View Full Version : Curlies how long did you try to have straight shiny hair?
Curlsgirl
June 22nd, 2008, 07:41 PM
Just wondered about this. I spent most of my life until coming here trying to blow dry my hair and brushing it and adding stuff to try to get it to be something it's NOT. I actually thought at one time the ones with straight shiny hair just had "better hair" and I was one of the unfortunate ones. I remember blow drying with a round brush a shorter layerd cut in the morning and then going outside in the humidity and BOOM worse than before and duped again!!! I guess I'm a slow learner because I did that from about age 13 when I started learning how to blow dry to about three years ago. So that is let's see 32 years!!!! EEK!!! How about you?
Presto
June 22nd, 2008, 07:59 PM
No one ever intentionally straightened my hair... (Actually I was taken for perms several times to "control" the curls!) But my mom thought conditioner was an unnecessary luxury so we never had any growing up, and she did blow dry our hair. Mine was always acknowledged as curly, but it looked pretty crappy for a long time. Eventually I was taking care of it myself, and didn't use the dryer, but there was still no conditioner to be had, sometimes there was Pert 2 in 1, that's about it. Usually used the head&shoulders my dad had for dandruff. *shudders at the poof that was*
I did grow it pretty long, it was probably waist length, soooo neglected and over dyed, but never bleached.
Then an idiotic high school boyfriend picked up a hat from a thrift store drop off and we both had lice, so I chopped my hair after the Nix lice treatment. It was then just to the bottoms of my ears, an annoying length, so I applied lots of mousse to keep it out of my eyes. I used a comb to spread it back from my face into an invisible ponytail. So it was straight, but just due to the mousse, I have never yet ironed it or intentionally blown it out.
ZaBasDa
June 22nd, 2008, 08:06 PM
I brushed my hair for several years when I was in elementary school. And I have flat-ironed it a few times in the past several years because my friends wanted me to. But I have always known it was curly and never tried to do anything permanent about that.
Riot Crrl
June 22nd, 2008, 08:09 PM
I never really tried to straighten in the way you're describing. I did have some bizarre straightening methods worked out in the 80s, but I kind of wanted it to look weird and fried, lol. However, until recently I can't in good faith say I was making the most of the curls either. I didn't attempt to straighten but I didn't know/care enough to figure out what would be best. We're supposed to brush our hair right?
So I'm picking 16 years.
girlcat36
June 22nd, 2008, 08:21 PM
From the ages of 12(when I got a hair dryer for my birthday), until 18. I got too busy for straightening after that.
Apparantly my mother forgot I had curly hair. One day when I was 16, I came home with air dried hair after swimming in a friends pool. My mother was disgusted and said "What did you do to your hair!?"
She thought my friend had given me a bad perm. Took a while to convince her otherwise.
At age 18 I started working alot, and by age 22 I had two children. I did not have time to be a 'straightie' anymore.
spidermom
June 22nd, 2008, 08:25 PM
Thought someone might find this story amusing: You know how teenagers know everything? I remember my mother telling me that I had wavy hair, and I responded in that 'how can you be so stupid' tone of voice that children master at an early age: "There is no such thing as wavy hair. It's either straight or it's curly." I invented blow-drying for myself by ripping the cap off our bonnet dryer and using the hose. I also leaned over the ironing board to iron my hair when it was long enough (about BSL). Mercifully, I don't remember the setting I used. I thought of my hair type as straight with a lot of cowlicks. Back then it was a lot less wavy than it is now; it was pretty close to straight except for a few areas.
Sofoulee
June 22nd, 2008, 08:34 PM
Never again!
I'm now in love with my curls... I wouldn't have it any other way.
People REMEMBER me by my curls!
harley mama
June 22nd, 2008, 08:37 PM
I tried brushing, blow drying, mashing taping, ironing and all manor of things to have shiny, straight hair. It took me 47 years to decide that my curls were not going to dominated.
I am so glad I finally learned my lesson!
darkwaves
June 22nd, 2008, 09:51 PM
I never tried to have straight hair -- I like my hair. I've always liked my hair. I'm glad I have curls. Or waves. Or hair wrinkles.
It was my identity in the family, too. I had fine, dark, wavy/curls, while my sister had coarse, blonde, straight hair. (I mean, as a kid, why would I have wanted straight hair? Then it would have been coarse and blonde! :D Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it wasn't who I was!)
jessie58
June 22nd, 2008, 10:09 PM
I've had only mostly wavy hair until after I had children. I used to perm my hair once a year because I wanted it curlier than it was. The perm would hold forever, until it was cut off.
I stopped perming about 12 years ago and then realized that it was actually changed and getting curlier and curlier.
I guess you could say that I've never straightened my hair until I came to LHC and tried it twice. Hated it both times.
Cichelle
June 22nd, 2008, 10:17 PM
Oh, wow...so many years. I relaxed my hair, blew it dry, brushed it, etc. I had this boyfriend who would hear my blow dryer going every morning. One day he said to me...why don't you just leave your hair alone? That was the beginning of something for me. I still used a relaxer four times a year, but I gave up the blow dryer. It was several years later that I stopped relaxing, transitioned and allowed my hair to be itself. It took me a long time, but I'm glad I got here.
jessie58
June 22nd, 2008, 10:33 PM
Oh, wow...so many years. I relaxed my hair, blew it dry, brushed it, etc. I had this boyfriend who would hear my blow dryer going every morning. One day he said to me...why don't you just leave your hair alone? That was the beginning of something for me. I still used a relaxer four times a year, but I gave up the blow dryer. It was several years later that I stopped relaxing, transitioned and allowed my hair to be itself. It took me a long time, but I'm glad I got here.
