The Curly Chain

I'm a fan of How I Met Your Mother. If you haven't ever watched it, shame on you. Anyway, one of the characters on this show, Barney Stinson, comes up with all of these funky, yet always somehow slightly true, ways of judging people/solutions to work and relationship problems/dating rules. For instance, he has a scale called the "Crazy/Hot" scale where a girl can only be so crazy if she is only so hot (observe here).

As I was writing my post the other day about how curly haired people are portrayed in the media, it got me to thinking. Is there a way that these characters could be ordered to create my own Barney Stinson inspired scale of sorts. Yes.

So here it is, the Curly Chain! On one end of the scale, you have the beautiful, curly haired people and as you move down the chain, you slowly get characters that are more frizzy or more crazy/geeky/nerdy or sometimes all of the above. Now, even though the media tends to exaggerate things, I think that just like Barney's creations, there can be some slight truth to the Curly Chain. Forgive the length of this post, but I promise it will be a fun ride!

The Curly-Beauties:

1. Rose Dawson/Marianne Dashwood

At the top, we have these two Kate Winslet characters circa 1990's. Now, both of these girls have certain crazy qualities (Who wants to jump off a ship when it's completely safe, and then jump back on it when it's sinking? And who will get deathly ill just because of heartbreak?) But, these qualities are circumstantial and based on the periods they lived in. It's quite understandable why Rose, feeling the weight of her family's downfall on her shoulders, might try to jump off the Titanic. And knowing the character of Marianne Dashwood and her complete belief in true love, it makes sense why she would stand on a hill during a rainstorm after her heart was ripped apart (stupid Willoughby!). But we also have to take into account their beautiful curls. Even in the midst of almost jumping off the ship, Rose's hair is perfectly curled and not at all frizzy. And even though she is losing the love of her life, Marianne's hair is always tightly curled. That's why they are at the top of the chain.

2. Christine Daae

Again, look at those perfect curls. Not fair! Christine from Phantom of the Opera is another example of a slightly crazy curly girl, but her crazy is just a little more than those previous. Who doesn't realize that some sociopath is singing to you and kidnapping you? I don't care how sexy his voice may be, it isn't worth it girlfriend! A stalker is a stalker. But, you also have to give her credit for showing sympathy and kindness to the Phantom, despite his appearance. That, along with her beautiful curls keep her close to the top.

3. Andie Anderson/Benjamin Berry

I'm cheating a bit with this one, having two together, but I can explain why. Throughout this movie, Andie is driving Ben nuts, but he in turn is playing her. What I think is interesting--and I guess you have to be curly-haired obsessed to notice this--is whenever Andie and Ben are the closest they have ever been, they both are sporting curly hair. Usually, Andie/Kate Hudson has straight hair throughout the movie, but in these instances, she's got her natural curls going. Coincidence? Maybe. But despite their cute curly hair-dos, their actions through the rest of the movie do make themselves and each other crazy.

4. Patrick Verona--10 Things I Hate About You

Oh, that smile! :D Now, even though Patrick/Heath is such a hunk here, what moves him lower down the chain is his outcast status. He is surrounded by a cloud of rumors and has next to zero friends. But that doesn't stop him from charming the heart of the teenage shrew Kat (and of course every woman watching the film). Remember, it isn't just the crazy neuroses that move someone down the scale. Otherwise, he would be #1, no argument.

5. River Song--Doctor Who

Yep, I'm a Who fan. Although I prefer the 10th Doctor's adventures, this woman kicks some intergalactic butt with the 11th Doctor, and has perfect curly hair while doing so. What makes her further down the chain is the fact that she's a convict. And that she's bossy and trigger happy. And because of a couple of things that she did at the end of last season which I'm not going to say (Spoilers!). If her curls weren't so perfect, she would be at the other end of the scale.

6. Janie--Girls Just Want To Have Fun

Who doesn't love a good 80's dance flick? I always love asking people about this movie and seeing who actually knows what I'm talking about. Anyway, in this movie, Janie/Sarah Jessica usually has straightened/fried hair. It's bad. It does not look healthy and it does not suit her well. What makes me happy is at the end of the movie, when she's declaring her independence, dancing her heart out with her honey, she suddenly has a new do, curls. Yes! Score for all those curly haired girls with big dance dreams. What moves her down the chain? Her geekiness about dance/gymnastics and her Catholic school uniform.

