What Not to Do With Curly Hair
Fun, embarrassing January 8th, 2008
It is amazing to me what I’ll stick up on this blog for a laugh. Those of you who have been expecting my prom pictures will be disappointed. I can locate only one of them. I found two, but they’re both of my junior prom. The senior one is nowhere to be found, though I promise to keep looking.
For now, you can have this.
It’s my 7th grade school picture and if it isn’t obvious enough, this is what NOT to do if you have very curly hair. I did not walk around with a book on my head all day. I did not sleep upside down. I fought the curl and this is the result.
I basically had an afro growing up. You cannot straighten my kind of hair because it’ll get really mad at you for going against the natural flow of things, revolt in the worst way, and come out looking like this.
In my earlier years, my poor mother would try to make me look presentable for school and have to contend with the kind of curls that don’t like to be bothered in any way, shape or form. Every hair on my head was anti-comb.
She would often use a detangling product called Johnson & Johnson No More Tears. It was a lie. There were many tears. "Mom!!! You’re killing me! Stop it!" You can’t get a brush or comb through an afro, and no spritzing from the J&J bottle was going to help.
She resorted many times to the only thing that got rid of tangles and my general rat’s nest. She cut the angriest curls out. Wouldn’t you like to see a picture of what that looked like? Let me keep looking….
——
I bet the people over at humor-blogs have good hair.
Stumble it!








January 8th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Wow! That was close. I was about to say you were a babe, but now that I think of it, that is probably pretty creepy by today’s standards, seventh grade and all. eh hem…
Love the plaid though (I think that’s safe)
Like reading you anyway
don’s last blog post..Tentacle Porn (Thanks Diesel)
January 8th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Oh God ! Johnson & Johnson No More Tears was my shampoo as well .. and it brings back good and bad memories sometimes when I see it at the drug store !
!
And I know I might be bringing it home someday to create more memories
When I looked at the picture first, your head seemed ironed out !
January 8th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
It could have been worse. You could have had FACIAL HAIR.
Hey, the little tiny town I work in, the women all have a mustache to rival my own. I kid you not.
January 8th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Hey! How come CommentLuv doesn’t Luv my blog? Is it because it’s blogger racist?
January 8th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Hi. Found your blog by accident, but I’m glad I did. The title of your last post “…. curly hair” caught my eye! I, too, have the most unruly curly hair. All my life, I’ve tried to go against the grain and make it straight, only to be disappointed, oh, in about 10 minutes! Now, I just let it do what it wants to. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.
Darla’s last blog post..I Break for this Important Announcement…..
January 8th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
I was just browsing and I found your blog under Lifestyles in the Blog Catalog.
I really like curly hair, you shouldn’t let it bother you – the amount of straightened hair around these days is mighty boring.
As for the photo, it looks like it’s plaited and the short bits out the front just look like they’re plaited loosely so that they frame your face nicely.
A great blog, nice job
Julia’s last blog post..Net Criminals – They’re closer than you think
January 8th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
I used to get the No More Tears too. IT did lie. I am not a curly haired person, but I got horrible tangles.
Seriously – You had the most interesting hair ever. That might be the best definition of the word “Flat-Top”.
I award you some fake award of Bravest Person EVER to post this picture.
Margaret’s last blog post..Shaking My Head
January 8th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Hey! How’d you get my plaid jacket??? I have a photo of me in that same one from the 70’s…
And curly hair? I only had that after I got those afro perms… and since my hair was long at the time, future-hubby, then-boyfriend loved it and called it my Lion’s mane…
Maureen’s last blog post..Grrrrrrr…. and Brrrrrr
January 8th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
come on let’s find those senior prom pictures….:):):)
robert bourne’s last blog post..From What I Receive.. I Give In Kind
January 8th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
ahhhhhhh,, ahhhhh,, gee,, ahhhh,,….
nice picture frame………..
gt281’s last blog post..RABBIT HAT……………….
January 8th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
LOL!
When I saw that picture, I almost fell off my chair laughing. And I have no room to laugh. Although I had lovely straight hair in high school, now that I’m of a certain age my hair more closely resembles the fur of a wire-haired terrier.
