Girl Talk

So many of you may know that I have been trying to grow my hair long for about 4 years. My hair has never been longer than right below my shoulders and I thought I would try an experiment to see how long it would take to grow it to about mid-way down my back. I've had it trimmed about a quarter of an inch on average, about every 4 months for the past 4 years and it is now longer than it has ever been. That is UNTIL I went in for a trim last week and had the usual quarter inch trimmed off. It seems like a lot more than a quarter inch was trimmed and it looks like it is as short or shorter than it was a year ago. I have three options:

1.) Stop waiting and cut it short in a fun short cut that I would love. If I do this it may take a decade to un-do it so it may end up being permanent. (The in-between stage is the hardest part so I may just keep it short!)

2.) Keep waiting and be patient. It will probably seem longer in a few weeks after the shock of the cut wears off.

3.) Try some new kinder options for taking care of my hair like...The Curly Hair Method, for example. This is taken from a book written by Lorraine Massey called Curly Girl. If you didn't already know, I'll let you in the secret: I have naturally curly hair!! After blow-drying, straightening it with a flat iron, and then curling the ends under or out, you may not be able to detect those hidden waves peeking out but if you've ever been my sister or roommate, son, daughter, Larisa after she had her ultrasound to find out if she's having a boy or girl, or husband (just one!), you've seen the true Melissa hair.

My roommate Theresa introduced me to the flat iron seven years ago and it has been an almost daily tradition ever since.

My hair is completely straight on top, wavy on the sides and very curly in the back. Achieving a uniform texture, whether straight or curly has been my goal.

So this week I found an article on Wiki How called "How to Follow the Curly Girl Method." It basically says to avoid all shampoos and hair brushes, and heat of every kind. Woah. I know my hair will be healthier if I unplugged the flat iron but I'm not sure I'm ready to unplug every hair styling tool I've ever used. After reading the article, I thought it sounded so nice for your hair so I decided to try it for a few days.



I broke down when I went in for the trim on Wednesday and asked the hair dresser to blow dry and straighten it. I couldn't last! Are there any other natural curly girls that want to try being kind to the curls with me? Or are options 1 or 2 sounding a little better?