The In-Betweens:

 
 7. Pam Beesly--The Office

This girl has also had some hairstyle changes through the show, but who can forget her humble, frizzy-haired beginnings? It just makes her character even that more likeable. You may think that I'm crazy for putting her this low on the list, but you have to remember that Pam is a big dork. Even Jim admits it. But, she's also adorable while being dorky, and that's why she's higher up than some of those below her. And the fact that she learns how to tame those curls, once she gets a confidence boost and a new man.

8.Grace Adler--Will and Grace

Like Pam above her, Grace starts off more curly haired than she does by the end of the series. But look at those red curls! Aren't they fabulous. Now, Grace is also a big dork and can be pretty crazy at times. Especially when she tries to sing. But she's also a successful business owner and has a quirky sense of humor.

9. Elaine Benis--Seinfeld

Oh, Elaine. Her unforgettable spunk. Her zany facial expressions. But she's also a bit neurotic at times. But she's got some great curls as well. And who could forget this memorable television moment.

Yadda, yadda, yadda, these dance moves are basically what move her lower down the chain.

10. Monica Gellar--Friends

One would never know that Monica has curly hair until this trip to the Bahamas. Side story, my family secretly wants me to go to the Caribbean so that this same thing will happen. Could you imagine? Back to Monica, this woman certainly has her own quirks and idiosyncracies. The OCD cleaning, the man struggles (until Chandler that is), her fat past. They just keep piling and piling up. But because of this one-time peek of her curls, this is what keeps her out of the crazy/nerdy/geeky part of the chain.

The Quirky Curlies:

11. Regina "Skeeter" Phelan 


So, book Skeeter and movie Skeeter are slightly different. When you read "The Help" you get the sense that Skeeter's curly hair is completely uncontrollable. That's why I put her lower on the list here. But when you see this picture, you don't get that sense at all. Her hair still looks great. What also puts her lower is her social outcast status that happens as she continues on with her writing. And the fact that she is so focused on that writing that it drives the majority of her decisions. That's dedication, but it's also nerdy. I can say this because I am the same way.

12. Mia Thermopolis--The Princess Diaries

Again, the differences between book and movie help in the judging here. Book Mia has triangle hair and movie Mia has frizzy curls. Put them together and you get a typical, bad-haircut, curly haired girl. Mia is also crazy. She's a hypochondriac, she's can't speak in public without barfing, she's nerdy, and she has a fat cat. What puts her higher in the quirky bunch is the fact that she's a princess. Because that's just awesome.

13. Ms. Frizzle--The Magic School Bus

Seat belts, everyone! The only cartoon character to make the list, and of course it's the eccentric teacher that I would love to emulate. She has her curly hair in a bun most of the time, but she can't hide the fact that she's a curly girl. It's even in her name, FRIZZle. Despite her crazy catchphrases, wild printed dresses and matching earrings, pet lizard and crazy adventures, it's her choice of wheels that keeps her higher in this section. A school bus that can fly into space, shrink to the size of a bug and enter the human body is pretty freakin' cool. 

14. Ronald Miller--Can't Buy Me Love

Before his McDreamy days, Patrick Dempsey was playing this awkward, curly haired geek who pays a pretty girl to make him popular. And the first thing she does is slick some mousse through his hair. And it works. But then he turns into a jerk. Still, he can't completely hide his geekiness, and by the end of the movie he's back to riding his lawn mower, but at least with Cindy Mancini riding with him. If it were anyone but Patrick Dempsey playing Ronnie, he would be the very bottom of this list. But I do have a soft spot for McDreamy.

15. Chunk--The Goonies

This poor kid. Not only does he have curly hair and buck teeth, but he's chubby and his friends take advantage of that. Many times actually. But I can't help but love him. Beneath his clumsiness, cowardice and chub, he's a sweetie. He's still pretty low on the list, because he just has too much going against him.

16. Hermione Granger--Harry Potter

I seem to be making a lot of book/movie comparisons, but this one takes the cake. The first words written about Hermione Granger in The Sorcerer's Stone is her frizzy brown hair. In fact, it's her main characteristic besides her buck teeth, which he ends up getting magically shrunk (why isn't this world real?). Growing up, I identified with Hermione. I was frizzy haired and had buck teeth. I was a book nerd and a teacher's pet. I was bossy and stubborn (still am). I was fixated on school and only had a few close friends (still mostly true). Although they got her other geeky/crazy qualities right, I feel like the movie just didn't do Hermione's hair justice. At least until the sixth movie and we got this lovely moment.

Finally, we saw Hermione's frizzy curls! It was truly a happy day in my life because I got to see the Hermione I had so identified with actually come across perfectly. Even though she is essential to helping Harry defeat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, she is still the same geek every step of the way. And that's why I love her.

