Growing up, I was that girl with the little, tight, blonde ringlets that bounced with my every move. It was cute back then, but as I started to reach middle school, I started to really hate them. Almost all of my friends had straight or wavy hair and I just wanted to have normal hair. Let's get real, having curly hair is a huge pain in the butt, and you have to put a lot of work into taming it. My bathroom would reek of the smell of burnt hair and heat protectant spray, and it would take me at least thirty minutes to get my hair perfectly straight. I was constantly straightening it and honestly when I didn't, I didn't feel beautiful.

I just didn't want to walk around school with a huge, frizzy afro when I was already dealing with screwed up teeth (pre-braces) and acne. It took me until later in high school to really embrace my curls. Think about it; you have the best of both worlds. If you want to keep your hair curly, you can, and if you want to straighten it, you always can. Some people with straight hair literally can't curl their hair because it won't stay. As a curly-headed child, you are now able to rock your hairstyle whichever way you want it to be.

My go-to look recently has been keeping it half straight and half curled. I straighten the top of my head and curl the bottom, and it honestly looks pretty good! In college, I started leaving my hair natural for half the week and then using heat on it the other half. My hair grew so much faster and left it healthier! How I keep my curls looking natural is by not brushing it when I get out of the shower and scrunching in mousse. So ladies remember, different is beautiful!