Bad hair days...

With only a week to go until I finally arrive in Bergen, I'm beginning to ponder on more of the things I've learnt about the city where I’ll be residing for 6 months. Like the weather for example, and from what I’ve heard I’m going to need to take an umbrella with me everyday when I venture outside, but not only this, for me in particular I’m also going to need some good hair advice. See the problem is, I have wavy hair, and yes it’s lovely having natural waves or curls, but it’s not nice when you walk outside and there’s a slight dampness or humidity to the air and your hair literally becomes a perm style gone wrong. Frizz is no friend of mine.

The reason I thought about this worry about my hair today of all days is because I am currently visiting my cousins in Dunblane, Scotland, and in Dunblane I swear it rains constantly – maybe not everyday but most of the days. I stepped outside and walked down the road with my cousin to the corner shop, probably only outside for 10 minutes at the most, it wasn’t raining but it previously had been, so it was pretty damp outside. When I came inside I caught my reflection, not because I thought, “who’s that pretty woman?” ha no more along the lines of “who’s that girl with the crazy hair?” I couldn’t believe it, how am I going to survive in Bergen where it rains more than it does here?! I won’t make any friends because I’ll look like I never wash or brush my hair!

I think this fear of my hair letting me down in the social world has stemmed from an event that occurred many years ago…

I was 14 years old (possibly going on 15) and just met some friends at the beach. The boys thought it would be funny to drag me into the water, so they did, and I got soaked up in the white wash of the waves. I wasn’t planning on getting my hair wet but it was ok as we were only at the beach (I might add there was only me and one other girl, who didn’t get thrown in or even go in the water, so she looked immaculate). Anyways, I thought we were only going to the beach, however everyone thought it would be a good idea to stop in the city – for food of all things, I mean come on you can get stuff by the sea you don’t have to trek all the way to the city! My hair goes wavy when it dries naturally, but there must be some sort of reaction with sea water, because whenever I go swimming in the sea my hair dries into crazy waves that are all over the place and not that “sexy beach waves” look that hair product companies so often promote. So anyways by the time we had arrived in the city my hair had dried into the untamed curly mess, and as I was waiting to order my food with my friend next to me, still looking immaculate, a little boy (probably about 7 years old) starts trying to get our attention. Then he makes some comments, which to this day I have still never forgotten, he turns to me and he says “You, you’re crazy…” then pointing to my friend “she’s the sexy one”. I mean seriously! When you’re a teenager you’re so aware of your appearance and it’s always a lovely token to be complimented, so for a 7 year old kid to suggest I’m crazy from the way I looked did in fact hurt a little, and I wondered whether the male company I was with were also not impressed with my horrid hair. (They probably weren’t impressed as I was forever in their “friend zone” throughout the rest of high school).

I learnt a few life lessons from that experience which are the following: try to avoid going to huge shopping centres after visiting the beach; when possible take a brush or comb to the beach (which I do and it makes my hair a little less ‘crazy’); try not to get hair too wet (although this is quite a hard task especially when the ocean is rough); and finally, don’t give a shit about what little kids think and wish that they have a shitty time growing up with their own flaws, which I hope was many for that particular kid.

So now you know of my background story of my fear of frizzy hair, I can continue on with my original story. After the frizziness I experienced today, I decided to take prior action and find the best ways to fight frizz.

I did this not through scientific testing (which would be good), but through the wonderful world of the internet that provides so much advice to the misguided, like me.

I went on a variety of websites and here are some tips I found:

-       Shampoo: these stylists seem to hate on it a little bit, but I think shampoo is still important, whether it dries out your hair a little, because it cleans you hair (as the argument goes in the movie Billy Madison). However what did intrigue me was one site stated to use shampoo that didn’t have sulphates in them. Apparently these dry out the hair and can cause frizziness to occur. So I might look out to see which products offer sulphate-free shampoo.

-        Moroccan oil: I use this religiously anyways, although I don’t use it to combat frizz but more to keep my hair (and especially my ends) healthy and conditioned. It does help with dry hair, making it more nourished. I was recommended to use Moroccan oil when I got back from the UK after a really cold winter and came back to Perth’s scorching summer. To say the least my hair did not cope well and my hairdresser noticed this and advised me to use this oil after washing my hair. I’ve used it ever since! I go a little bit mad though and I often put it on most nights on dry hair before going to bed to give my hair a bit more moisture during the night so it doesn’t dry out as much the following day.

-        Deep condition hair treatment: nearly all the sites I went on suggested this, and to do it once a week. It’s so easy (and so much cheaper) to get at home deep condition hair treatments. I used to do it back home, but again it wasn’t so much to fight frizz but to make my hair full of moisture since it does dry out sometimes. I’m undecided of the best deep condition treatments to use, supposedly it’s Moroccan oil products but I think I’ll have to search through more suggestions on it.

-       Heat-protective spray: I would only think to use this if I was blow-drying my hair, but it does seem like a good idea because even though I let my hair dry naturally quite often it might create a barrier to stop frizz whilst it dries naturally before I head outside.

-       Anti-frizz product: Now I know this seems like an obvious choice, but I hate putting on many products in my hair because surely it’s not good to layer on products day after day to your hair just like it isn’t good to lather on make-up every single day (I believe you do need to let you’re natural beauty breathe a little). However one of the websites suggested only to use a little anti-frizz product and to keep the application as light as possible, so I might give it a go.

-       Feed your hair: What??? That was my first reaction when I read the title, but the suggestion was to not only drink plenty of water (which is THE best remedy to skin and hair problems – I’m constantly reading the preaching of drinking as much water as you can a day, stating to try drink more than 2L or at least 2L. I try but it’s a little hard), the other suggestion was to eat half an avocado a day. Odd. I knew avocado was a super food, but apparently it improves your hair, skin and nails. I like avocados but I’m not sure I could commit myself to eating half a day.

So with all this in my mind, I will conduct my own scientific research and TRY these suggestions and see whether they hold to truth or not. So keep updated once I hit Bergen!

The only other advice I have learned, which is much easier, is to wear your hair up or in braids and then you won’t have to deal (as much) with the potential frizziness that could come at any chance of rain or humidity. Problem is, I’m really lazy and therefore bad at many hairstyles, but I guess it’s just a good opportunity to learn some new hairstyles :)