Thank goodness you left it alone, it's gorgeous!!! :D
Curlsgirl
June 23rd, 2008, 06:22 AM
Just wanted to add that curly girls were totally ostracized at my school. NO KIDDING! No one and I mean NO one except this one girl I remember who had such curly hair she could not tame it no matter what. I was a follower and wanted to fit in so badly. Plus back then a regular iron was all you had to straighten either that or a blow dryer and round brush or big soup cans. I never tried the soup cans. :D I so wish I had known how to treat my hair back then. I remember when I got out to the workplace there was a girl with hair about my length with curls EXACTLY like mine. But I didn't KNOW my hair was even like that! I loved her gorgeous natural curls and it was years before I realized I had hair exactly like that! Isn't that strange?????
Honey39
June 23rd, 2008, 06:28 AM
I didn't realise I had curly hair. I thought I had frizzy hair. So, day 1 = straightened, day 2 = up. And that was that. It's only now, at the age of 39, I have FINALLY realised I actually have pretty amazing hair if I stop pretending it's straight. It feels odd though to give up the battle. And the irritating thing is, everyone who notices the mass of curls thinks it's taken hours to do, when actually it's just washing, twisting, and leaving. So I feel a bit odd, when people say - "that must have taken AAAAAGES" because it is so different.
Hmmmm - am very new to this curly lark, I must say
Ms Monnie
June 23rd, 2008, 07:14 AM
My mum is 3b and tells me about all the ridiculous things she and others would do in the 50's to straighten hair like putting your head on the ironing board and covering it with brown paper or using orange juice cans. However I don't think it took her very long so realise her curls would not be "tamed". I've never seen a picture of her with remotely flattened hair. When fancy ceramic straighteners became super-trendy and my sister bought a pair, we joked about how funny it would be to use them on our mum. I tried to picture it and the thought made me feel ever-so-slightly queasy, I wouldn't want my mother to be anything but her frizzy, boingy, charcoal-and-silver self.
Medvssa
June 23rd, 2008, 07:36 AM
I voted I never tried to, always made the most of my curls!, although always making the most of my curls is a bit much to say ;P Well, I did, but until I knew (or figured out) how to myself, my parents really didn't have a clue. My hair was blowdried (low setting, my father just thought I would die of pneumonia if I didn't get all that mass of hair dry, fast) and my mother (straight haired, my father is curly too but he wears it short) brushed it, because she didn't know better. I started taking care of my own hair pretty soon, combing with a skeleton brush or a wide toothed comb when my hair was still wet. I don't know how I figured it out all by myself, but I did :grin: and one summer that I spent a lot of time in the pool and the beach, I must have been 14 or so, my hair was feeling dry and stringy, so when I came back from the shower I took the olive oil dispenser thingy from the kitchen and seasoned my wet hair with it :lol: it worked great, shiny curls! :D
My hair is so obviously curly that I never tried to get it straight myself, yeah a few times at the hairdressed I got it straightened (blowdry and iron), just for kicks.
Siava
June 23rd, 2008, 07:37 AM
16 years!! From 12-28 I maintained blowfried hair. It took me cutting it all to embrace the curlies.
Altocumulus
June 23rd, 2008, 08:01 AM
About 6 or 7 years - from the middle of junior high school until the middle of college. When I was 13, I cancelled a date with my boyfriend because I blew out the fuse with my blow dryer and couldn't finish drying my hair! (Not to mention I left half of my building with no electricity, but the important part was that my hair was not straight!)
This was in the days when the only styling product was hair spray and really stiff gel (dippity do!), and the only heat tools were curling irons and blow dryers. I'm sure it would have taken me much longer to make peace with my wurls if I had had access to more effective straightening methods. As it was, all of that effort and my hair would frizz up if there was even the slightest humidity. I finally gave up and learned to love my natural texture.
DotDotDot
June 23rd, 2008, 09:29 AM
I never tried to straighten my hair! I blew it out once last year because everyone said it would look good, but I found LHC before it ever occured to me to try and straighten it.
honeybunch
June 23rd, 2008, 09:33 AM
I had tried to straighten my hair for about 18 years. I tried hot combs and perms. Really though, I did it more for other people than myself. I never really cared one way or the other whether my hair is straight or not. All I ever wanted was to have my hair braided, and that's what I have now. :)
Starr
June 23rd, 2008, 10:17 AM
I straightened my hair on and off for about 7 years between the ages of 13 and 20- then I had a child and had no time.
It wasn't that I didn't like my curls- I just didn't like volume. But now that I've learned to tame the frizz, I'm more in love with my hair than ever. Plus it's nice not having to be at odds with your hair all the time.
Lamb
June 23rd, 2008, 10:28 AM
Well, I am 26 and only started to leave my curls alone about two years ago, so I voted over 16 years.
Brush wet and dry, blowdrier, small tooth comb, you name it. The only thing I didn't try was a straightening iron (too expensive).
JessTheMess
June 23rd, 2008, 10:31 AM
I always thought that I had straight hair because my mom would blow dry it straight for me. I didn't realize my natural hair was wavy until a few years ago. I probably could have spared my poor hair a lot of trauma if I wasn't taught bad habits lol
Buddaphlyy
June 23rd, 2008, 03:02 PM
I picked 11-15 years, which is pretty bad considering I'm only 22. Mom started straightening my hair with a hot comb when I was about 5. She did that a few times a year all through elementary school. I got my first relaxer at 13 for 8th grade pictures. Stayed relaxed until my sophomore year of college. Did my BC when I was 21 and have been curly ever since.
honeybunch
June 23rd, 2008, 07:04 PM
^5? I don't remember not having straightened hair. I was very confused. I never knew what my real texture looked like until 2005.
