Curly Whirls

Hello bowl-cut!

Once upon a time I had beautifully shiny pin-straight hair. By the time I was old enough to care about what was happening on the top of my head, I wished (like every other female) for the complete opposite. I bought goop that promised to curl and worked it through my straight hair hoping for a change. It all ended the same—a head of wet looking stringy hair, barely bent.

When I went off to college, I befriended a ringletted beauty. She spent the majority of our college experience ironing her hair flat while I spent it poofing, spraying and curling mine. Humidity, water and gravity were our great enemies in both hair transforming projects. By the time we graduated, the hair Gods had punished me for all the torture with a wavy-frizz combo that didn't fare well in public naturally. I took to straightening it or pumping it with a wave-controlling product daily. Then I moved to the East coast and the change continued.

When I’m able to get home, my family members often remark- where did you GET that hair? Earlier this fall when Louise was visiting she caught a rare glimpse of my au natural bed-head- is THAT for real? I’m just as confused by my new curls.

I wanted curls for so long, but now what do I do with them? So many of my famous go-to haircuts are now just memories because my wildly wavy locks don’t play nice with shorter styles. I finally had to (despite my desire to limit my exposure to strange chemicals) buckle down and buy a curl spray to tame my mane. I’ve also read less shampooing and more conditioning is key for curls, so soon I’ll experiment with shaking up my shower routine as well.

Worst of all, despite my almost decade long relationship with the same awesome straightener, I haven’t plugged it in almost a year. The effort of straightening outweighs the risk of hair-raising humidity. Side note: My grandma said back in the day, her and her friends use to straighten their hair with irons—real clothing irons, with their hair laid out flat and ear pressed to an ironing board. No way I’d fight my battle that hard. Or would I...

I’ve heard plenty of explanations to my new curls—the water, a new climate, my grandma’s DNA—but whatever is the cause, it seems to be continuing. Instead of haphazard curls, I’m now getting a few well-formed ringlets!

Wild waves and curls last summer,
no product added.

Science explains a change in hair texture can be linked to a shift in hormones. It’s been suggested that as these levels change, so do the shapes of hair follicles—from circular (which produces straight hair) to oval (curly hair). As  hair naturally falls out (and boy does mine ever), the shape of follicles changes and a change in texture is reveled.

The theory may explain why my extreme hair makeover continues, but it doesn't do much to explain why it started. I’m pretty sure my body was done with its hormone shifting by the time my hair kinked up in college. What I really need explained is how the heck to manage this wild mop. For now I'm keeping my spritzing and scrunching at minimum and letting it do what it will; and as every female will do, hoping it turns pin-straight again.