So there you have it folks. The Curly Chain is complete. I think Barney Stinson would be proud. What do you think? Do you think it's accurate or do you think I'm completely off? Even if you don't have curly hair, where would you place yourself on the chain? 

Compliments and Cory Matthews

Some of you know that I've been working retail on and off since last summer (and I'm planning a post on it for next week). I see a lot of people come through our store who have curly hair and I always instantly have a connection with them--it just happens. But I never get asked about my hair unless I say something first, until today.

I had an older lady come in today to try on a bunch of outfits for a wedding later this month. I kept checking on her and bringing her new things and different sizes, and I could already tell that she was chatty. So, as I was ringing her up, she asked me if my hair was naturally curly and I said yes. She told me that she loved my curls and that she wished she could make her hair curl "forward" (apparently my curls go forward? I don't know, that's just what she said) like mine. I told her that it has taken me years to tame my hair--as you can see here--and that even today I was having struggles getting it to look right. But no matter how much I complained about my hair, she kept telling me how cute it looked and how she wished she had natural curls.

Isn't that always the case. People with straight hair want curls, and people with curls want straight hair.

Which brings me to the next part of my post. I'm a huge fan of the 90's t.v. show "Boy Meets World" and I recently found the seasons on DVD at Barnes and Noble. I love the relate-able story lines and the corny jokes. And Cory Matthews is my new curly haired friend.

There's this episode where Cory is feeling insecure about his curly hair and so he tries to chemically straighten his hair. And it turns out even worse. In some of the other episodes, Cory continues to have hair issues and gets teased, even being compared to a Brillo pad. I think it's fantastic that there is a realistic portrayal of a curly haired kid out there. Usually, the person is completely drop-dead gorgeous or a complete frizzy haired nerd, like Mia in "The Princess Diaries." There haven't really been curly haired characters that look completely normal, but still feels insecure and sometimes get teased.

Just another reason why "Boy Meets World" is awesome!

Remember, if you have any ideas for the blog, let me know! :)

In a slump

Okay readers, I need your help. I'm in a blogging slump right now and need your input. I've successfully maneuvered my way through the Curly Girl Method, and now I don't really know what to post about. Part of my problem is I have been busy busy busy with my summer job, but soon I'll be back at school and I'll be looking for a way to procrastinate (ha ha...but no, really).

Here's where you come in. Leave me a comment telling me something you want to see on the blog or if you have any other fantastic ideas. And it doesn't necessarily have to be about hair care. I'll keep brainstorming ideas on my end, but if I knew a little bit more about what you all are looking for, that would help me narrow and hone in on something.

Oh, and one last thing (if you want). Help a sister out and tell your friends about the blog. I would love to have new readers join in--not that you aren't all fabulous!

I hope I'll have some new, exciting posts soon!

Isn't it the truth

Found this on Pinterest today.

A Curly Journey

I thought it would be fun to do a post about my curly haired childhood and show all of you readers that when it comes to having natural curly hair, I've been through it all. I wish that I had some better photos where you can really see my struggle of coming to terms with my hair, but alas, I don't have them digitized yet--in particular my seventh grade school picture would be fantastic; seriously isn't it enough asking any child to go through junior high without the pains of having curly hair?

Anyway, these pictures should give you some sort of proof that I know what I'm talking about.

 

Let's start at the beginning shall we. This is a terrible copy, but this is me as a 1-year-old. Can you barely see those tight curls? Yep, this is why I have short hair people. It curls better when it's short, or when I have barely any hair in the first place. Sadly, my curls would really never be this curly again.

Now, I don't have any pictures of my elementary school years on my computer, but let me paint you a picture with words. The year is 1999. I'm in the fourth grade, and because I'm just a lowly nine-year-old, I apparently have no say in how my hair is cut or styled. One day, one of my older sisters--I won't name names, but you know who you are :) --suggested a certain style to my mother and the hair stylist, and that was the style I got. Let's fast forward to the next day on the Hillview Elementary playground, where a group of boys from my grade noticed my hair and came up with a nickname for me--Afro Queen. They followed me around at recess and sang disco songs at me. Now, my hair wasn't exactly an afro, but it had slight tendencies that way, and nevertheless, I still remember shedding a few tears that day. OK, OK, I bawled like a baby, but wasn't it enough that I already had a huge overbite, thick glasses AND curly hair.

