Curl Girlz

Another one just for the girlz. Sorry guys! This post is not for those gifted people with naturally wavy hair with softly curled ends. It's for the genre of women 'blessed' with pure curls and just curls. Hint: Does your hair look like a springy mass once you've washed it? This one's for you.

If you're anything like me, you've hated your mass of curls at some point or the other and been perpetually jealous of your friends/foes or bystanders with straight, silky and shiny hair which they just can't seem to stop flaunting in front of you. You've looked up to the skies, cursed about life being unfair, tried a whole variety of products on the market from expensive conditioners to curl crunchers to the variety of all new brushes designed to 'enhance' your curls. After years of discontent though, I've discovered that hating your hair only makes it work against you. Work with it and all of a sudden, there's so much potential waiting to be tapped to make you look and feel better about those dense curls.. Here are some well-waited out tips -

Find your length: Long, short or medium, every hair type has it's critical length at which it is at it's best. Too long and the hair at the ends maybe thinning or splitting... Too short and you've got a semi-electrified look. But hey, some things work better on some people than some others. My hair tends to straighten out a bit beyond it's critical length. While on the surface this may seem to be good, soon unable to deal with it's own weight, my hair starts breaking. Ergo -> haircut. So go for whatever length you find easiest to maintain and what you think looks good on you.

Condition: Curly hair and frizz go hand in hand and seldom have I seen people with just pure curls and no frizz without any products... Finding the right hair-care product then becomes a challenge to combat the unruly ones. I'm no dame at taming it, but I find that regularly conditioning your hair does work eventually. And really, there's no need to wash your hair more than twice a week. That's one of the advantages of having curls.. they don't get oily/sticky a couple of days after the hair wash. In fact mine are at their best right before I need to wash them again.

Tame (an option): Absolutely weird as it may sound, sometimes using a curler on your hair can help regularize your curls to a more standard shape that suits you than leaving them natural. For instance I like to soften my tremendously tight curls into a more rounded form when I have the time. The downside? If you want it to stay just a couple of hours, there are none. Else, expect your hair to regain it's shape in a few hours and even sooner if you're headed to someplace humid. On the bright side, all styles look good ultimately even though you may not think so.

Damn the gel! News flash - gel sucks. Even the ones that they say don't stick end up making your hair seem like crunchy cotton candy. Not worth it at all. Along with the gel, throw away all hair crunchers, curl scrunchers and whatever other weird products out there.

Recognize the green side: With curls, there's no day you have to worry about hair being flat or lacking volume or being 'oily'. In fact once you realize that the grass is greener on the other side and that the chicks with the straight hair want your curls, things begin to look up. Liking your hair and oozing confidence about it's looks works wonders in other people's eyes as well. Always.. always remember that. Love 'em and have your fun...