Riot Crrl
June 23rd, 2008, 07:07 PM
Duh, I totally read this poll wrong. I voted for 16 years thinking it had been that long since I really tried to straighten.
Cichelle
June 23rd, 2008, 07:34 PM
Thank goodness you left it alone, it's gorgeous!!! :D
Oh my goodness, thank you! That's so sweet!
psvzum
June 23rd, 2008, 10:11 PM
When I was young I had long hair and straightened it with blowdryer/brushes. When I was 22 I cut my hair really, really short and wore it that way for years. When I began growing my hair long again,it was with the stipulation I wear it in it's natural curly/wavy state=primarily due to the length of time it used to take to straighten it. I love how little time it takes to do my hair now-just pretty much wet it, add product, scrunch and go : )
Shell
June 23rd, 2008, 10:21 PM
I thought I had "straight, frizzy" hair. My family (all hair dressers by the way), said I had "a lot of body." So from the age of 12 until I got out of high school, I would blow my hair dry and then curl it. Tsk, tsk. I'm not truly a curly, but looking back on it, it seems silly that I actually straightened and then curled it--no wonder the curl held so well. Now I just dampen, scrunch and go.
Buddaphlyy
June 23rd, 2008, 10:46 PM
^5? I don't remember not having straightened hair. I was very confused. I never knew what my real texture looked like until 2005.
Yeah 5, and believe me, I was one of the last girls in my class to go the straightened route so I can believe that you don't remember your natural texture. I remember one girl told me she remembers her mom rubbing relaxer on her her when she was less than 18 months old! Craziness.
Mom mostly had me in cornrows with braids. I think she probably would have kept me natural, but as she started advancing in her career, doing my hair became time consuming and I was shipped to granny's house where no afros or anything reminiscent of them was allowed.
redcelticcurls
June 24th, 2008, 12:00 AM
My problem wasn't so much trying to straighten it as not knowing how to care for it.
Elementary and Middle School sucked as I brushed it, and some of you have seen what my brushed out hair looks like. No wonder I got bullied, lol.
In High School iIhad very short cuts that I combed with a pick and it looked OK, but I never made the connection to why.
Adulthood varied, but I did brush less. Hit and miss curls, but lots of frizz and fuzz!
I had it straightened once, and it was a pain to grow out. Curly roots and straight ends look unusual.
I only figured out how to deal with my hair about 2 years ago.
So, that is decades of crazy hair, lol.
Curlsgirl
June 24th, 2008, 11:23 AM
I love these stories!!!! They sound like "Curly Girl Book" material! Maybe we should collect them and send them to Lorainne Massey :D
Sakura07
June 28th, 2008, 07:18 PM
I think I tried to have straight hair for about 6 years. My mom started straightening my hair was i was around 10 or so then she would braid it up. Around middle school I started taking care of my own hair and I tried to keep the straight thing going with blow drying and straightening pretty religiously.
My mom always waited until high school age to let us decide if we wanted to relax our hair. I put it off for awhile because I didn't like the permanency of it. Though I did continue to wear straight hair. I got layers, grew it out a bit, copped it off again.
Around 16 (around the time I discovered hair boards actually) I realized straight hair was too much work. I was afraid of rain, humidity, sweating and pretty much anything that would make my hair poof up and go back curly. Finally it struck me that liked it curly better. When I washed it i loved the wait it curled up and looked. I wanted it to stay that way. And from what I can see there is no turning back to straight hair now, well except for on a rare occasion.
30isthenewblack
June 28th, 2008, 07:25 PM
The heading of this post slightly irritates me although I see in the post options that 'I never tried to, always made the most of my curls!' and even that is slightly annoying as there seems to be underlying assumption that straight hair is esier to manage. I don't relate to a lot of girls with curly hair and that is because a lot of them seem to have resigned themselves to their curls and tried to work with it whereas I've always loved my curly hair, thanked my mother over and over again for giving me this hair and always wore my hair proudly. I have never straightened my hair and I have never wanted to. That 'shiny' hair that you speak of is just an illusion. I don't see my curly hair as a burden, I see it as a gift.
Naluin
June 28th, 2008, 07:51 PM
12 years. I think the madness started when I was six. That was when my mother got tired of struggling with my thick hair and off to the salon I went to have my first relaxer. :scared:
The experience left both me and the hairdresser traumatized. I remember crying and sitting in the chair and looking like Cousin It's, well, cousin. :silly: And that was just from her trying to part my hair so that she could apply the relaxer! I don't remember if the relaxer itself burned that first time, but probably not, otherwise my mother would have had to drag me kicking and screaming to the beauty parlor whenever it was time for a touchup.
When I was about 16, the relaxers just started effecting me more and more. I would get burns and headaches and have trouble sleeping afterward. My last relaxer gave me a headache for a full day afterwards and my scalp was so tender that I couldn't sleep properly for a few days. After that, I decided, no more!
I experimented with my hair for a year or two and now, I'm mostly just trying to figure out how to manage it. I'm working on loving my hair, but it's hard when the hair you idolized was straight!
Though, I think I'm on to something with this conditioner and oils thing. It has given me hope and I think my hair could look really awesome once it gets long enough to really show off the texture and get a nice cut/shaping. I'm not sure how long that will take though, damn shrinkage. *grumble*
Curlsgirl
June 28th, 2008, 08:26 PM
The heading of this post slightly irritates me although I see in the post options that 'I never tried to, always made the most of my curls!' and even that is slightly annoying as there seems to be underlying assumption that straight hair is esier to manage. I don't relate to a lot of girls with curly hair and that is because a lot of them seem to have resigned themselves to their curls and tried to work with it whereas I've always loved my curly hair, thanked my mother over and over again for giving me this hair and always wore my hair proudly. I have never straightened my hair and I have never wanted to. That 'shiny' hair that you speak of is just an illusion. I don't see my curly hair as a burden, I see it as a gift.
