My hair is 4ft long and I NEED A NEW HAIR STYLE

Well, ok, 40 people looked at this post but no responses so I'll give it a shot. You need some deep conditioning obviously, perhaps a bit of a trim wouldn't hurt, just a small one and some experimenting with various styles. Do you condition every time you wash your hair? One shampoo should be ridding your hair of the affects of a braid job, it does for mine, so maybe quit braiding so tightly or try a row of ties down the hair for awhile instead of a braid, that's how I give my hair a rest. Have you used hairsticks? Just twist your hair up and slip them through the loop that's made, its fast, easy and holds great. Try Tamara's really cool figure eight braid, its wonderful for long hair and looks so sophisticated. Try some of her neat side braids, or perhaps a front twist and a fancy barrette at the nape of the neck. How about some two strand or four or five strand braids instead of the basic three. My tried and true, always works method for hair doldrums is new accessories. Make a scrunchie to match your favorite sweater, or whatever. Use your imagination! The possibilities are endless with hair as long as yours. Treat it like fine fabric, baby it, try new hair products till you find the one that's just right for you. Start by reading all of Karen's tips and articles, there's a world of information there.Good luck!Best wishes to all!Dawn

First, I would like to say congratualtions on managing not to cut your hair for so long, even though you have been wearing the same hairstlyes. I admit that I probably couldn't have done it. I'm always looking for some new hairstyle to keep things interesting.I agree with what Dawn said in her post. Definitely start with some deep conditioning. That should help a lot with any dryness and frizzies. Although it might be necessary to trim just a little, don't trim until you've tried deep conditioning.Hairsticks are one of my favorite hair accessories. I would definitely recommend the wooden ones over the cheap plastic ones that you can get in most accessory stores. They are much easier to remove without damaging the hair, and they also stay in place better. With hairsticks you can do many different up-do's. The simplest is just to twist your hair up into a bun and put the sticks through to hold it in place. There's also a simple variation, for when you want your hair mostly out of the way, but not all the way up. You start as for a regular bun, but when you have enough hair twisted to form a loop, pull the rest of the hair through. It's basically tying a big, fairly loose, knot with all of your hair. Then you adjust the knot and put the sticks through it. This will leave a ponytail hanging down from the knot. Since you have curly hair, you can probably encourage the ends to curl, and I imagine it will look fantastic. With hairsticks you can also do variations on French twists. You will probably have to leave part of your hair down though. I haven't managed to find anything that will keep all of my hair up in a French twist. However, it is kind of interesting to do a French twist with the ends hanging down to form a tail coming out the bottom. Or you can do a French twist up the back and coil the rest into a bun on top.Good luck with the claw. I sometimes use one to keep my hair out of the way while working around the house, but haven't managed to find a way to make it look nice enough to wear out. Even with the biggest size of claw there's just too much hair sticking out at the top and bottom.If you decide that you don't mind braiding, there are lots of great variations on braids too. A braided bun always looks elegant. You could also try wrapping the braid around your head like a crown; it does take a little work to get it to stay this way. If you have enough time, putting in little accent braids can make even a very simple hairstyle more interesting.I'm afraid that I can't offer any advice on how to get the curls back since my hair is very straight.Hope some of these ideas will help. Good luck, and please let us know how it goes.Teresa