The 3 Week Curly Girl Challenge: 1st Commandment
Mar 15, 2008 Author: Jen Hill | Filed under: Curly Hair How-Tos, Haircare, Naturally Curly Hair, Styling How-tos
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.Â
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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19 Responses for "The 3 Week Curly Girl Challenge: 1st Commandment"
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.
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!
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!
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.
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!!!
You curly girls should check out naturallycurly.com — it’s an awesome web site for us curiles! Tons of info and product reviews, etc.
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
I’ll have to give it a try, Jen.
Wow Jen, I love the new layout! Sorry I’ve been MIA a bit. Your site looks great!
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.
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
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!
So great to meet you as well Laura! Please keep in touch.
[...] she just received some new hair products from Jessicurl, and her hair is really making waves!  The first commandment was to stop using a hairbrush on your curly hair. This post is addressing another important hair [...]
[...] Saga: Hair Challenge: Day One: Tracy takes a before picture and starts her 3 week journey. The Three Week Curly Girl Challenge: 1st Commandment: Sorry, no brushing allowed. Hair Challenge: End of Week 1: Significant progress and some curl [...]
[...] is nothing short of amazing. It is absolutely beautiful.  In addition to avoiding shampoo and brushes, I asked Tracy to stop using a hair dryer and any other damaging heat [...]
[...] Tracy takes a before picture and starts her 3 week journey. (She compares herself to Hagrid.) The Three Week Curly Girl Challenge: 1st Commandment: Sorry, no brushing allowed. Hair Challenge: End of Week 1: Significant progress and some curl [...]
If I need to brush my scalp, I do it before getting into the shower.
I avoiding brushing my dry hair to minimize breakage and frizz, but before your shower is probably safe!
Thanks Jessica!