I don't know how in the world anyone could take this post as anything but a question but I hate that you did. i love curly hair and am sorry I tried to make it something it wasn't for so long. I thought most people knew that here. Anyway, I am happy for you that you never did that.
30isthenewblack
June 28th, 2008, 09:09 PM
I don't know how in the world anyone could take this post as anything but a question but I hate that you did. i love curly hair and am sorry I tried to make it something it wasn't for so long. I thought most people knew that here. Anyway, I am happy for you that you never did that.
The title assumes that people with curly hair want to have straight hair. That in itself is offensive. It is quite clear that you fall into the category of people who struggled with having curly hair but not everyone falls into that category and you should be mindful of that when you post things on the board.
Altocumulus
June 29th, 2008, 12:28 PM
I didn't find the title offensive at all. "Zero years" is a perfectly valid answer to the question "How long did you try to have straight, shiny hair?", and it was one of the possible responses. I don't see the problem here.
Jorchet
July 31st, 2008, 02:13 PM
I voted for "I never tried to, always made the most of my curls!" because I've never wanted to have a different type of hair. I've always been proud of my curls and felt comfortable with them - not to mention the compliments! :wink:
NurseMama
July 31st, 2008, 02:23 PM
I voted never, but in actuality I have once a month or so blowfried it and flat ironed it in the past, but that was years ago.
CurlyNinja
July 31st, 2008, 09:10 PM
I didn't know how to wear my hair curly, so after struggling and struggling with it in high school, I whacked it all off to a pixie. :rolleyes: I was probably a 1B/1C growing up, and by the 9th grade was perhaps a 2B.
After the big chop? Everything that grew down was a 3A. I kept hating it, until 3.5 years ago my then-and-now boyfriend told me how much he loved my curls, and his appreciation grew on me until I had an affection of my own for my hair. I'm sorry it took a SO to teach me to love myself in this way, but I'm not ashamed of the end result--mid back spirals that I'm completely narcissistic about.
allyall
July 31st, 2008, 09:40 PM
Having a mom with stick straight hair...I didn't know I had curly hair. My little sister had ringlets, but mine was supposedly only wavy. Anyway, lil' sis learned to make her curls look awesome before I did. But she's going thru the straightening thing right now ironically.
I spent 2 hours on my hair before senior pics to try and make it look good. Didn't happen. Didn't know I had curly hair. Thought it was a freak thing that took a lot of work to make my hair hold curls. Finally acknowledged my curls coming here and reading the book curly girl and going - hey - I do have curly hair!
cuddledumplin
August 1st, 2008, 03:15 AM
I've never tried all that seriously. I've always liked my natural texture. I had it blown straight once in a salon, and it was wavy again within an hour. I've flat ironed it a couple of times, but it didn't stay straight for very long either. It annoys me how common straightening is; nearly everyone I know straightens (even those with naturally straight hair). I think straight hair is beautiful, but it's just not me. I've had friends say that I should straighten my hair, but as soon as some celebrity with curly hair becomes the new "it" girl, they'll be getting perms again.
morgwn
August 1st, 2008, 04:39 AM
I didn't ever really try hard to straighten my hair because I learned after a couple times of trying when I was younger (with a blowfryer and heated hair straightener) that my hair just does NOT straighten. It will get a wave back, it will maintain curl after a little while. So I've learned to just accept that I'm a curly-head and have recently learned how to make the absolute best of it. :)
JensT
August 1st, 2008, 01:41 PM
Never. When I first wanted to grow my hair long, my mother wouldn't let me, claiming it was too thick. I kept on claiming Guns N' Roses' guitarplayer Slash had hair simular to mine, and he succeeded in having long hair. So from day one, I had a hero who's hair was as curly as it can be, and never had the urge to get it straightend.
xrosiex
August 2nd, 2008, 03:21 PM
I've spent alot of years,time and energy trying to get my hair straight. I have blow dried and flat ironed. I'm still trying to accept I have very wavy hair. I still like it straight,soft and shiny. But everyday my waves are looking better to me.:shrug:
swanns
August 2nd, 2008, 06:43 PM
I chose 'less than 5 years' because my hair wasn't always curly, it was really straight and shiny until I entered puberty - that's when it started to get curlier and lost it's shine. I tried to desperately keep it straight until one day I sort of mysteriously had this "WOW, my hair is CURLY!" experience and have accepted the curls ever since :)
Gumball
August 2nd, 2008, 11:36 PM
Technically I never did. A friend tried once and failed miserably, but for the most part I had a shorter cut for a long time. I really didn't have to deal with it at all. When I started growing it out I just bit the bullet and dealt with however my hair ended up. At least my care of my curls has improved since then. Haha.
Nevermore
August 2nd, 2008, 11:45 PM
I'm not a curly curly, but I tried to get straight hair for uh...most of my life. Following in the footsteps of my mother, I suppose. She's 3 something, I'm not sure because I've never seen her natural texture, and has never, ever worn her hair natural. She had it straightened by chemical means as a teen, which didn't work for more than week, had it professionally blown out, did the giant roller and dryer thing in her twenties, then got a very very short cut which she uses a curling iron and loads of product to beat into submission.
She's almost 60. I don't think she even knows what her hair looks like naturally.
