Hair - how to straighten you up?

Ho ho ho! It's Christmas eve, and I come bearing wishes for a very merry Christmas for all, as also with a chronicle of hair woes to share.

I've always had wavy hair. Not straight, not even curly, but hanging right there in the middle - wavy. And with a mind of their own too! You see, it is precisely at those times when I am at home doing nothing, not stepping out of the house for days, when they decide to behave like the most obedient little kid on earth. But when I have to go out somewhere and look my sexy best, they would suddenly go on a me-no-behave spree and make me look like an alien. Not that I'm really complaining (and that's a white lie).

The texture's pretty good, silky so to say, with those brown highlights that I just adore. But I wish they behaved more often, so I did not have to resort to putting them through torture so often.

What kind of torture, were you wondering? Now you'd surely have to be a guy to wonder that. Because we girls know what all it takes to get that perfect mop of beautifully straight and shiny hair that you guys so covet. It isn't all that easy, you see. It takes patience, time and treating your hair with a lot of care (and sometimes brutality) to make them look great.

I have noticed a sort of trend. The girls who have curly hair usually want it to be straight, while those blessed by the Almighty with that perfectly straight mane (*jealous*), wish for it to have been curly. And so we do everything in our power to make our hair what it is not. Take for example the former case, wherein I happen to lie. We curly/wavy haired damsels crave for straight hair (it definitely looks sexier!), so we keep looking for healthier, easier ways to achieve it.

The women of our mothers' and their mothers' time were nothing if not highly illustrious. If we have technology, they had their customized gharelu nuskhe (home remedies) for every problem under the sun. They even knew how to make your hair look just the way you want, without even damaging it! So for naturally soft and straight hair, my mother told me to apply yogurt or milk to my hair and rinse once it's fully dry. I tried a few times, and it really worked for me. But then it takes too much of an effort and time and it leaves your head utterly cooled, which is why it's a strict no-no for winters.

Then I had this good friend in school who used to have immensely beautiful, silky, soft brown hair. I would always drool over it. And then I finally asked her about it one day and out came the secret - she used henna on her hair. Quite regularly too, with eggs and other herbs thrown in. No wonder her hair always reeked of mehndi and other reeky stuff. Sigh, I could never bring myself to following her formula though, try as I might have to convince myself to. But I just cannot have my hair smell of henna - it's nauseating.

Another option one of my friends suggested was to starch my hair. Jeez! I was thankfully never so big on straight hair as to go to such a length - I've heard it is one of the wildest things you can do to your hair, making it look like Einstein's for a while and eventually fall out. Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow!

I also hear people say that you can straighten your hair using hair gel. Now, how on earth can someone straighten even moderately long hair using gel? I always thought gel was for short, spiky hair. Turns out, it is too. Someone even went as far as to suggest going out with wet hair, as it looks relatively straighter while you're freshly out of the shower. On being asked what to do when it starts drying up, she said, "Why, just find the nearest restroom and dampen it again!" Alas, jitne muh utni baatein. But I never really found the perfectly natural straight hair solution. Nothing worked for me for long. So I've ultimately had to resort to a straightening rod to do the job occasionally when I want my hair to look their best. 'coz here's how my real hair looks:

And here's how it manages to look after I've had my way with it:

Now that's the thing I'm talking about. Straight hair changes the way you look. If only it were simpler. But with proper care and healthy upkeep of hair, an occasional heat treatment doesn't do much harm, at least to my hair. So as I said before, I'm not complaining - I've found my way around hair problems. :D

However, I have seen a great number of girls going in for hair straightening (or rebonding) treatments for the perfect solution. Their hair just ends up looking like a broomstick, and feeling the same too. Those pointed, jagged edges and that damaged frizzy look just doesn't look hot - it looks garish after a time. It is however a more optimal solution if instead of straightening, one goes for a hair smoothening treatment - the procedure duration and process employed are much the same, but with much softer, natural looking straight hair in the end. And with good after-treatment care who says it is difficult to maintain straight hair? Use the right haircare products (Sunsilk for instance) and strike a balance with natural home remedies. And bask in the pleasure of beautiful and stylish hair, today and forever.

This post is a part of The Sunsilk Hair Experiment on IndiBlogger.