Women with curly/kinky hair... anyone sick of it?

My hair is more than 12 inches long and it is very thick. I live in a very humid climate. Controlling frizz is nearly impossible. It was always straight up until about a year ago. If I let it dry natural it is curly to a point but not extremely curly. i normally use a flat iron most days for work. On the weekends and for exercise I have a ponytail. My question is, has any women here experienced their hair changing from straight to curly and is that normal? I really don't like it that much. I was thinking of cutting it short. I have never had short hair in my life.Any pointers would help.

I feel ya. I wear my hair curly all the time because of the humidity and sweat=poof...I was contemplating a Keratin treatment, but I just don't want to do anymore chemicals. So I will continue to flat iron once in a blue when I want the straight look and wear it curly the rest of the time.

I've recently switched shampoos lately to a cheap £1 shampoo and conditioner from Asda and it's doing my hair wonders! Plus it smells nice

When I have the time, I mix coconut oil, carrot oil and olive oil together, leave it in my hair overnight, and then wash with conditioner the next morning and use hot oil as a shampoo replacement for the week.

When I don't have the time I just plait my hair before bed and hope for the best!

I love my hair now, but my fringe is a different story when I straighten it :grumble:

First picture is my own barrel curling skillz, second top right is natural state and third is a pro blow out.

I feel like kinky curly hair gives you a great base for styling your hair. I used to hate it when I was younger, but I have grown to love the adaptability of curls. I may not be able to get them stick straight, but once and awhile I can go to a professional and get a blow out and feel great, or I can barrel curl right on top of my kinky girls for a smoother curly look.

Whenever I take my twists out, I am wanting to relax, until I get reeducated on how to do my own hair. I understand where you are coming from. Although, you have a looser curl pattern, and it appears that it would be easier to flat iron your hair if you wanted to, and then go back to curly if you wanted to. That's one thing a perm doesn't allow.

my only complaint about my hair is how oily it is, but it's not quite as bad as when i was a teenager, and I have a massaging
shower head now, so I'm good

I HIGHLY recommend reading http://www.amazon.com/Curly-Girl-Handbook-Michele-Bender/dp/076115678X and to STOP using ANY shampoo, and switch to JUST conditioners.

Also check out - http://www.naturallycurly.com/CurlyGirlChallenge

Already doing that! Good to hear it's more and more popular~

In my opinion your hair is gorgeous!

But I feel ya on the troublesome hair. Mine is just a god awful mix of straight, wavy and curly... kind of like it doesn't know what it should do and I hate it! I need to straighten, curl or put it up every day and it takes an hour to style it let alone wash it... Now you have it harder because you have those lovely tight curls that can frizz up pretty easily, my recommendation is that you do what feels easier and better for you and your hair. If you relax it or soften the curls will it be easier to manage and still look lovely? Yes? Then do it

Bump

I use relaxer and my hair is still ridiculously thick and unmanageable for the most part. Leave in conditioner & a diffuser are my friends.

Stop complaining, at least you have long healthy hair.

same here, I'm thinking about cutting mine short.

I got the Kerastraight treatment back in January and I LOVE IT. It's only starting to wear off now, and I'm getting it re-done tomorrow morning. Basically what it involves is a Keratin treatment that is sealed into your hair so that while the frizz is gone, there is still a natural wave to your hair. I got mine on Groupon, for 90 euro, which was a godsend because she said that had I come in without a voucher, with my thick hair, she would have had to charge me 250 euro!!!! YIKES.

When I get it done I make sure to tell the girl to concentrate on my extra afro bits, like I have SUPER SUPER curly hair just in front of my ears, and a ton of frizz along my forehead, where my hair is like baby hairs? This treatment makes your hair SO HEALTHY AND SHINY, which I was so happy with because I've always had crazy big, but super healthy hair, and then I got highlights last year and it just died out on me. Now it's even better than it was before, people are always complimenting it!

After reading some of the posts on here, I feel like I need to come back and add a couple of things.

My hair is KINKY curly. There's nothing wavy about this red mop on my head...
Since starting the Curly Girl method, I no longer wonder what my hair will look like from day to day. I don't deal with frizz anymore because my hair is properly hydrated. And my curls no longer look like fuzzy dread-locks. My hair is now healthy, shiny ringlets (as the Gods intended). As a previous poster said, I now work with my curls, not against them.

Straighteners, relaxers, texturizers, chemicals... are the worst possible thing you can do to curly hair. They dry out and damage the scalp (the LAST thing a curly haired person needs). They break the hair; split and fray the ends; and overall damage the outer and inner layers of the hair. Heat is also a no-no. This goes for flat-irons, curlers, hair-dryers... all of it.

I use 3... count them 3 products on my hair (and 2 of them I only use every 2-3 days).
1. Shea Moisture's African Black Soap Balancing Conditioner
2. Shea Moisture's Coconut & Hibiscus Moisture Mist
3. Loreal's EverStyle ALCOHOL FREE Curl Defining Gel

I used to use try every product available to make my hair only the slightest bit manageable. For years I gave up on the curls and flat-ironed my hair (2 hours every 2 days wasted). Don't let me sweat, the air be humid or GODS FORBID it rain! I HATED HATED HATED my hair. I tried every cut any hairdresser would ever tell me would work. I was at the point of chopping it all off... Sinead O'Connor style... when I discovered The Curly Girl Handbook.

Here's a "Before" photo to show you what I have to work with. Unfortunately I don't have any after ones yet

Kinky is sexy