Thursday, May 13, 2010

Dress Your Best Week - Day 4 - These Curls





Dress: Liberty of London for Target (also worn by Sal of Already Pretty)
White cami: Target (remixed)
Blue bolero: Ann Taylor (remixed)
Yellow flats: SE Boutique (remixed)
Silver hoops: gift from my mom (remixed)
Silver and turquoise bracelet: Chaps, gift from my mom (remixed)
Gold headband: Forever 21
Big hair: Just that lucky

So for today's episode of Dress Your Best Week, I'd like to celebrate my massive hair.

I feel like I'm a bit of an anomaly among curly-haired girls. I went through this phase where I straightened it every day, just like most of us, but when I was fifteen, I left that behind. I feel like that might be about seven years ahead of schedule, but I might be wrong. Anyway, at fifteen, I came to terms with my curls and decided to rock them, without using much product at all. I pinned it up, tied curling ribbon in it, stuck little butterflies on wires in, tucked silk flowers in, and basically did all I could to draw attention to the mass of curls on top of my head. At fifteen, I decided I really loved the natural texture of my hair, though I was not so enamored of the dark brown hue. So I dyed it. Often.


And I kept that up until I was twenty-one. I left my hair long, cut it crazy short (no, really, really short), cut it to my shoulders, but it was never dark brown. It was auburn, red, light brown, black, that awful eggplant color that all of us Latinas rocked in the 90s, and brown with honey highlights.


But then I got sick of the upkeep, tired of not knowing what my natural hair color was, curious about whether I was going prematurely grey like my mom, so I dyed it some color I think was called "Espresso" and then let it grow out. That was nearly seven years ago and I haven't gone back since. I will not dye my hair until the greys are visible, and since I usually wear it curly, I rarely heat style it and I never brush it.


As a result, my hair is supple and shiny and healthy. Add to this a recent development: I have stopped washing my hair. Alright, that's an exaggeration, I wash my hair every two or three days. Even more recently, I decided to start using natural shampoos, free of all those crazy chemicals in shampoo. This was kind of a natural extension of washing my hair less often, but I will confess that S. of Academic Chic fame, also inspired me to make this switch.

So what does my hair care routine look like? Wash with natural shampoo (whatever brand is on sale) every two or three days, work in a bit of mousse (not a whole lot), fall asleep on wet hair, and wake up to this fabulousness. In the morning, I work a bit of water in to manipulate the curls that are sticking way out of place, and pin things back. Or not.

8 comments:

  1. i really want to go the no-poo route with my hair but i've been on a shampoo buying binge lately and i currently have four kinds of shampoo/conditioner in rotation. i literally will not have to buy shampoo until the year 2011. no joke. and so now i'm either stuck with sulfate laden shampoos that are bad for my hair or i lose out on a bunch of money. sigh. i guess i'll wait til next year to try out the no-poo. maybe it can be my new year's resolution. i thought that it was disgusting and terrible before and that i'd never try it but really after reading that naturally curly website it doesn't seem that bad at all. i think i was sold when i realized there was a better way to get my curls to do what i want and that i still get to "wash" my hair using conditioner every couple of days.

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  2. Your hair is gorgeous! I love your curls!

    Also, to Melissa (above) - if you try no-poo make sure to switch to cone-free conditioner for your conditioner washes. I tried that and without the cone-free conditioners, the results were not so good. The silicones in the regular conditioners don't get washed out with water alone and so they built up over time and make your hair really greasy. Once I switched to conditioners with no silicones, that was no longer a problem. Now I actually use sulfate free shampoos and silicone free conditioners and wash my hair once or twice a week and it looks its best so far.

    Yay for curly girls :)

    S

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  3. Thanks! I'll echo S on the sulfate free shampoos and silicone free conditioners. It's amazing!

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  4. I had tried this dress on but couldn't figure out how to make it work. I like the way you put it together.

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  5. Thanks! I have to admit that I had to take up the straps just a bit, so it wouldn't be so low and baggy on the top.
    Also, my husband wants everyone to know that he picked the dress out.

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  6. I had tried this dress on but couldn't figure out how to make it work. I like the way you put it together.

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  7. Your hair is gorgeous! I love your curls!

    Also, to Melissa (above) - if you try no-poo make sure to switch to cone-free conditioner for your conditioner washes. I tried that and without the cone-free conditioners, the results were not so good. The silicones in the regular conditioners don't get washed out with water alone and so they built up over time and make your hair really greasy. Once I switched to conditioners with no silicones, that was no longer a problem. Now I actually use sulfate free shampoos and silicone free conditioners and wash my hair once or twice a week and it looks its best so far.

    Yay for curly girls :)

    S

    ReplyDelete

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