I don’t have the kind of curly hair that waterfalls down my head in perfect, shiny ringlets that you see in Garnier commercials. I have weirder, kinky curls that just go everywhere and kind of make multiple ‘s’ shapes down my head like a snake.

Beautiful imagery aside, oddly enough, up until my junior year of high school, my hair was straight. Not pin-straight exactly, but straight enough to not even be given the title of wavy. My entire family has thick, coarse hair so when my own turned out to be thin and straight, my sister would tell me I was adopted.

Then, after my 16th or 17th birthday, something happened. Hormones, humidity, I don’t know, but as the months went by, it got curlier and curlier.

So with these developments, I’ve actually had the opportunity to experience two sides of the hair-type coin. And let me tell you, there are good and bad characteristics in both. But curly hair definitely has a few more defining idiosyncrasies that most all people who share it understand. My roommate and I have basically matching hair, so I asked her to give me some ideas too (hers are probably the funny ones).

1. Brushes are the enemy

I haven’t touched a hairbrush in probably a year. With curly hair, you’re really supposed to finger-comb in the shower so that you don’t separate those curls. And brushing your hair dry, HAHAHA let me tell you, it doesn’t turn out great.

This is my aforementioned roommate, Anna, with her hair brushed out. Looks about right.

2. You must have Moroccan oil on hand if you are planning to blow-dry

As you can see in the above picture, blow-drying curly, thick hair usually results in a lion’s mane situation. The good news is that my hands are never softer than after a blow-dry due to the copious amounts of oil I use to get it to calm down.

3. Speaking of, how about those hand cramps after trying to straighten your hair

Maybe my straightener sucks but seriously, ouch. After two to three hours of squeezing the straightener to get it to actually do its job, your hand really freaking hurts.

4. Wanna try a cool hairstyle you found on Pinterest? Think again

If I want to do some kind of awesome braid or something, I have to shower, blow dry, then straighten my hair and brush it out, which is about a five to six-hour investment at least.

5. Going to another city on a plane without checked luggage = more money spent on new products

You really cannot take a shower and have a halfway decent-for-the-public hair day without gel. But for a broke college student, buying hair gel and spray and whatever else I need, every time I go on a trip is the worst. The worst.

6. Humidity equals giving up

Yeah, there is no point to even trying when it is humid outside. Why I live in Charleston, South Carolina, I do not know because during the summer, it is like living in soup. The months of June, July, August and half of September are usually spent with my hair in a bun.

There are probably hundreds of more things that could be added to this list, much like any, but to list them all would be to committing myself to writing a 5000-word article. And I spend enough time as it is in my hair.