Image: Lori and her curls
I was born bald as a cue ball and stayed that way until I was around 2 years old. My mother used to attach bows to my head using scotch tape because there was zero hair to tie anything to.
I spent my elementary school years with thick, coarse, wavy hair. It still brings tears to my eyes thinking of Mum brushing it up into pigtails, finishing it off with that weird ’70s yarn all the girls wore.
Then, puberty hit. And my hair got curly and gigantic. It was the ’80s and the era my hair was born for had finally arrived.
Sure, there are may breeds of curly-haired girls -- the ones with the soft flowy waves, the air-dry-onlys, the natural run-your-hands-through-my-hair girls. But that was never me.
19 problems only people with naturally curly hair will understand
Today, as an adult in the year 2015, I remain a proud, big-haired girl. In photos, my head is usually double the size of anyone else's.
Us curly-haired girls have some secrets (at least I do) that may surprise you when it comes to our hair care regimen.
Like...
1. We don't wash our hair a lot.
Every other day? Nope. Every other-other day? Nuh-uh. I wash my hair twice a week, sometimes once. It always looks best on day three, don't ask me why. I read something where Lorde says she can go a whole month sans shampoo - she is my current curly-haired hero.
2. You wouldn't believe the amount of hair we lose when we do wash our hair.
I go through my hair when the conditioner is in it with an old school Goody pick that I've been using since Jimmy Carter was president. This is how I brush my hair. And you would not believe the amount of hair that I "pick" out of my head. Rather than let it go down the drain, I collect it in a pile and throw it away when I get out of the shower. It's gross.
