Growing up with curly hair has been a struggle through and through. There was never a year where my hair didn't give me problems, and never a special occasion where styling my hair took less than two hours. There are so many struggles that other girls just don't have to deal with at the same caliber as girls with thick curly hair! So, this is an article for all the girls like me who have REAL curls and actually understand the struggle.

1) You can NOT brush your hair dry.

Unless you are fresh out of the sower, there is no brushing your hair without ending up having a frizzy birds nest on top of your head.

2) Getting a haircut is risky business.

If you find a stylist who does it right, KEEP THEM. As a girl with curly hair who has moved states three times, I'm always reluctantly trying new hair stylists. Usually, nothing too bad happens, especially now that I'm old enough to tell the stylist exactly what I need, but there are two occasions where it took years for me to recover. One was when I was probably 7 years old and my mom decided to cut my hair. She just kept cutting and cutting to try to make it even and eventually I had a bob, and with curly hair (that's unruly like mine) it's not a good look. The other was my freshman year in high school. I was getting my hair cut by some random while my mom got her nails done, and I should have known as soon as I met the guy. As he cut my hair he loudly chewed gum and gossiped with another stylist. When he finished and asked if I liked it I cried. I also pocketed the money he was supposed to get as a tip, and I don't even feel bad. My last stylist messed my hair up, too, even after telling me that I should condition the ends of my hair more. Like thank you, honey, I do know how to condition my hair, I'm getting a haircut because I realize I have dead ends, not because I don't realize where they come from! Whew, feels good to get that off my chest. Long story short: find a stylist you can trust.

3) Choosing a styling cream.

When it comes to putting things in your hair the products either work like a charm or don't work at all, there is no in-between. Going to the drug store and looking for hair products can take forever. Once you find something that works for you, you tend to keep buying it and god forbid it gets discontinued. Then you're back to square one as if you're in eighth grade all over again!

4) Special occasions only go one of two ways.

You either spend hours doing your hair or five minutes. This is the decision between natural hair or straight hair. Going natural is risky because what if it's not a good hair day? Styling it is also risky because what if you don't have enough time or even worse, what if it rains?!

5) Bedhead is unmendable.

When you wake up with knotty hair the only way to fix it is water, and a lot of it. So, basically, you just have to shower.

6) Dealing with the wavy-haired girls.

This struggle is far too real. The girls with the perfect beach waves always try to steal the name curly, and it needs to stop! I'm sick of hearing their complaints when their hair isn't even in the same realm. This isn't to say beach wave hair isn't beautiful, because it definitely is, but there is a huge difference between waves and curls, and the effort that gets put into each. So please, wavy haired girls, sit down.