a hairy situation

Let’s talk about hair, shall we? Specifically (and, obviously, because I rule this space), let’s talk about my hair.

Here’s the deal: the texture of my hair — lots of body with one part (uneven) wave, one part curl, and one gigantic part frizz — has been giving me (minor) fits.

Maybe you can help?

First, here’s what my hair looks like when I let it completely air dry:

Also, after washing my hair, I usually spritz in some Pureology Colour Fanatic, the first step in battling the wiry-frizz problem. It makes my hair a couple degrees softer. And it smells good, too.

Currently, I utilize two different styling treatments, which sounds complicated, but really, it only takes five to ten minutes.

Straight(ish): When my hair is halfway dry, I use a large wooden brush and a monster hairdryer to blow it out and give it some shape. Then I follow up with some heavy-duty hair-straightening to quiet the persistent frizz. (To protect my hair from the heat, I spritz a little Fructis Style Flat Iron Perfector Straightening Mist prior to ironing my locks.)

Here are the results, back in July, when it was super hot outside and my hair was a bit shorter than it is now:

Curly (ish): When my hair is halfway dry, I spritz in a little Aveda’s Be Curly Curl Enchancer to draw out the natural curl. Then once the hair is completely dry, I do a quick pass with the curling iron, focusing on the extra-frizzy and/or straight clumps. When utilizing this method, I have to avoid all combs and brushes which would, immediately and irrevocably, obliterate my hard-won curls.

To tame the poof and keep it out of my eyes, I often twist back the sides:

By the end of the day, the curl has relaxed considerably but so has the frizz, so it sort of evens out:

And on Day Two (I wash my hair every other day), my hair is lankier, the curl even softer.

So here’s my question: Is there any way to get my hair soft and smooth from the very beginning, without all this spraying and straightening and curling? I’m envisioning some sort of serum — just a couple drops of something (that’s not terribly expensive, pretty please) — that I massage into my still-wet hair that magically turns my hair silky-smooth.

Does something like this even exist?

(I have my doubts, but one can always dream…)

This same time, years previous: hair loss (ha! apparently October is Jennifer’s “let’s talk about hair” month), where the furry things are, the quotidian (10.19.15), would you come?, pumpkin sausage cream sauce.

Jennifer Jo lives with her husband John and their four children on five acres in rural Virginia where she (kinda-sorta-maybe) homeschools the kids, gardens, bakes, and reads. You can find more of her musings and lots of recipes at her web-log mamasminutia.blogspot.com.