Eboshi
August 3rd, 2008, 12:17 AM
The title assumes that people with curly hair want to have straight hair. That in itself is offensive. It is quite clear that you fall into the category of people who struggled with having curly hair but not everyone falls into that category and you should be mindful of that when you post things on the board.
*Ahem*
Please leave moderating to the Moderators.
Rain
August 3rd, 2008, 01:32 AM
Over 16 years. Most of my life really until I got off a plane in humid Seattle and realized it was much curlier than I'd ever thought. Then I started trying to figure out how to work with my natural texture rather than fight it. It was about seven years ago, I think.
wonderlywroughte
August 3rd, 2008, 08:41 AM
I put less than 5. When my hair actually started coming in curly, I didn't KNOW it was curly. I had had straight hair up until then. I thought it was just extremely frizzy. I had it cut in a bob which I blow-dried and flat-ironed every time I washed my hair (and yet, the patch of hair on the back of my head that is the curliest and coarsest would not straighten out. No no no!) Then I had it cut in a pixie. Then, as that was growing out, it was back to the flat-iron because my hair was SO "FRIZZY".
The hairdressers that cut my hair would even remark to me "Oh, is your hair curly?" after they would spray it with water and it would start to curl up. "Oh no!" I'd say. "It's just frizzy." I was pretty dense!
So when my hair got to be about BSL, I was washing my hair and combing it repeatedly while it dried. Then, I'd put it up in a pony bun. (I was completely tired of all the blow drying and flat ironing by this time.) One day, I washed my hair and decided not to comb it while it was drying. POOF, my hair was curly. :bigeyes: Ever since then, I've been embracing the curls!
zen_oven
August 3rd, 2008, 09:12 AM
I said less than five years because I really only tried to straighten my hair off and on. For a long time I kept thinking "Oh woe is me, why can't I have straight hair?" thinking it would be so much better than what I have to work with. Since finding LHC I think I've learned to like my curlies and am learning how to treat them in a way that keeps them happy. No more fighting against them or treating them like straight hair!
EmpressRi
August 3rd, 2008, 05:46 PM
I got my hair relaxed at 12, maintained that until 18, and then I grew it out. However, I kept flat ironing my hair which I stopped doing three years ago. I still have a bit of damage left which peeves me off cause I want to maintain length. So I do little trims here and there. Time for a professional cut, I know my stylist is going to look at me like :poot:
Stacy_E
August 3rd, 2008, 06:59 PM
When I was young, before blow dryers, I always felt my hair looked best 2nd day, when it was straighter after sleeping on it. Then when blow dryers came around, I must have been 10 or 12, I was trying to blow-drying it straight,while my Dad complained about the electricity blow-dryers used. I continued blow-drying my hair on into my 20's and part-way into my 30's, with a couple stints with perms to have curls. Then finally my hair-dresser friend helped me to discover how wavy/curly my hair could get by blowdrying my shoulder-length hair with my head upsidedown with a diffuser attachment. I did that style for almost 10 years until I discovered LHC a year and a half ago. Now I coax my 2c waves with cone-free CO washing, post-wash scrunching, and air-drying.
Bene
August 4th, 2008, 01:09 AM
off and on i used to. it would take so long, because i'm kinda anal about straight hair, and i get all disgusted when curly types (which i am) straighten their hair, but do it wrong, so it looks funny.... there are techniques, which take a while, that make curly hair look natural, but when curlies try it, they don't realize that it looks really bad
Haith
August 5th, 2008, 08:27 AM
I'm a wavy, but I was always trying to change my hair... blowdrying/product/flatiron to make it straighter... or product/hot iron to make it curlier. I did this for all of high-school and into university. Now though, since joining LHC, I've just let my hair be. And honestly, it's healthier and looks prettier now than it ever did.
Anne~
August 5th, 2008, 08:38 AM
Oh my gosh! I cannot even begin to count all the ways I tried to get straight shiney hair. I grew up in the 60's through 70's anyone that was alive back then knows of the hair styles I tried to achieve. UGH! Have you ever combed in a perm and left it on to make your hair straight? Horrible :rolleyes:
Curlsgirl
August 5th, 2008, 08:46 AM
Oh my gosh! I cannot even begin to count all the ways I tried to get straight shiney hair. I grew up in the 60's through 70's anyone that was alive back then knows of the hair styles I tried to achieve. UGH! Have you ever combed in a perm and left it on to make your hair straight? Horrible :rolleyes:
No but I did try one of those comb through straightening kits :shudder: It was AWFUL. It was straight alright for about one week and then horribly frizzy and damaged. I also got a perm and wondered why it lasted way over a year not knowing probably the perm hardly took and it was my natural curls :poot:
anna1850
August 8th, 2008, 05:36 PM
I voted that I still am trying to have straight hair. I'm quite happy with my curly hair on wash days and I did give up with trying to straighten it for about 3 and half years while I was at university but I've got a bit bored with wearing my hair always up/in a plait on non-wash days (particularly as I can now go about 5 days without needing to wash it as opposed to 3 in the past). I've tried misting my hair to get the curls back which sort of works but they're never as good as wash day curls.
I've had some really good success with wrapping it and pinning it overnight. You can see the results in the rightmost photo in my signature (the one with the disneyfied face). It's not super straight but I'd say it's about a 1c which is good enough for me and the results are pretty consistant.
I do like my hair being curly but basically I can't touch it when it's curly but after straightening I can mess with it, stroke it, put it up, take it down etc. and it still looks good. Plus, it's longer when it's straight which is a nice bonus :p
I will never go back to heat straightening though. It took hours, made my hair smell and didn't stay straight for very long plus I don't think I could take the damage at this length.