January 9th, 2008 at 12:38 am
I spent 50 on a perm to get curls (naturaly stick straight and all curling iron curls fell out in 5 minutes)
I guess it will always be true that “all the straight haired girls all want curls” and vice versa.
oh well, gotta love what God gave ya sometimes.
January 9th, 2008 at 5:39 am
Don — Wasn’t feeling like a babe, but thanks. I wore a corduroy skirt with that plaid vest. Goin’ for the cowgirl look I think.
Jaffer — Yes, the head is most definitely looking ironed-out. The effect was created by working out the curls with a round brush and turbo-charged hair dryer.
Mike — There’s lookin’ at the bright side. Not sure what’s up with CommentLuv. I think it has to do with the way your RSS feed is configured.Try the help page: CommentLuv Help
Darla — It took me 40 years to realize that. Thanks to a new hairdresser who convinced me to let it grow long and let it be curly, I’m a much happier person!
Julia — You’re just so nice. This hideous look wasn’t what I wanted, but you make it sound so good! Now go over here and check out a picture from the year before. See if you don’t change your mind: 6th Grade
Margaret — Flat-top is what first comes to mind, and I will accept that fake award, thankyouverymuch.
Maureen — I always wanted straight hair. The plan would have been to get a perm with the right amount of curl I could live with. Instead, I got Chaka Khan.
Robert — I will seriously try to find it. The senior picture is the one where I’m wearing a horrible lacy pink Little House on the Prairie dress. It must be somewhere in my house!
gt281 — Did I make you go blind again? Sorry.
Carla@WordPlay — You may laugh as hard and as long as you need to. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Sarah — My mother always told me “Women pay good money to have your hair.” I never appreciated that until now. Whenever I’m at the hairdresser’s getting it cut, women all around me stare. One of them always says “Do you know how luck you are to have those curls?” It always makes me smile. For years it made me cry.
January 9th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Oh, my freaking God. I’ve never had to use the acronym YOMANK, but since there are scrambled eggs all over my keyboard now, you do, indeed, owe me.
Kathy! I still think you’re adorable. But that is the flattest head-top I’ve ever seen! Thanks for posting. You put my “Mom Perm” to shame.
JD at I Do Things’s last blog post..I Have Google-Induced Brain Damage so you don’t have to
January 9th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Considering I have long hair that tends toward the frizzy on humid days, I feel your pain. Of course, when I was a little kid, I was compelled to have short hair.
My sister has the kind of hair that looks as if she stuck her finger into a light socket and she can only do one style with it — mess.
Libertine’s last blog post..A Good Trade
January 9th, 2008 at 10:17 am
Aw! You can see the effort you put into it though!
Momo Fali’s last blog post..These Are The Places In My Neighborhood
January 9th, 2008 at 11:08 am
My hair gets curly when I let it grow out. It’ll begin flipping upwards, thus giving my head what my mom calls “wings.”
It’s not a good look for most people, but I have to say I pull it off quite nicely.
January 9th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
First thing… Mike, try putting the “www.” in front of your URL here. Don’t know why but I had to do it for mine.
Next, Kathy… is this an unspoken challenge? Because NO ONE has more pathetic teen pictures than me!
Jeff’s last blog post..The Traveling Bathroom Showcase
January 9th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Mike & Jeff, you can play around the the CommentLuv developer’s page at http://www.fiddyp.co.uk/commentluv-wordpress-plugin/
and see which URL works best for you !
Jaffer’s last blog post..At the water cooler: January 04, 2008
January 9th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
I have stick straight hair, and I’ve got issues too. Florida’s humidity? Not a help. Having bangs with Florida’s humidity? Not a good idea either. You should see my sixth grade pictures when I was growing out my bangs. Better yet-don’t.
StephanieC’s last blog post..satc dvd u-p-d-a-t-e
January 9th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
I have really stubborn wavy hair I’ve been fighting all my life. I only just discovered the wonders of a good ceramic flat iron in combination with heatsafe spray and straightening gel. For the first time in my life I have good hair!
