays healthy. When there is a special occassion (wedding etc.) I get some type of defrizz serum and add that into my hair when its wet, but I don`t do it often because it does have alcohol and does damage hair. I love my hair now. Its long and curly - similar to the girl on CSI: New York. I get compliments all the time, and other than the fact that it takes a while to get the knots out in the shower its really quick to do in the morning - throw the gel in and go (don`t blow dry).