The taming of the FRO!

     When I was younger and still today, I have been told by many that I should be grateful of the huge mound of thick curly hair on the top of my head. My Mom used to tell me, "People pay good money to have hair like yours!" To which my response would be, " You mean, people do this to themselves on purpose?" Years and years ago I had zero knowledge of how to tame my curls. I did all the wrong things. I brushed my hair everyday, I didn't use any product and I allowed my sweet Mother to cut my hair. Now my Mama, bless her heart, had no clue how to work with my crazy locks! She herself has thick wavy hair, not corkscrew curls like me. Lets just say, we have learned from the past...

     In Jr. High, I was still completely clueless. My sister used to tell me, "STOP BRUSHING YOUR HAIR!!!!" I would yell back "I"LL BRUSH IT IF I WANT TO!!!" As time went on I started to see that perhaps having a frizzy, huge fro wasn't the most attractive thing in the world. So I stopped brushing out my curls and gave into their craziness. Eventually adding gel and trying to work with them instead of against. 

    Sr. High was better. I had a routine down. The curls were actually starting to look decent. Of course, leave it to me to mess that up. It was a Spring afternoon the day I decided to cut my own hair. I was tired of the length and I wanted layers. So I put the scissors to my head, right in the front and went SNIP! COMPLETE DISASTER!!!!! I had single handedly ruined my hair! I was mortified! It was so short that it completely stuck out on 1 side! I panicked! I stuck about 50 bobby pins in my hair, drove over to my best friend's house and exclaimed "HELP!!!!" Alissa looked at me, trying not to laugh. "I'm sure it's not that bad." she said. I took my hand off of my forehead to show her the damage. It was that bad! She proceeded to make better what I had destroyed. Cutting my hair beautifully in a short, layered style. Alissa was now my official 'Hair cutter' .

     Now I was set! I had a hair stylist, hair gel, tons of hair spray, and I was more confident. Someone probably should have mentioned, hair gel and spray are extremely flammable. You would think commonsense would have kicked in. Of course they are flammable! Well, I wanted to have a 'Spa' Experience at home. What better way to do that then to take a bath with candles lining the tub. I had everything set, I laid down to relax when I smelled this horrible scent. "Huh" I thought, "What is that? I thought these were unscented candles?" I reach back and touched my hair. When I brought my hand back around I noticed I had a handful of HAIR!!!! I had set my hair on fire! *Note to self, half a can of hairspray on your head and an open flame do not mix...

    My 20's have been much more generous to my hair. I have finally figured out what to do and what not to do. But as they always say, "Location, location, location!"  Living in Phoenix was perfect! ZERO humidity! Talk about having a good hair day for 6 years straight! It was fabulous! Then we up and moved here to NY. My hair gets bigger and bigger by the second here. The moister in the air blows it up like a ballon. I very much resemble a clown. In fact, I have been tempted to dye my hair lots of bright colors, stick on a shiny red nose and call it a day. I don't think you can ever tame curly hair. You don't own it, it owns you! So to my fellow curly girls out there, I feel your pain.