Curly Hair. The Twin Mom’s Nemesis.

If you have straight hair, you want curly. If you have curly hair, you want straight. Some of us even straighten our curly hair and then, to the wide-eyed astonishment of our husbands, we take a curling iron to it.  What is wrong with us?  I think it is fair to say, that as a species, women are just never happy with their hair.  I will however, say, that I believe, with all my heart, that curly-haired women really do have it tougher. If you have straight hair, you may feel it looks blah, or lifeless, but if you do not have time to do it, it will still look normal. Curly hair on the other hand, if it isn’t dried just perfectly or doesn’t have all the right products in it, can really wreak havoc on your overall look. And if it’s raining? Oh god, lookout! Even if it is done just perfectly, it can still really make you look very Annie-esque.

I have naturally curly hair and have been struggling with it for a lifetime.  It takes so much energy to straighten it.  Now that I have twins, I just cannot blowdry and flat-iron every time I wash it.  I WANT to be okay with my curly hair, I really do! But having my hair straight just makes me FEEL so much better! Nothing attractive about a rat’s nest on your head!  I’ve even busted my boys looking up above my face, probably wondering what the heck is piled on top of mommy’s head! So, of course, I’m always on the lookout for something that will save me time but still allow me to have more relaxed hair. 2 years ago, I had the Brazilian Blowout. If you haven’t heard about it, it was an in-salon hair relaxing treatment that was applied by a hairdresser who had the proper training.  It cost about 200-300 dollars, and it was supposed to make your (curly-haired) life much simpler.  Well, hallelujah! It actually did that. I had it done and walked out with bone straight hair after she blow dried it. The true test would be after I washed it and let it air dry. Success! My hair had gone from drying into a curly afro to drying in long, relaxed waves. And if  I wanted to blow dry and flat-iron? It literally took me 5 minutes.  This new salon treatment was AMAZING! I was forever grateful to the hair gods and marvelled at how it literally changed my life overnight. Well, all good things must come to an end, and come to an end it did. A screeching, blaring, health concerning halt, when it was discovered that the Brazilian Blowout contained higher than the allowable limit of formaldehyde and was not fit to be used on humans.  Great. I don’t know if I was disappointed because now my health was at risk or because I could never have this life changing treatment ever again.

Since then I have seen many advertisements and promos for hair products that promise to relax or straighten your hair without the harsh chemicals.  I have stayed away, mostly because I was pregnant and there was no way I was going to be a guinea pig, but also because I had one bad experience.  I would wait until someone more reputable came out with something and maybe I would give it another go.

Nothing as amazing has been promised ever since, but I did recently try a product called Concen-Straight by Bumble and Bumble. It is an at home, do it yourself hair treatment that is supposed to relax your hair, eliminate the frizz, and make it easier to straighten. Here’s the nitty-gritty. Save yourself the 60 bucks. Bottom line, this product does not do what it suggests that it will do. Not only that, but it faded my color by about 3 shades, and my hair smelled like perm for about 7 washes afterwards. It also felt a little like straw.  I guess for now, I will stick to saving my straight hair for Sundays, which is the one day my husband gets off, which is the one day that I get time to do stuff for myself.  Through the magic of dry shampoo (which I will discuss another time), I am able to extend this until Wednesday if I really want to, and the hunt continues. In the meantime, I am trying to love myself with curly hair.

I’d love to hear from you! Do you have curly hair? Have you made peace with it? Have you tried something that truly seems to help the straightening process? Please share!