My hair has been the bane of my existence for about fifteen years now. When I was a little kid, I had thick, shiny, super-straight hair fashioned in a stylish and gender-radical bowl cut. Then, one day, I woke up with curly hair. But not just regular curly — frizzy, pouffy, curly in weird places and straight in others. It just got worse as I tried out different styles: bangs (horrible idea!); bangs in various stages of growing out; even an awful early 90's perm to even out the curl. As a teenager, I shaved my head on a few different occassions, which was all right, except it grew so fast and all the in-between pouffiness was unbearable. I will never forget one day in fifth grade, the coolest girl in class told me, "You know you could be really pretty, if you could just do something about that hair." I have heard her voice in my head pretty much every day since then.

Upon moving to Humidity Central, PA, my hair became more frizzy than ever. I began experimenting with different hair stylists and products, dropping mad cash on products from Ouidad and Curl Friends. Although I really liked Ouidad's leave-in conditioner, I gave it up after I made the conversion to natural products. Before I went natural, I had a chemical frizz reduction treatment, which made my hair less pouffy, but not less frizzy, and also totally dried out. I tried almost everything in Whole Foods' beauty aisle, and that stuff ain't cheap. I tried Bumble and Bumble curl cream, which is not particularly natural, but earned an okay rating from the Skin Deep report at The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. I liked the Bumble and Bumble frizz serum, but it didn't seem to last very long. Then, the other day, I got free sample of Aveda's new Be Curly line, and. . . it sort of worked. So I bought the whole damn 5-piece kit, which cost $75 and made me feel very guilty. I came home from work and twirled and curled and diffused and all of a sudden, I had awesome hair. I got all kinds of compliments. Unfortunately, I have not been able to repeat that awesomeness because I wake up late every single day. But this is the first time I have liked a product enough to recommend it.

I really really hate shopping and when I find something I like, I want to buy a lifetime's supply and never go shopping again. There are a couple of other things I have been trying to find for years, so I will just put this out here if anyone has any recommendations. I'm looking for low-heel, knee-high black boots that are comfortable enough to walk around the city in but not so industrial they look out of place with a skirt. I would prefer something non-leather but I could probably be persuaded to wear leather if all of the other factors are in place. I also really really need to find some good underwear. I admit, this might be my fault for always going the outlet store route here, but I am ready to make an investment. I'm looking for some comfy full coverage underwear that does not induce VPL. So far, I have tried Under Armour, Jockey's No Panty Line Promise (it's a lie!) and Gilligan & O'Malley from Target. No luck. Ladies?