Next, if I had it, I would show you my seventh grade picture. But again, I feel words may better describe what happened. I was waiting in line to have my picture snapped. I was wearing my favorite purple shirt, and had a sparkly head band in my hair; I was feeling pretty good about my potential picture, despite having enough metal in my mouth to build a railroad. Then a volunteer/room mom came up to me with a comb and some hair spray and said "Oh, here let me help fix your hair a little bit." Now, I had checked the mirror before this, and my hair had looked fine. A little crazy, but that's the point I was at with my curls. This woman, bless her heart, had no idea what she was getting into. The result was a bunch of flyways and a strand of hair sticking almost straight up from my head. If this wasn't bad enough, I wasn't quite ready for the photographer when he said smile (it takes me a while to get a good smile going, even to this day), so I ended up with frizzy hair and a goofy smile.

 Although I don't have the masterpiece of my seventh grade photo, I do have this beauty from eighth grade. The same sister who suggest the "afro" haircut was my hair stylist and make-up artist for this doosy (thanks again). I remember one of my friends said to me, "You kinda look like a hooker today." In terms of curly-ness, my hair wasn't too bad here, it was just really crunchy that day from all the products swimming around in there, and it was super poofy. And of course we have the signature bangs I rocked for many years. But can you see the pain in my eyes? Yes, that is coming from having crunchy hair and having to force a smile to come out from the elastics forbidding my mouth to open wider than a centimeter.
 

Ninth grade, where my curls started fizzling out a bit and became more like waves. This was probably the most normal school picture I had ever had. I was finally braces free and I had finally won independence when it came to styling myself for school pictures. 
 

It was about sophomore year where I went into curly haired denial for two years. I tried to straighten my hair as much as I could those two years, even having my hair chemically straightened once. This picture is from my junior year of high school, right in the middle of those straight years. I don't really remember this picture day, except that day was around 90 degrees outside and the sweater I was wearing made me really hot and sweaty, which probably made my hair start to curl in protest.

 

And then we come to my senior year of high school, where I came out of straightened denial and started to come to terms about my curly hair. But, the trouble with that was my hair was too long for these pictures, so it was only really curly at the bottom. I  tried my best, but here would start years of curly-hair strife, until a couple of months ago, when I started the Curly Girl Method.

Again, this is pretty much what my hair has looked like throughout my college career. This is the day before starting the Curly Girl Method, with semi-curly/wavy hair. But now, I'm enjoying and embracing my curls...

I finally have uniform curls and I love it! Of course, there are still some days where my hair just doesn't cooperate, but those are less. And I still have straight-hair denial. But I think that I've made some progress.

The Incredible, Edible--though not being used for eating--Egg

A few months ago, I got a curly hair tip/idea from my friend Rebekah (who is also has a fantastic blog called Head Over Heels. Check out the button on the sidebar --->). She showed me this link from The Letter 4 blog which suggests using egg whites as a gel and the whole egg as a conditioner. I liked the idea, but I haven't gotten around to trying it. Until now.

I started off by using the egg as a conditioner. I felt as though I was getting ready to make an omelet as I scrambled the little sucker in a liquid measuring cup. I made a quick shower playlist on my laptop (with just a few of my Showtune favorites) then hopped in. I made the mistake of washing my body before doing the egg-ditioner. When I dumped the egg over my head, it went dripping everywhere. So I ended up washing my body twice. I turned the water down to barely lukewarm, mostly cold temperature so that I wouldn't end up with a scrambled mess in my tresses. And I made sure to thoroughly rinse my hair as I belted out my Broadway tunes (On my own, pretending he's beside me....anyone else excited for the Les Mis film?). When I got out of the shower, I sniffed the air. It smelled slightly like cooked eggs in my bathroom. Hmm...I hope that doesn't last too long.

I couldn't really tell a difference between the egg-ditioner and my usual conditioner, but my hair did comb a little bit easier.
 
Since I did the egg-ditioner at night, I decided to wait until the morning to do the egg gel. But, since I was in the DIY/spa mood, I decided to do a little Internet/Pinterest research and see if I could find some sort of facial mask. On Pinterest, I found this suggestion to combine 2 tablespoons of honey with a teaspoon of cinnamon and a teaspoon of nutmeg and use it as a mask for 30 minutes. I didn't have any nutmeg, so I decided to find another mask idea. By typing DIY mask into google, I found this link for a bunch of facial masks made out of stuff you have in your fridge, and low and behold, one of them suggested an egg. So I decided to combine that with the honey/cinnamon to create something I would like to name The French Toast Facial.

Now, when I combined the egg, honey and cinnamon together, it looked a little like this:

 

Yep. It looks like poop a little bit. And I'm not going to lie, when I scooped it out to put it on my face, the mixture felt a lot like phlegm. So, I spread it over my face, making sure not to get it in my eyes.