Marie’s last blog post..I’m breaking up with Matt Damon
January 9th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Oh Kathy, what you won’t do for the love of your blog. Impressive. Very impressive.
cardiogirl’s last blog post..Cover the children’s eyes, this blog is now rated PG
January 9th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
JD — I do my best to make people spit out food on their keyboards (YOMANK=You owe me a new keyboard). I’m honored.
And thanks. You are blind.
Libertine — Most curly-haired people have the humidity issue. It must have been a very dry day for my hair to appear this non-frizzed. Hideous. Yes. Frizzy, no.
Momo Fali — Probably an hours’ worth. Not kidding.
kev — In the 70s, I always wanted those wings! Never worked. Only looked nice until I hit air (see humidity issue above). Then it just looked ridiculous. I’m sure you achieved awesomeness.
Jeff — I match your high school pictures and raise you a kindergarten photo. Look for that next. I think I have it tucked away somewhere.
Jaffer — I left that link, too. There are some good suggestions for resolving the issue of the “last blog post” not showing up.
StephanieC — I always heard the opposite complaint from my straight-haired friends. Humidity is a friend to neither of us!
Marie — And doesn’t it feel wonderful to finally have discovered good hair! All my life, I tried and tried to love my hair. I wasted half of my life trying to fight the curl.
Cardiogirl — I try. I really try.
January 9th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
I’m just struck by how similar your face looked then to how it looks now–so freakin’ youthful! Leave it to me to find something in that photo to be jealous of
.
January 9th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
haha! that picture looks just like my sister in the 70’s, she had wicked curly hair too.
oh the fun we had making fun of it!
Andy Bailey’s last blog post..by golly I feel awful
January 9th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Oh, wow. Um, that’s just… scary…
*gasp* I made a minute-long movie on Microsoft Movie Maker!! It’s awesome… =)
January 9th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Stacey — I’m just struck by how nice a comment that is! God bless you.
Andy — “Wicked curly” I like it!
Regan — I’m scaring you a lot on this blog, aren’t I? You’ll have to send me the movie! You should put it up on YouTube.
January 9th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Wow…I’m….speechless!
windyridge’s last blog post..This Crazy Weather
January 9th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Windyridge — I’m hoping to start a movement. Proudly publishing our worst pictures so we can all laugh about it now and realize how silly it was to stress over our looks or quirks back then.
January 10th, 2008 at 12:33 am
You’re much more brave than me, that’s for sure. My number one fear is a picture of myself. Not because I believe the stolen fragment of soul in the paper is trying to get me, but because without fail, I look horrible. The one photographer who can solve this will probably also get a Pulitzer.
Dash of Panache’s last blog post..Squirrels: At least we’re not as crazy as they are.
January 10th, 2008 at 1:17 am
No more tears…I remember that stuff! And you’re right…it’s not true.
OMG – that picture is too funny. I had a female mullet! And I was happy about it!
DrowseyMonkey’s last blog post..Bride’s Life-Size Wedding Cake
January 10th, 2008 at 3:16 am
All through school I would iron my hair and at night wear these HUGE rollers to bed. I can’t believe I was actually able to sleep like that. Now I’m actually glad I have curly hair, it’s so easy to take care of.
Your photo is cute.:)
Laurie’s last blog post..Doggies and a change of heart.
January 10th, 2008 at 6:10 am
Dash of Panache — I’m either very brave or very stupid. I actually don’t mind posting older pictures of myself. It’s the current ones that you will never see. I don’t take a good picture, and I’m unsatisfied with a recent weight gain. So I’m usually running from cameras!
DrowseyMonkey — I don’t know what was in that stuff that made J&J think it would magically untangle curls. Most of the time it didn’t, and it was just easier to cut the tangles out. Female mullet? Oh, that must have been a sight.
Laurie — My elder sister would do that, also, I always wondered how that was possible. What we women won’t do for our hair!
January 10th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Reminds me of “Flat Top”…a character in the old Dick Tracy cartoon strip….only much more cute.
January 10th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Somehow I think it is mandatory to have really bad hair, especially when you are in the early years of high school. Somewhere I have a really bad year 7 photo of me with a spiked fringe.
Riayn’s last blog post..Drowning not waving
January 10th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
lotus07 — Someone sent me a link privately to the Dick Tracy Flattop character. She asked if I would take offense. I didn’t.
