Hair (part 1 of many)

Howdy everyone! Happy New Year! Today's topic is the stuff that grows on our scalp - Hair!

Everyone knows that a good hairdo is essential to being fashionable - a good hairdo can make a mediocre outfit look good. Conversely, a bad hairdo can make a good outfit look dowdy.
To avoid being "preachy-ish" in this posting, I will merely give some tips instead of telling you what I dislike :)
For guys - I don't know about the rest of you lovely ladies out there, but there's something about a guy that has taken time to comb his hair in an attractive manner. A good haircut matters, too. It doesn't matter if your mom or your wife or some professional barber cuts your hair. Find a good haircut that looks good on you! Some guys like it military-length, and some guys like it civilian-length. Hopefully none of our apostolic guys like it too long, though - the Beatles shouldn't be our hair models! :) So guys, after you find a good haircut (hopefully you already have), make sure to find a good way to comb it. Are you going to part the hair on the side, in the middle, or will you slick it straight back? You have a few options on keeping it in place, too. Gel, mousse, and hairspray are a couple options. Gel seems to be what a lot of guys like, but if you don't want the "plastered" look, you might want to go with mousse or hairspray. Mousse doesn't give you a helmet head, but it definitely isn't as strong of a hold. Hairspray seems to be hard to use, because there aren't a lot of hairsprays made for men, so unless you can find a manly or non-scented hairspray, you might be worried about smelling like your wife's hairspray. :)
Girls - our hair is our glory! We all know that. Also, the woman is the glory of her husband, so the woman's hair (if she is married) is doubly important. Most apostolic women already know a lot of tricks for hair, and many of us are stopped all the time on the street and asked if we are hair stylists. Here is a list of the types of hair care products that are available to women: pomades, conditioners, leave-in conditioners, gels, mousses, hair sprays, frizz control sprays, curl enhancing sprays, softening creams, body boosting mousses, the list goes on and on. I was at Wal-Mart the other night, getting shampoo and conditioner, and TreSemme' has about 15 different types of shampoos and conditioners! I got the Deep Cleansing kind this time - it says it will take care of the residue left over from mousses, gels, and hairsprays. We'll see :) Anyway, I digress. I don't use a lot of these kinds of products, but I do like TreSemme's Weightless Body mousse (it works well if your hair is like mine - not very body-ish), and Garnier Fructis' Length and Strength line of shampoo and conditioner. The coolest thing I have ever found is the Garnier Fructis Length and Strength leave-in conditioner. That stuff is amazing! I always use it when I have used heat on my hair - it's supposed to prevent breakage, etc. It works for me - if you have a problem with a lot of breakage, or you want your hair to grow some more, try it out!
Speaking of heat, not only do apostolic women use a lot of products on their hair, but they also use a lot of heat-related things on their hair, like curling irons, hot sticks, hot rollers, hair dryers, straighteners, crimpers, etc. I just have a word of caution for these products - use them as sparingly as you can! Heat does damage hair, I promise you! Be careful when using heat products, ladies! Our hair is precious! When using a curling iron, make sure it isn't too hot, and don't leave your hair on it for too long (also don't burn yourself - not very comfortable!). When using hot sticks or hot rollers: these are actually probably the safest form of heat you can put on your hair, because they aren't just metal on hair! However, pulling your hair too tight on them can do damage. Hair dryers cause some disagreement on whether they are safe or not. I personally use my hair dryer more than I use my curlers. I'll let you draw your own conclusions on hair dryers. I can't say much about straighteners, either, since I don't have a need for one, but I can imagine that, just like curling irons, it would be necessary to make sure it's not frying your hair. I didn't intentionally leave crimpers to the last, but maybe that's best. I personally don't like the use of a crimper. Not that I don't like the look of the wavy/braid-ish hair, but I don't like the way the look is accomplished. Have you ever looked at a crimper closely? First off, most of them are metal, without some kind of covering to protect hair from burning. Secondly, if you think about it, the fibers of hair are stretchy a little - most everyone has experienced this when trying to comb out a knot - there is a bit of a flexibility there. However, a crimper takes hair and forces it to stretch and conform to a shape it is not used to taking. This puts a lot of tension on the hair - causing it to be more susceptible to breakage. I have a story bout that - a friend of mine started using a crimper a lot, and was playing with some kids, and one of the kids accidentally stepped on her hair as she was moving, and the hair just came out! Instead of stopping her from moving, like healthy hair would, it just broke off, leaving a big chunk of hair underneath the child's foot. I'm not telling people it's wrong to use a crimper or anything - but please be safe when using all these heated appliances!
So ladies, now it's your turn! I know each of you is a pro at least on one hairdo (most likely more than one! :) Send me some great tips for the rest of the ladies reading this blog - I will be adding some tips for hairdos soon and would like to hear from you!Do you have a favorite mousse that works wonders? A special kind of clip that works for a hairdo better than anything else? A way to make the perfect poof? Or maybe just a killer hairdo that you can tell us how to do! You could even send me pictures - that would be awesome! apostolicfashion@gmail.com I love all kinds of comments and suggestions! I want to make this blog a helpful tool for you!
Oh, I keep posting pictures to the apostolicfashion picasa page - check it out! picasaweb.google.com/apostolicfashion

Cheerio to all you fashionable Cheerios out there!
AF