years ago, i had to find another beautician - and quick..the one i was seeing in L.A., for about 1 year didn't show up for my appt.,  after i had driven all the way from Las Vegas during a temporary assignment..(too long of a story to post)

i drove back to vegas and found a beautician who was willing to do my hair and said she wanted to try extensions off and on..

she was better than my L.A., beautician..so i thought i was "the bomb"..i finally settled in CA..and stuck with the Vegas beautician because i thought she did great work..well...she had just done my hair, and i had a team business meeting in New Orleans before Hurrican Katrina showed up..

I am 1/2 black indian 1/2 cajun, and my hair in it's natural state is medium length but very nappy...at the time, i was wearing a curly perm to help manage my unruly locks..

The moment i showed up  in the terminal, the african american/creoles, started laughing...i thought it was my clothes, my face, whatever..they would glance over, elbow each other in the rib and laugh...when we left the terminal, i was so embarrassed, not really understanding why they found me such sport..my caucasion business associates acted as if they didn't notice anything..

i had a curly perm in my hair - plus one or two tracks in the back for length and volume..in CA, it was okay..people never even knew i had extensions...it looked natural..but when there's humidity, my hair style would, of course, get poofy - almost an 80's style..actually, the poofier it was in CA, the better it looked, very full-bodied, fluffy and deeply waved - which basically covered the extensions up..whereas in New orleans, my hairstyle didn't go over very well..i guess they thought i looked "wild" about the head..before i left to New Orleans, this Las Vegas beautician refused to cut my hair...she said she's better at extensions, and that i didn't need trimming or cutting.

i noticed the style at the time in new orleans for african americans was the straight style...i was probably the only one walking around with curly, hair..(not a Jheri curl)...the more the humidity hit it..the more my hair just got curlier, and more volume  ..i tried putting on moisturizers, but the humidity down there just made it ever fuller - in california people really liked my hair..but for some reason curly didn't cut it in New orleans...i asked later, how do these women keep their hair straight in such humid weather, and was told most of them wear straight hair extensions..(or a weave cap)...

some tourists would come up and say, "you are so pretty, and i love your hair."...whereas the maids, bellboys, busboys, housekeepers and etc., just looked and laughed...other nationalities were pretty intrigued, cajuns, mexicans..but the african americans just wouldn't let up..

i must have looked like Einstein to those folks...even when we were leaving the terminal, the african american guys that check your bags in were just laughing away...and took a while before i was even serviced..my associates acted as if they didn't notice anything..but when we arrived back california, and i was joking about how the other folks had reacted to me, he said..yeah, what were they laughing about? i think you look great!!

i've changed over to another beautician..and she's taught me how to wear my hair in sleek styles, and curly with extensions..and you know what?  even if i wear extensions or not, her technique is so much better..she cuts my hair so that when there is humidity, i don't look so "wild"..the cut gives it a much more "refined" look..she also taught me how to keep my hair healthy..the Las Vegas one never even mentioned products or a maintenance program for my own hair..though she called herself a extension specialist.

i also started coming on this forum asking questions, and reading a lot of the messages on the board and learned how to not only care for my own hair, but how to buy and maintain quality hair extensions..in some cases, ignorance is bliss.but i also learned that..ignorance of knowing how to keep my hair trimmed, and maintained and..caused me a lot of embarrassment..

Hey, I'm white, and my hair is SUPER curly. I end up w/ a fro when it's humid outside and I deal with it.  Don't let those people get to you. Wear your hair how you like!

PS:

something I've found that works AWESOME for taming frizzies and such is the CHI serum.

Hi..I grew up in NO..and they were laughing because they are so backwoods and behind the times, that it was all they know...they aren't very well behaved as a city at all...I am sure your hair is beautiful as it is naturally (since you are such a mix of very beautiful people) and i think curly is great!  My naturally curly/wavy/kinky hair is a MESS when I go back there too..but I don;t so much care..those folks are in another world down there...Rock those Curls!