 

And it looked like I had gotten a really bad spray tan. I checked what time it was and did some math to figure out how long 30 minutes would be. 

Well, let's just say, I did not make it 30 minutes. Whoever suggested putting cinnamon on your face for that long is a cold-hearted, evil being. It BURNS! After making it about 8 minutes, I was in a lot of pain, and after running around my house screaming for 2 minutes, I finally decided to just rinse the dang stuff off my face. The directions suggest to rub the mixture in circular motions to use the cinnamon to exfoliate, and I tried to, but all I could think of was getting the stuff off. 

Even after rinsing, my face felt like little flames were blazing everywhere; and as you can see here my face looked like I had a really bad sunburn (it even matches the shade of pink from my bathroom walls). I placed a cold rag over my face, which felt good for the moment, but it was smothering me and I couldn't breathe very well. So then I ran to the freezer and stuck my head in, which reminded me of that Friends episode where Monica is so hot she opens the freezer and just sits there in the cold air.

After about twenty minutes, my face finally felt better. And my skin did feel smooth and fresh. Probably because I burned all the dead skin away. I think that if I do the mask again, I will decrease the amount of cinnamon, and only leave it on for about five minutes.

This morning, I decided to try the egg gel, which will now be referred to as the Meringue Mousse. When I got out of the shower, I went into the kitchen and took out my eggs. I thought that I should use two, just to be on the safe side, since my hair is pretty thick. I carefully separated the yolk from the whites, and then started whipping the whites with a fork. It was probably from my lack of sleep that took me about two minutes before I realized that using a hand mixer would be a lot faster. I whipped the eggs to the consistency of hair mousse and then proceeded to my bathroom. I grabbed some of the mousse and worked it through my hair. I quickly saw that two eggs was way more than I needed. I now needed to blow dry my hair.

"But wait!" some of you may be saying, "if you're using the curly girl method, you can't blow dry your hair without a diffuser" and those of you who have read my posts before know that I don't own a diffuser. But while digging around in my sister's bathroom drawer last night, I found an attachment. Hooray! So, I dried my hair, but left it slightly damp, and then I scrunched my curls and styled it like normal. Let's just say, the curls looked pretty good, but they were a little crunchy.

I don't think I'll use the Meringue Mousse everyday, but I think a once-in-a-while occurrence may be in the future, especially when I'm running low on gel.

Who would have known that one food item could have so many uses.

Here are the directions for all three of the eggs-periments! :)

Egg-Ditioner:

1 egg

Beat the egg like you would for scrambled eggs. While in the shower, put the egg over your hair and work it in like you would your regular conditioner. Let it sit for about a minute, then rinse in lukewarm water.

Meringue Mousse:

1-2 eggs (depending on length and thickness)

Separate the yolk from the egg whites, and then whip the whites until they form a hair-mousse consistency. Work the mousse through your hair, and then blow dry using a diffuser. Scrunch curls into desired style. Make sure to wash your hair the same night, otherwise you might end up with some scary looking hair the next morning!

French Toast Facial:

1 egg

2 tablespoons honey

1/2-1 teaspoon of cinnamon (depends on your pain tolerance)

Mix the ingredients together until they form a runny paste. Spread the mixture over your face evenly, avoiding your mouth and eyes. Let it sit for about five minutes (or however long you are comfortable) and then rinse with water. While rinsing, scrub the mixture in circular motions over face and exfoliate your skin. Pat dry.

A new tip

OK, so I've been doing something a little different with my hair styling routine, and I think it is helping a little bit.

 

After I get of the shower and put my contacts in (oh to have perfect vision!) I've been waiting a few minutes before I put any styling products in my hair. I usually go and browse facebook or pinterest for about 5 minutes (or sometimes longer if I get distracted) and then I go do my hair. And for some reason, it's been curling a lot better. When I don't do this, sometimes I get this weird flat spot where my hair comes out from my head and it's flat and then it poofs out at the bottom. Not all that attractive. Anyway, I thought I would just give this little tip.

Song of the week: One Sweet Love-Sara Bareilles

I haven't done one of these in forever, so I thought I would do with this post. I couldn't decide what song I wanted to use, so I decided to let my Zune choose for me. I went into my song list and chose the song that I have listened to the most, and this was the winner. This is not a huge surprise to me. I love Sara Bareilles. I bought her first album when I was a senior in high school and I've actually performed some of her songs before (church talent show/humanities project), although I haven't done this song before. This is my favorite song by her because I love the lyrics and it's heavy on the guitar, which is different from her piano-centered songs.

 

OK, maybe I'm cheating a little by posting two songs, but I also love this cover of "In Your Eyes" that she did.