The 3 Week Curly Girl Challenge: 1st Commandment

Curly Hair Commandment: Thou shalt not brush out your curly hair!

Tracy (Dandelion Mama) committed herself to take the 3 week Curly Girl Challenge. At her website, you can view her hair in all its glory and the transformation that will take place in the next few weeks. After taking her picture, Tracy and her husband laughed at how much her hair resembled Hagrid’s hair, the kind hearted half giant/half wizard from the Harry Potter series.

Tracy is a very brave woman to reveal the true nature of her hair. I too have been traumatized for years from ridicule and comments on my own head of hair, and am learning to accept and embrace its unique qualities. To be fair, I am going to post some pictures of my hair after being brushed. My hair is much shorter than Tracy’s and I have kept it short since my mid 20’s because of my frustration with it. Instead of running off to a dance club tonight, I sacrified my Saturday night activities to brush out my hair. Heaven help my hair if I lived in a humid climate! I imagine if I had the length of Tracy’s hair, we could easily be tagged as Hagrid’s siblings.

I must admit, I have missed the feel of the brush against my scalp. But, after looking at these pictures, I have remembered why I started this curly girl method in the first place. Keep it up Tracy and hooray for Curly Girls!

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16 Responses for "The 3 Week Curly Girl Challenge: 1st Commandment"

hairyshoefairy March 15th, 2008 at 10:03 pm 1

You girls are so brave to post brushed-out curly hair pictures. Mine is a little bit wavy and NYDD teases me about it getting puffy if I don’t straighten it. When it’s done right curly hair can look so beautiful.
Tonya March 15th, 2008 at 10:29 pm 2

I’m soooo on the other side of this coin. My hair is stick straight and just lays there all limp and llifeless most of the time.

Too bad we can’t combine out hair and make one perfect head of hair.

Good luck girls!
jen38 March 16th, 2008 at 8:56 am 3

HSF: You are in need of some curly girl intervention! I would love to see a picture of your hair using the curly girl method.

Tonya: Yes it would be! Although I love the look of straight hair too.

I have always wondered what I would look like with smooth, straight hair. Although, I kind of enjoy my crazy curly head of hair now, it is unique, and has a lot of personality. It is nice to be different!
mo mommy March 16th, 2008 at 9:10 am 4

Tonya, my hair is very straight as well. I have kept it short, shorter than Jen’s, for at least a decade. Imagine my surprise when I tried to grow it out and found that after it reaches a certain length it gets wavy. And not cute wavy either, just weird flips and turns. It took everything under the sun to get it straight! So I just chopped it off again. The path of least resistance works for me!
I’m so glad you guys are sharing your experiences, I feel like I can relate to the frustration of my curly headed friends better.
realworldmartha March 16th, 2008 at 11:27 pm 5

Ok, why is it that I wouldn’t consider those bad pictures? Well your cute either way. I do have to say I love when I use a flat iron. I hate the time but it feels so wonderful. I just run my hands through it and there’s no tangles. But it doesn’t get done very often for sure!!!
CurlyGirl March 17th, 2008 at 7:24 am 6

You curly girls should check out naturallycurly.com — it’s an awesome web site for us curiles! Tons of info and product reviews, etc.
jen38 March 17th, 2008 at 8:26 am 7

You are too kind Debbie! I absolutely love your hair.

Every once in a while straightening hair isn’t a bad thing, just everyday would be too tedious and damaging for your hair. When I went to the curly girl routine, my hair was really damaged and felt like straw. These pictures are after not blowing dry or straightening for an entire year! My hair is much softer and infinitely healthier than it has been for a loooonng time.

Big hugs to you and the boys, Jen
hairyshoefairy March 17th, 2008 at 9:59 am 8

I’ll have to give it a try, Jen.
Jen March 18th, 2008 at 10:05 am 9

Wow Jen, I love the new layout! Sorry I’ve been MIA a bit. Your site looks great!
Jean March 20th, 2008 at 8:31 am 10

OMG-you guys have my hair!! My hair looks like your brushed out pic, but I am not that curly. I have the problem that I have straight hair on the top layer and a curly underlayer. My stylist says it is rare, but pointed out that my niece has the same thing. I have thick hair-both in quantity and my individual hairs are thick and soooo porous. That is where your advice is right on the money. I laughed when you said don’t brush or dry your hair, because drying mine would definately result in a bozo the clown look. I am going to check out a few of the products that you suggested. The only thing that I have found that has really helped my hair is called smooth down shampoo, conditioner, balm, etc. I don’t really care to smooth my hair, but after using it for a few weeks I realized that my hair looks and most importantly FEELS different. The conditoner and balm are must haves for anyone who gets frizz. Sorry for being so long winded, I was enjoying the site, but when I saw your pic I had to write.
jen38 March 20th, 2008 at 8:53 am 11

Thank you so much for sharing Jean! Sounds like we must share some common ancestors, no doubt.
I am not familiar with the Smooth Down brand, where do you find it? Be long winded anytime, I love it! Come back and share often.

Best,
Jen
Laura March 20th, 2008 at 7:07 pm 12

lol… I remember trying to brush my own curly hair. No, no, no! For years I didn’t even own a hairbrush. Anyway… love your blogs so far. SO glad to meet you today, a kindred spirit! I told my husband that I met someone that loves skin care as much as me, and he didn’t believe me! I will give you a call soon and we will hang out, maybe swap some skin care swag!
jen38 March 20th, 2008 at 9:03 pm 13

So great to meet you as well Laura! Please keep in touch.
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