Bad Hair Days and Lessons from a Blow Out

By Tammy Davis

Some call August the dog days. Women call it something else: bad hair days. SC humidity and hair styles don’t get along. Women hate their hair in the summer. Straight hair goes flat and stick straight, curly hair puffs up like a cotton ball, and frizz is nobody’s friend. When it comes to our hair, the struggle is real.

Hair care is big business, and I bet Southern women are some of the best customers. Hair-styling videos pop up on social media with women pushing products like wands and irons and creams and serums.

Each brand has their celebrities: lovely Nicole Huntsman rules the L’ange market, but she doesn’t live in the South.  It’s easier to have good hair out west.

Former hair stylist and blogger Kate Bryan, however, deals with sticky NC summers.  She knows a thing or two about hair and humidity.  It’s no coincidence that her messy bun tutorial has been viewed more than three million times, and her TheSmallThings blog has more than five hundred thousand followers. That’s a lot of women trying to learn how to look good while keeping their hair off their neck.

All the hair-care stars have something in common. Whether these women are drying or straightening or bending or waving, they all use the same approach: they work with little sections at a time.

What if these good-hair gals are on to something? What if they know a secret that applies to more than hair care? What if there is a more important lesson to be learned? Whatever the problem – bad hair, bad relationship, bad habit, bad career – what if the first step is breaking the situation into smaller, manageable pieces? Trying to solve every problem at once is like trying to dry a whole head of hair at the same time. That approach leads to a wild mess every single time.

I never thought I’d learn life lessons from hair styling videos, but I’m giving credit where it’s due.

Don’t try to do everything all at once. Divide and conquer. It’s good advice for your hair, and it’s good advice for life. When I think back on how I made it through bad times from my past, each time, I broke the problem into smaller, manageable tasks. My wild, curly hair and my wild, crazy life work better when I do a little bit at a time.

I’m too impatient to spend lots of time styling my hair, especially in the summer, so I’m good with my pony-tail days and messy-bun nights, but I do think I’ve learned more from the L’ange girls and beauty bloggers than how to do a loose curl.  Work with a little bit at a time. Don’t take on too much at once.  Break everything down into manageable chunks. That’s how the girls in the hair videos do it. Maybe it’s good advice for us all.

Tammy Davis is a freelance writer based in Columbia, SC. She never leaves the house without a ponytail holder and some bobby pins. Subscribe to her blog at www.tammydavisstories.com. Her newest book, Back Porch Stories, is available on Amazon and Kindle.