natural curls

I'm often complimented on my hair but what most people don't know is that for years it was my achilles heel. Up until about 5th grade, I had straight hair. It always fell into place and was easy to style. No complaints. Then again, I was so young that good hair wasn't really on my mind. Around the time I turned 12, my dad took me to get a "Mariah Carey" perm because I wanted Mariah's exact hair from her music video Someday. (I was obsessed!) Aaaaand, that was when my hair never went back to being the same. Don't get me wrong, I loved the perm! But after it grew out, I wasn't a fan of what was leftover. What changed my hair's texture? I'm pretty sure it was a combination of the perm's harsh chemicals (it was the early 90's afterall) and my onset of puberty. Again, not complaining as worse things have happened in my life, but as all wavy and curly-haired girls know, learning how to style curls is freakin' hard! Especially fried post-perm curls. I had gotten used to straight...