Riayn — Ooo, spiked fringe! How lovely. It kills me to look at some of my old pictures. How stylish I thought I looked!
January 11th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
I’m a bit late on this but…
I was distracted by the cowl neck sweater.
BigNerd’s last blog post..U of M Offers “How To Be Gay” Class
January 12th, 2008 at 5:56 am
BigNerd — And that isn’t even the biggest one I owned. The biggest looked like a neck brace.
January 12th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
That picture was taken in the ’40s wasn’t it? I recognize the plaid pattern. Just kidding! Actually, as I remember it, your hair was right in style at the time. Funny, but most adult women I know today who have straight hair would kill for your curls.
Lee’s last blog post..Nude Pictures of Your Favorite Bloggers
January 12th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Lee — Glad you’re back! When I started wearing my hair curly the last year or so, women would come up to me and just stare. Most asked if it was natural, and some even wanted to touch it. It’s a strange feeling to be complemented on my curls after so many years of fighting them with all my might.
January 13th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
I bet never in your widest dreams did you ever imagine back then that your future (and much nicer haired self) would be posting this picture on the internet for the whole world to laugh with you at!
You are so cool!!
offendedblogger’s last blog post..The “Tastes Like Chicken!” Offensive
January 14th, 2008 at 5:59 am
offendedblogger — Indeed, I probably cried my eyes out when the pictures came in. Time heals all wounds, as they say. Now, all my little traumas of my youth are making great material for my blog. Who knew?
February 6th, 2008 at 8:57 am
I should have bought stock in J&J No More Tears, the way I went through that stuff. I have curly hair (not as curly as yours) and I would just detangle the outer layer when I was a kid. That left huge rat’s nests underneath. When those were discovered, no amount of J&J would help me, either.
Lorrie’s last blog post..Do The iPod Shuffle
February 6th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Lorrie — Ah! Someone who used J&J! I wonder if they make it anymore. I haven’t seen it since the 70s. There’s a product that was good in theory, but bad in practice.
April 15th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Oh my gosh. I just found your blog. You are so brave. I wouldn’t dare post pictures of myself from highschool. Your hair is gorgeous (okay maybe not in that picture) but your current picture looks great!
My daughter has very curly hair and I love it. I definitely think that her curly hair is one of the reasons she runs from me when I bring out the hair brush.
April 15th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Blinkiegirl — I never thought those pictures would see the light of day. But with many years distance between the horror and now, I can do it and laugh about it. Yes, your daughter is running from you because curly hair is painful!
June 17th, 2008 at 11:17 am
dont worry i have hair with one giant wave and i can not straiten it unless i burn my hair( i burn my hair every day)
June 18th, 2008 at 4:05 am
brooke — I did too. For about 20 years, before I figured out it was a lot less work to let it do what it wants.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:38 am
I can relate to the curly hair and I used to spend at least an hour every morning fighting mine until I learned to work with it but even then it would take me a good half hour to get the curls under control so it looked uniform and symmetrical. Good to look back and laugh at the mistakes we made… it keep us humble
Annie Keys’s last blog post..Epilight laser hair removal
August 27th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Annie Keys — You and I had the exact same experience. Oh, when I think of all the time I wasted and the damage I probably inflicted upon my curls! I used to use a hairdryer with a roller attachment to straighten the curls as I dried. Truth is, half the time as soon as it hit the outdoor air, it frizzed up again. I’m glad I finally figured it out! Thanks for dropping by!
August 29th, 2008 at 6:14 am
Hi! I really liked your hair care tips i digged this post. even i have tried these tips on my black curly hair you can also check this curly hair site. they also have some good tips like you are sharing on curly hair.
August 30th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
sandy — Hey, thanks for that link. It’s hard to find a place that truly understands the mind of curly hair. And, yeah, it has a mind of its own as you well know! Thanks for dropping by.
December 21st, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Find DEVA Curl. My wife is a deva curl girl. Ever since she has started going to see Dickie (he’s a straight hairstylist!), her hair has been beautiful.
December 21st, 2008 at 3:18 pm
fingers — Thanks for the recommendation. I never heard of DEVA Curl. I do like to wear my hair straight, but getting it there and keeping it nice are two different things.