AnimaSola3o4
August 8th, 2008, 05:45 PM
I was a chronic brusher in my childhood. And it was kept short because I was very tenderheaded and rubbernecked when my mom tried to brush it. Then we started going to a certain stylist who insisted on two things: chemically straightening my hair (which never worked anyway), and shaving the under layer off because of my weird texture. (hence where i got the idea...)
That was around 12, 13. Then I just wore it in ponytails for a few years... til I learned to straighten it! omgosh I thought it was the best thing ever!
Now I'm back to letting it do its thing and just appreciating it for what it is, not hating it for what it isn't.
tinabcurly
August 21st, 2008, 10:50 AM
I had straight hair from the time I was about 3 until I was 8, when I got a perm that never grew out. (what my mom was thinking letting an 8yo get a perm is beyond me) I hated curls & started blowdrying it straight from 12 until about 18. I finally started embracing my curls in college because, well, honestly, I had better things to do than my hair (partying, studying, partying, partying) I just put as much conditioner on it as I could so it would be weighed down & forgot about it.
I'm still jealous of straighties who can run their fingers through their hair but I wouldn't change what I have. Curls are a way of life for me now. They're my signature!
shrimp
August 21st, 2008, 11:39 AM
I do have straight shiny hair :tongue:
No chemicals required, no heat required, no products required. I just wet braid it fresh out of the shower.
peachrose
August 21st, 2008, 12:04 PM
My whole life I guess! During my childhood I would brush it which just made it huge and frizzy! Not to mention I have super thick hair which people have always commented on (in a bad way) and when it's short it looks really poofy... I decided to start growing it out from a pixie a couple years ago and now that it is getting longer, the texture improves. For about 6 months I used an iron to try to make it straight but now that I know the CO routine and no brushing, it's starting to look pretty good :)
C_Bookworm
August 21st, 2008, 02:19 PM
only a month. i don't have much patience for anything hot around my head
pariate
August 21st, 2008, 02:53 PM
Good poll.
I voted 6-10 years. The turning point was after I cut it ALL off (from mid-back to pixie) and then grew it back. All the damage from my blow-frying years had been removed and when the length started to come back I had these amazing curls instead of coarse frizz! From there on in I learned how to treat my wurly hair according to its needs and my efforts were rewarded :D
Those years I struggled with my hair were my teenage years (12-18). If only I'd known how to manage my hair back then. Ho hum. Never mind, I got there in the end :)
Euphony
August 21st, 2008, 03:22 PM
I'm not curly, but can I play? :)
I thought I had "straight, frizzy" hair. My family (all hair dressers by the way), said I had "a lot of body." So from the age of 12 until I got out of high school, I would blow my hair dry and then curl it. Tsk, tsk. I'm not truly a curly, but looking back on it, it seems silly that I actually straightened and then curled it--no wonder the curl held so well. Now I just dampen, scrunch and go.
OMG I did the same thing!
I also got a perm once to try to give me body/wave, tame frizz - it ended up being a BIG BAD POOF BALL and it took me 2 freaking years to grow it out!
longhairedfairy
August 23rd, 2008, 01:00 PM
I think curly hair is beautiful (we always want what we don't have and my hair is wavy), but I'm glad I never gave in to the temptation to get a perm.
I love to see healthy looking curls! They're lovely. Rock on, ladies!
GlassEyes
August 23rd, 2008, 01:20 PM
I tried flatironing my hair, but never could get it to work. I originally grew my hair out to straighten it to ****. D:
I used to shove hair products in it like CRAZY to get it to look straight, but it wasn't even subdued curly. I HATED my curls. A LOT. I wanted straight hair since...a long time.
I like my curls now though. I look kind of funny without them.
Lena43
May 1st, 2009, 02:33 AM
I voted for "never tried to..." but just because I was too lazy to style my hair, straighten it etc. It didnt really like my hair and always had it in a boring ponytail, but i never really worked against my curls.
I do have a straightening iron now (is that how you call it in English? :confused:) which I never use. I don't like how I look with straight hair. I'm just not used to it at all.
JamieLeigh
May 4th, 2009, 10:53 AM
Way over 16 years, considering that I am now 28, and only last year started really embracing my waves. Even as a kid I would cry if my hair looked curly, LOL. I wonder if this had to do with the Ramona books by Beverly Cleary, where the little girl with the red boing-boing curls got her hair pulled in Kindergarten? :pinktongue:
wackyredtangles
May 4th, 2009, 11:21 AM
I'm another one that didn't quite realize that my hair was curly/wavy. Its curly when shorter, and wavy when longer. I never really paid that much attention to my hair. My mom always blew it straight on picture-day, so that was the only time I ever really saw it. Since it was always long, after a few days it would go from curls to waves anyways.
I guess when I was 12 or so I started trying to 'style' my hair. That was also the first year I chopped off all my hair, and unless I 'styled' it I thought it was a big frizzy mess. I just didn't know what I was doing, and trying to blow it dry, and then use heated curlers (I'm not exactly sure what my logic was there, it was just always what I saw my older sister do). Luckily I was too lazy to really maintain that. My mom didn't really know how to deal with my hair at all, me and my sister are both curlies, but she's not. My best friend's mom took pity on me, and explained to me how to do hair. I had gone by the gospel of "brush your hair everyday, several times a day!" so it was quite a shock when I was told don't brush it, just comb it out right before you wash it when its lathered in conditioner. Fast forward to 17/18 and I learned how to use a hair straightener, and started dyeing it. Once my hair started to feel like straw I backed down on it, stopped dying, started growing, and haven't looked back since. I started using henna nearly a year ago, and it relaxed my curls enough that I won't do any more full strength, and I think I'll just maintain the roots until I gather the nerve to grow it out. I love the volume and body that I get with curls. :D
hazelnut
May 4th, 2009, 11:56 AM
I have just recently stopped flatironing my hair (I stopped in early April) and I am paying the price for straightening it too. Most of my hair is straight now, so I have to wait until it grows out to see what my ACTUAL hair looks like. I had beed straightening my hair for about 8 years.
