can you spot the curlies? that’s cheryl, danielle, and i at the ever-popular akbar. okay, so this is obviously a terrible picture and my hair looks like a mess from dancing, but there were no other ones of our three heads in my photo library and i left my digital camera at their house. coincidence? yes. oh my god, who cares about the original subject of this post… look at those two passionate gay male lovers behind us all. wait, or is that a lez and a dude? i can’t even tell these days. they are going to take my queer card away from me if i don’t shape up. uh oh.
anyways, i’m not a big fan of attracting attention (hardy har), but a lot of times when i go out with these girls it just comes with the territory. it’s the hair. when we roll together we get comments all the time like, “do you have to have curly hair to hang out with you guys?” or “are you sisters?” i dunno, those two dress similarly and are actually cousins, so maybe that has more to do with it than anything, but my hair matches.
a couple of weeks ago cheryl and i were in old town pasadena and some dude just shouted “SHIRLEY TEMPLE!” at us. it was hilarious.
growing up, i hated my hair. it was long and curly and frizzy. my mom used to brush it and braid it and i would get so pissed cause it hurt and i hated staying still that long. in fifth grade all of the kids started calling me “chia pet” which i honestly don’t think makes any sense, but at the time, man, it cut me deep. then, there was the onset of puberty, when no one in the seventh grade class could say “pen” or “pencil” without all the boys breaking into fits of laughter. it was around that time when the comparisons of my hair to pubic hair started to be made.
this was devastating. how fucking embarrassing is that? a whole head full of hairs that look like they should be adorning the genitals of a 1970s playboy playmate. oh, the shame. kids can be so cruel!
well, that was then. or so i thought. the other day i was in the salon getting my hair cut by lacey and this friend of hers was there. as i was sweeping up my hair at the end, he said something about all the little pubes and the memory came rushing back.
can we just set the record straight here? my hair is REALLY curly. i have never once in my life encountered anyone who had genuinely curly pubes. yes, i’ve seen kinky ones, but if you really want to know i have seen a lot more that were shockingly straight! in fact, thanks to a team of highly skilled eastern european women, i only have maybe fourteen or fifteen pubic hairs, and none of them are curlies. none. not one.
so will the people who posess that mythic nest of ringlets “down there” please stand up?
okay, moving right along: in high school i started to put gobs of gel into my hair so that it would dry to a nice, crispy texture, offsetting the delicate beauty of my over-tweezed brows. until two years ago, i pretty much did the same thing, except with high-end products and gorgeous, enviably full eyebrows.
then, i cut it all off. then, i started working at steam and val cut it and told me to let it do its thing and showed me how to style it and the rest is history. i absolutely love having curly hair. it’s the best ever. all i have to do is wash it, put in product, twist either my whole head or just parts if i’m lazy, diffuse lightly or air-dry, and i can wear it like that for two-three days until i have to wash it again. my hair never really gets greasy b/c it’s so curly. people compliment it all the time, ask me if i have a perm, want to touch it. it’s fun.
here are my current favorite products:
artec textureline paste
devacurl arc angell
these are both great holding products. i put in a little silicone serum when it’s wet (right now i am using pureology, but i think any will do), then layer over it with one of these and twist. i use the paste when i want a stronger hold, have more time to dry, and want my style to last longer, and the arc angell when i want it to have a little more body and dry faster. once it’s dry i separate the curls a little and mist on bumble and bumble does it all spray (best hairspray EVER) while i shake it out. easy. if it looks slept-on in the next few days i just mist on a little bumble and bumble tonic and then shine spray and scrunch or twist, depending on what i’m going for.
and there’s my story. i think that perms are going to be 100% back really soon. i have already seen more and more at the salon before i stopped working there. so all of you girls with naturally curly hair better put down your flat irons, so you can say you were first.
