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Eager to please


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Stages of Self

posted on Jan 13, 2010 by mmmaryx


I love when people tell me how pretty I am, only after I straighten my hair.
Or when they meet me, assume I hate my hair and give me straightening tips..

I actually feel the most beautiful with my big frizzy curls. 

Sometimes though, straightening gives me a little brake from stressing over curl formations, or save me room in my luggage on bottles of hair goodies. 

<3
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Style by Trial

posted on Nov 17, 2009 by mmmaryx
I remember some time early 2004 (end of HS-beginning of College) I found a little area in some girl beauty magazine addressed to curly hair. It was a little picture of Titi and Miko Branch and a product shot of Curly Pudding, Curly Meringue, and Curly Buttercream.

I read the little clipping about how these sisters teamed up tend to the cries of curly heads, I immediately cut it out neatly and saved it in a little box with all my "important(s)" which at the time included a medley of back up cd's for my computer, pictures, and some mix tapes. Pretty sure this was the first time one of these magazines actually contained information relevant to me. 

I kept that clipping for a long time! It was about a year later I wondered into a Ricky's shop in NYC and saw the products. I looked at it, smelled it, felt it, then looked at the price.

Mind you. I was this freshman in college, had no money, didn't know what a "good product" was. My hair regime consisted of cheap shampoo and conditioners and for styling it was a similar theme, how much for my buck? I stuck to LA LOOKS super hold gel and later in college I was introduced by to Let's Jam "giggly gel" by my dorm mates. 

So I lift up this jar - look at the price, and wide eyed I quickly put the jar back down.
A little while later, I told a fellow curly headed friend about the products and as she was a little more adventurous - she'd actually bought and tried them out already! 

Now that I got to see and feel the way the product worked on hair, much curlier and way more fun than my own, I considered to make the investment. 

I actually got a little surprise when I made the purchase. I went into Essentials and bought Curly Pudding to try in the 16oz and was given an adorable little set of 2oz containers, one was Rapid Recovery and the other was (I think) a little unscented Curly Pudding. Any freebie is a nice incentive to push your first foot into a big hair care purchase. 

I have been hooked since. I've never been so happy with my hair until I found these styling products. The cost doesn't even make me think twice in buying the product considering one 16oz jar will last me up and over six months.

My friend that I mentioned before, went back into her Finesse Mousse routine (which she once created on me - and it looked great, but I could never replicate it), so she had a lot left over in her Curly jars. So here was an addition to my Curly Pudding addiction - Curly Meringue. 

It's seems what I've read is that Curly Pudding is a stronger hold than the Meringue but I learned to like using it best on rainy days – when my hair needed a little extra something to keep its insanity inline despite the humidity outside. So in my mind, Meringue did that.

But I've been out of it for a while! And since I stocked up on Curly Pudding one Christmas, I've just been wearing my hair in a braid crown on days my hair gets unruly. 

I started this blog because I love Miss Jessie's for everything they've done (especially design wise! Packaging and logo,etc), since I clipped out that little article 5 years ago with no intention of achieving anything but getting my perm frustration out in the open. Well, it definitely paid off, in addition to soothing my mind and exchanging hair failures and victories, I received a victory of my own! 

I got my care pack in the mail for this Grow Out Challenge, from Miss Jessie's. 
I couldn't be more excited! I really couldn't wait to try everything out, so I started with what they'd suggested I'd try first.

Curly Meringue coil out! I did this, in perhaps a bit smaller that 2" sections, twisting from the bottom up while my hair was freshly washed and damp. 

My hair started to dry and I pulled the twists apart to loosen it up a bit. 

This is the end result.









It was a bit too neat for my taste at first, but cute, and I got a lot of compliments!
Even from mommy dearest. 

The coil out also lasted through the test of time. The curls didn't loosen much but my hair got to its bigger state over time. I really didn't need to wash my hair for a long while! (No! Not washing you hair everyday ISN'T gross! Get over it! :P)


I'm excited to try out the shampoo and conditioner soon!


I don't know if I'll update this as often as some of the other ladies so I would just like to really thank Miss Jessie's for the gift and sponsoring such a fun and insightful blog contest, and naturallycurly.com for making this website happen!  


xo,

Mary


 
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The shortest year.

posted on Oct 13, 2009 by mmmaryx
I feel like for every girl, it takes a long time to accept and love what she's got. The reason we ever begin to doubt ourselves is never by mistake. It's always some outside force reigning on our beautiful-good-feeling parade. 

My mom started me out at the salon real young, I'd say my first wash and blow was at 5, my first relaxer around 10. My mom just could not deal with my hair - the same type of hair growing out the top of her very own head. My mom had tried everything on her hair, but once I was born, I was sort of the new lab rat. She experimented with my hair instead of hers with oils, shampoos, treatments, etc.

Eventually, I rebelled, as most teens do. Rejecting all "hair care" methods my mom asked me to try out or, begged and pleaded with me to have done. She told me time and time again that I needed to be presentable and feminine - I never understood why my hair ruined me so much. I took it upon myself to gel it down into a pony tail and call it a day (or what was in reality, a few long years).

Around 18, one year into college, and about 3 years into embracing my curly hair, up, down, big, frizzy, you name it I loved it – I was prepping for my July trip to Europe and Egypt, the begging and the pleading began.  

My mom begged me to go get a "frizz reducing" treatment at her favorite straightening salon. She didn't want me to show up in Egypt and disgrace her stylish and chic history with my mess of curls. So finally, after years of upsetting her, I decided to try this "frizz reducing" thing.

I show up to the salon, I get seated in a chair, told by the salon owner that my hair will be frizz free and curly just how I like it.

Her assistant puts this magic serum in my hair. Washes it out. I looked in the mirror horrified. My hair was pin straight. And I must have looked horrified – the salon owner came sweeping in with her know-it-all attitude claiming it was done! My hair will be curly and beautiful with just a tad bit of mousse.

My hair didn't curl. My coarse thick curls turned into a thick black straw hat that never dried. I now had to blow dry my hair.

Great. Now I had to travel with a blow dryer. 

Months after the horrific "frizz reducing" treatment, I started school. I had strangers come up to me and ask me what happened to my gloriously huge head of hair, I wish I could have explained.

I had to wake up extra early for class to dry my hair. One of those mornings, the blow dryer overheated (probably because of the time it was taking to dry my damaged hair).

Ah, good morning to me! I lost my roommates blow dryer to the battle and started to smell a bit of burning. I saw nothing – felt my hair but it was still too wet. I decided to just commute to class damp in the gloriously cold early winter morning. 
 
Sitting around in class, I went to scratch my head and when my hand came out of the mass of straw, so did a clump of not so much burnt, but practically melted hair. Horrified, I ran to the nearest garbage can and threw it out and checked my head for more... sure enough there was more. Clumps of broken, damaged, burnt/melted bits of hair, making a run for it. 
 
When I got home that evening I took a pair of my craft scissors and cut as much off as I could.

I was left with the shortest nest of hair I've ever had in my life.

This is my hair growing out of that shortness, and right after my friends cat tried to make it his home.

Since then, my hair has only been exposed to the best curly products. I ditched my shampoos and conditioners for the curl friendly brands and fell in love with Curly Pudding for styling. 

My hair is now long, curly, sometimes crazy, and I love it.

The moral of this story is, sometimes, your mom doesn't really know what's best.


Love what you want to love about you and don't let anyone change it! <3
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Eager to please

  • by mmmaryx
  • All my mom ever wanted was for me to look presentable. For some reason, what I looked like was not enough.