my hair smells like a big bowl of fruit.

(In case you hadn't guessed, that's my hair up there.) I'm blessed/cursed with wiry, curly, wavy, unruly, straight-in-some-places-kinky-in-others hair. When I was a wee-girl, I'd run and hide from my mom when she tried to comb it, and my grandma used to call it "wild-woman hair." After nearly 30 years of running and hiding, I think I've sort of almost figured out a good mix of products to tame the "wild-woman." It's still a work in progress, and it's still winter, so who knows what will happen when the spring/summer humidity sets in. But for now, I'm sorta happy with my healthy hair regimen.

Back in the day, the only hair products I had to work with were Royal Crown and Cholesterol. I've seen hard times with this hair--poodle cuts, the mushroom (the guy from "No Country for Old Men" has nothing on me circa 1995 and 1997), half-done blow outs (what can I say, my arms get sore quickly), the Halle-Berry cut waaaay before there was a Halle-Berry cut (she stole my haircut!), one bad weave, and every type of braid you can think of. But now and I'm back at square one...the wash-n-go, whatever, low-stress, natural 'do. I'm seriously too lazy for anything else.

So here's my recipe:
ξ Shampoo and condition two or three times a week.
ξ Moisturize. A little bit goes a long way, and it smells fruity. Olive oil is a good substitute.
ξ Extra conditioning. I recommend two or three quartersized dollops of this stuff (products sold at CVS and on Ellin Lavar's web site).
ξ Pony tails, up-dos, chignons (i have no idea what those are), waves, and the like, try this stuff. It smells like fruit (yum!).
ξ Staying power. This stuff is great for when humidity strikes--but as with all of these products, don't over do it.
ξ These are also great products to try...for more defined curls...for light hold and shine...for lazy summer wash-n-go's...for a moisturizing boost...and for straight styles and blow-outs.

p.s. and here's another fab product I recently re-discovered.

happy styling!
(this is something I'd never say in real life, but I have no other creative way of ending this post.)