zift
May 4th, 2009, 02:01 PM
I'm only a wurly now(and still loving straight hair:D) but when I was younger I was curly and I wanted and tried to have straight hair as long as I had the curls :lol: And not only that I also have coarse hair and wanted to have fine hair all my life. :rolleyes:
LadyDi
May 4th, 2009, 04:12 PM
I never did it myself, but each time I'd get my hair trimmed or colored at a salon I'd ask for a blow-out, and it felt so nice to be able to run my fingers through my hair. No one else every liked it though. They would always say it didn't look right on me...so I guess that's why I've never pursued straight hair.
neon-dream
May 4th, 2009, 04:24 PM
Ok I'm a wavy, but I straightened my hair for just over 4 years. Daily.
Ouch!
curls2grow
May 4th, 2009, 04:59 PM
6-10 years for me. That includes the years that I chemically straightened and struggled on my own with blow-dryer, round brush and hot rollers trying to pull the heck out of it. I quit straightening and fighting it when I graduated from college and realized I'd rather sleep the extra hour than wake up to fight my hair. Curly girl ever since!
Ryanne
May 5th, 2009, 10:28 AM
I never actually tried to get it straight, I only wished it was.
3azza
May 5th, 2009, 10:46 AM
I did try to make it straight for a couple of occasions just a few times in my life, but i never wanted it permenantly straight, it was just for a short time change.
gibsongirl71
May 9th, 2009, 09:21 PM
The worst period for me and having my hair cut. When the "Rachel" haircut was so popular. Everyone wanted to give me that style or similar. Yes, just blow it dry with a round brush, it is so easy "they" would say. Then I hit the rain or humidity. My hair always looked like crap. Terrible style for anyone with wave or curl.
irreverent
May 9th, 2009, 11:11 PM
HIGH SCHOOL. the whole thing, layers, poofy bangs, flatironing the back and curling the front...*shudder*
until i dated a guy who was so tall I could walk under his outstretched arm (7 feet 1 inch tall! I am 5 feet 4 inches) and he complained that he hated all the "gunk" in my hair. I've had wash-and-wear hair ever since!
curlylocks85
January 8th, 2010, 11:19 PM
I spent 13 years trying to achieve straight hair. Now I plan to spend the next 13 growing out curly hair.
manderly
January 8th, 2010, 11:26 PM
I'd say 29 years......but that would be wrong, because I just didn't try up until I was around 19. I would just brush it (on good days) on my way to school up until then and hope for the best.
So I would say either 10 or 29 years, whichever way you look at it.
Oh wait, I take that back. I got a spiral perm when I was 11. LOL Ok, I'm all over the place.
I guess I'll say 10 years, because that's pretty much how long I've been blowing it out straight.
RocketDog
January 8th, 2010, 11:47 PM
I have always envied people who have that naturally mirror-shiny straight hair, the kind that slips all over itself and looks perfect no matter what the weather conditions. Alas, that is pretty much the opposite of what grows out of my head, although I spent a good few years trying in vain to get my hair to act and look like that. I'd guess about 4 years of heavy flatironing, although I d take a few months off when I shaved my head... since my hair was too short for the flatiron to grip, haha!
ItalianFlower
January 9th, 2010, 12:02 AM
Well, I tried to have straight hair way past time because I HAD straight, shiny hair when I was young. When I hit puberty it went curly but I tried obsessively brushing it to make it stay straight. There were a lot of problems--bad shampoo/conditioner, chlorine, just general lack of care, but most of it was that I was used to having straight hair. It wasn't until my Aunt said that maybe it was poofy was because it was curly that I started treating it differently.
Gypsy
January 9th, 2010, 12:06 AM
Still do it.
My hair is dry and the there are too many curl patterns that compete with each other and the friction ends up breaking more hair than flat ironing does.
Although I do leave my hair curly a lot, so it's not my dedicated style.
Twil
January 10th, 2010, 11:53 AM
My family worshipped curls as the most desired type of hair, so I never tried to straightened it at all.
Though my mother once tried to put a relaxer in it to make it easier to manage, but my low porosity hair didn't absorb the chemicals very well so it went back to curly in about a week and a half. So dad, who was against chemically altering my hair from the beginning put it in braids that stayed in the remindered of the summer, but that's the only time anyone has tried to get rid of my curls
Sweetness
January 10th, 2010, 12:53 PM
hmmm... honestly more than 20 years. At 2 years old I went crazy in envy for my sister's 2a hair ... and cried so much about my own hair.
I promised myself not to straiten it anymore unless EXTREMELY rare/special occasions such as my own wedding and really big events like this ... I haven't straiten it at all for about 2 months I think (seriously reduced hair-torture-frequency in the last year).
This said, I'm still too self conscious about my curls to wear them down in public in general... and I still feel MUCH more self-confident and beautiful when my hair is strait... very psychological, but very deep too.
I hope I'll get over this someday. If I ever have curly children (as highly probable ...), I want them to (unlike me) grow up to LOVEEE and cherish their curls, so I have to accept mine first ;)
Copasetic
January 10th, 2010, 01:16 PM
I straightened my hair regularly for almost ten years. I am so glad I figured out how to take care of my hair so that it looks good when it is curly.
invisiblebabe
January 10th, 2010, 09:49 PM
My hair is wavy and not curly, but I do not straighten it and never have (unless you count the odd 2 or 3 times at the salon when the stylist did it - once in awhile I will let her but usually I just ask her to dry it enough so it's not dripping wet, then air dry the rest of the way).
