Thursday, March 21, 2013

The Thing About the Hair

So.

This is a little awkward, but in my site statistics I see that I get a lot of google traffic on a post I did about having curly hair. Specifically, a lot of people are searching to avoid triangle head, and I think it is hilarious that term shows up in the results so often. I have a head full of naturally curly hair and wrote a very popular post encouraging my curly-headed friends to embrace it and that curly hair is awesome!

And then I straightened it with Keratin treatments. I know. I'm a traitor. For the record, I wouldn't have gone out of my way to do that, I barter copywriting and marketing for salon services and it was a "Well, hey, why not?" kind of thing after too many humid days and uncontrollable hair.

I will admit that I love, love, love it with all of my heart and soul. My hair is straight and sleek and shiny and soft and manageable. It dries quickly and mostly straight. I am no longer phobic about hair cuts. Good hair days are no longer up to the weather, it is really nice. At any hint of a curl, I march back into the salon and have them chemically treat it right out.

I do get a little tired of it just lying there limply though and now that curls are optional, I like to curl it with one of those big curling wand things. One like this but I lost the glove because I'm a rebel without a cause:

http://idealmag.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/remington-curling-wand01.jpg

And when I say I curl it, I mean make a few haphazard waves and then burn the crap out of my neck. I recently burned myself pretty badly before going to a hockey game, so I had a head full of big, sexy curls and a neck that looked like rotting flesh, and I sat there in agony all night.

When I pointed it out to my mom a few days later she said, "I saw it but didn't want to say anything in case it was a wart." A wart?!? For the love of God, if I have a bloody, scabby, purple, 2 inch wart on my neck, please do mention it! What the hell? I felt no better about it at that point.

I still have a scar on my neck.

I am no quitter, though, because I feel fancy with Kardashian-like curls, I just lack the coordination. My hair stylist has tried to teach me twice and I have watched lots of videos on my own behalf and while writing articles for the salon, but it still never goes well.

I just saw the following video where she uses a regular curling iron instead of a wand, and the way she clamps it doesn't involve wrapping the hair around a 400 degree bar of burning metal with your hand, and I'm wondering if a new curling iron would magically solve all of my hair problems:



I'm definitely not ready for step 2 though, which involved lots of teasing and hair spray. I actually laughed out loud a little at the thought--knowing me, I'd be walking around with 2 combs, a brush and 46 bobby pins stuck in my hair. I can barely blow dry it without it getting so tangled in the round brush that I consider cutting it off.

So I don't know, maybe you shouldn't be taking hair advice from me at all, people from Google.

Blogher is having a giveaway of $100 or $250 VISA gift cards related to watching these beauty videos, so go do that if you are feeling lucky and/or like money and/or need hair advice. Official rules.

Also,  Clemson Girl and the Coach is pretty good at hair, go ask her.

6 comments:

Nova said...

Ah yes, but have you seen this hair curling tutorial? lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdVuSvZOqXM

Unknown said...

LOL, I hadn't seen that until now. That is pretty much exactly how my tutorial would go, but a huge patch of neck skin would come off instead. That is hilarious she uploaded it anyway.

Anonymous said...

I really thought it was a hickey but thought I would be polite and say "wart".

Sasha said...

I am considering growing out my hair again. The last time I did it I was violently ill with a liver infection for 4 months and didn't get to enjoy it or even curl it. In fact, I don't even recall cutting it, I was so sick. So I might just grow it out again. And then I could curl it!

Katie said...

I, too, have naturally curly hair that I embraced for the first 28 years of my life. Then my hairdresser asked if she could try out her new flat iron on my hair, and I never went back. I can cut it in an actual style! I can sleep on it and not have to wash and restyle it the next day! Its amazing and fabulous.

Julie H said...

haha actually did LOL at the wart. Mom's are great.