Hi, I am a very fed up 50 year old curlie, but thank God,  the good thing is, I look quite a bit younger, good skin, tall and slimish still with dark hair, now dyed a bit lighter to middish chestnut brown.  Not sure which hair group/number I come into though (any ideas anyone?). The best example is Elizabeth Jaggers, mine was exactly like that when young, long and very wavy/curly, not sure how to describe it, but best match I can see and same colour/texture/amount of curl. This is fine as a style when younger, but the the problem since then is what style to go for. Its been at various times - shorter, to just below chin and gone bobbed, layered, more or less layers, slightly shorter, slightly longer, tapered in, etc. To be honest it always sticks out and frizzes, never retains a shape and look more liker her fathers, kinky and odd, sticky out everywhere whatever I do.  When I go to th hairdressers they always blow dead straight (I’ve had so many battles over this) and come out with a middle aged (well, I am!) layered cut, staight, spayed into place, cut under at the back, you know the type of thing. I teach art and am not a dressy type, more laid back than that, so don’t need a formal, stiffy cut, just something that works. I honestly despair every time I go to hairdressers, it costs about £35.00 per cut here in a small Oxon town and needs it every 4 weeks as grows so fast, but never looks any good for more than a few days. Slightly despairing, any help appreciated.

Hi Trishthedish…Why get it cut at all? Have a look at my favourite website for hair typing http://www.naturallycurly.com/hair-types and then work out your porosity, density, length and strand width http://www.naturallycurly.com/texture-typing. As you can see from my diary I don’t trust salons very much.  Why keep going to the same salon if they won’t listen to you.  You probably need a style that is longer around shoulder length as longer hair hides the growing out better than a short cut. I suggest researching on the internet about cuts for your hair type. Elizabeth Jagger’s hair looks like 2b but that could be the length weighing it down and styling. Youcould try looking at google images before you go to the salon..and always get a consultation..if they use the word bob or blow dry run a mile…Have a look at these ladies with waves in shoulder length hair, Julia Roberts, Helen Hunt, Sigourney Weaver in the 80s, Kim Basinger, Geena Davis with curls, Michelle Pfeiffer and Sarah Jesicca Parker. Pick a style print it out and take it to the consultation. There is no need to put up with those looser stylist at you local giving them your hard earned cash.  I’m sure you’d rather be painting than being tortured in a chair every month. Hope that helps and Good luck. Cheers Marley.

Thanks Marley for that answer, really appreciated someone replying - and yours was great! I did force myself into a new (and very expensive) hairdressers the other day, just for a consultation. She said much the same thing, keep the length to shoulder, with long choppy layers, no bob. I thought it was a good sign that she refused to do anything at the time, said it needed to grow out from the dreaded bob shape it had been cut into at previous hairdressers, to get longer all over again, before cutting layers. The present bob just sticks out sideways as you can imagine and the blunt cut edge at bottom doesn’t work with curly hair either. I think you’re right, it may be 2b or c perhaps, not nice corkscrews, more wodgey clumps that stick up in all directions with lots of frizz. If its cut right, and has some length it does curl better, but even if you say this to hairdressers, they seem to revert back to treating it like straight hair at some stage, when you take your eye of the ball. Evrn if they do get the cut reasonably OK, the drying is awful, always have to come home and rewash and redry my own way as they seem to make my, quite dry, hair very greasy and lank, God knows how! Hope this new hairdresser listerns and takes note when I go back to get it done with her; I’m not given to getting angry with anyone, hate it, but I have lost my rag, regretably,  once or twice in the past with hairdressers, just out of sheer frustration! I’m sure I’m far from unusual in this respect.