It didn't become wavy until I was around 15. I prefer it wavy to straight.
Vermelha
January 10th, 2010, 10:27 PM
My sister relaxed my hair when I was about 11. I grew it out at 16 because I knew that, by my adulthood, I wanted my long curly hair back. The straight hair is gone and now I'm focused on growing out my natural curls long. So, I'd say about 5 years, but not voluntarily.
SlightlySoprano
January 10th, 2010, 10:40 PM
My mother had me convinced that i had frizzy straight hair for the first 14 years of my life and the only way to unfrizz it was to blowfry/chemically straighten/flat iron it... Then i turned 15 and let my hair air dry one day and said MOM MY HAIR IS CURLY!?!??! I haven't gone back! haha
Debra83
January 10th, 2010, 11:46 PM
44 years of fighting my hair to be "normal". 44th year amazed to discover that my hair is "normal" for me!!!! AND, most of the time, I like it natural!!!!
Prettychild
January 11th, 2010, 01:15 AM
My mother convinced me my curly hair was not good. Therefore I've blown dried it straight most of my life. Flat irons and the rest...my hair was fried most of the time. Add hair dye and...buzz cut! Now I am desperate to get my hair to grow long and this time I am keeping my curls!
_____________________________________________
My avatar is my goal. Wish I knew how to edit my signature.
caliweri
January 11th, 2010, 04:54 AM
Itīs a sad, sad story... I actually realized I was a wavy/curly about two years ago when I found a site about COing. So, that counts for many years of thinking my hair was a mess due to whatever reason handy at the moment.
And Thank You LHC!
Vermelha
January 11th, 2010, 05:06 AM
My mother had me convinced that i had frizzy straight hair for the first 14 years of my life and the only way to unfrizz it was to blowfry/chemically straighten/flat iron it... Then i turned 15 and let my hair air dry one day and said MOM MY HAIR IS CURLY!?!??! I haven't gone back! haha
Talk about a way to find out one's own texture...I totally relate to that...
My mom didn't know I had curly hair until about two or three years ago. Sad...then she said, "If I hadn't had your hair relaxed, who knows how long it would be now?"
Sweetness
January 11th, 2010, 06:16 AM
So many sad stories ... :(
mrs_b
January 11th, 2010, 08:49 PM
Just wondered about this. I spent most of my life until coming here trying to blow dry my hair and brushing it and adding stuff to try to get it to be something it's NOT. I actually thought at one time the ones with straight shiny hair just had "better hair" and I was one of the unfortunate ones. I remember blow drying with a round brush a shorter layerd cut in the morning and then going outside in the humidity and BOOM worse than before and duped again!!! I guess I'm a slow learner because I did that from about age 13 when I started learning how to blow dry to about three years ago. So that is let's see 32 years!!!! EEK!!! How about you?
same here! and you know what I still do this most of the time when It's not humid and hot outside. I would die for straight shiny hair whic I obviously don't have!
If you don't have what you like you have to like what you have, right? so I learn to like my hair. and you know what? it grows on me and slowly slowly I start to like my not so strong, not so thick hair.
sft88
January 20th, 2010, 11:28 PM
I have only tryed to staighten my hair a few times. My hair is possessed so it never takes.
Laylah
January 22nd, 2010, 06:02 PM
Ok, so I'm not a true curly (very wavy with some curls on the ends) but I'll reply anyway :D
I went through a straight hair "phase" for about two years, during which I blowfried my hair and even flatironed it once. Once I learned how to make my natural hair look nice on its own, I pretty much gave up the straight hair thing.
Quixii
January 24th, 2010, 12:27 PM
I never tried to have straight hair -- I like my hair. I've always liked my hair. I'm glad I have curls. Or waves. Or hair wrinkles.
Same here. :)
redneckprincess
January 24th, 2010, 04:13 PM
I put since before cheese, but I guess I mean about 30 years, lol Im 31
im really starting to like my waves which are turning into spirals...as in siggy pic, (trying to get a better pic....Ive got lots of wanna be curls...darn that permenant hair straightning perms last year...now that I know how to creat them in a nice uniform pattern...lol there trying
darkwaves
January 24th, 2010, 07:10 PM
Same here. :)
Yay, for Quixii!
This poll makes me realize (as often happens) that many people see things so differently than I do... Really, I can't imagine trying to change my nature -- I am, I accept -- and what's not to like??? (And hair like mine will not change, so I'm lucky! Straighten = frizz, because it my hair is way too fine to hang and swing with ease and grace. And I like!!! the way my hair is and falls and feels.)
So thank you, OP, for opening my eyes once again.
nitagurl
April 28th, 2017, 01:05 PM
At least 10 years, from when i was old enough for my mom to take my thoughts on my personal appearance seriously all the way until i was 19. I tried really hard, too. Had no idea my hair was curly tbh.
dvep
April 30th, 2017, 05:38 PM
I think my hair went through a hormonal phase during puberty where it was just huge and frizzy and I just wanted it to be straight. I would try straightening it with a regular straightener but it was never enough, the only one powerful enough was my mom's Italian straightener that probably fries everyone's hair on earth but hers (I swear her hair must be made of titanium because she straightened pretty much daily and it never got splits). That phase was only a few years, then it settled down and I stopped fighting it.
Margrit
September 23rd, 2018, 06:34 AM
I never tried to, always made the most of my curls!
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.3 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.