Here's the thing about the hair straightening.

The vacation hair was a COMPLETE DISASTER.

When I'd go in the water, then sit back in my chair, my hair would start to air dry and I looked like Medusa with snakes for hair.

Mostly, I kept it twisted up in a bun and under a white baseball cap. Which works okay when you're at the beach and your hair is wet.

Not so great when you're in a cute sun dress with cute heels and a cute tan and going to have dinner at an open-air seaside restaurant.

Or when you're shopping for cute dresses in resort boutiques. Baseball caps make it a little difficult to try on clothes.

I tried EVERYTHING, too.

Leave-in conditioner. Silicone serum. Gel. No Gel.

Air dry. Blow dry. Wind-dried out on the balcony.

I'm tellin' ya, the vacation hair was DISASTROUS. I can't show you pictures because there are none. It was THAT BAD.

And I saw this girl at the pool with long, thick, straight hair. And when she got out of the pool and her hair started to dry, it looked really pretty. And that was the deciding factor. I realized if it weren't for the oddly placed waves, my hair would look like that.

And I SWORE I would not go on another beach vacation without having my hair chemically straightened.

I've asked my hair guy before about straightening my hair. He said I don't want to do it. He said it would fry my hair. Whatever. He always says that. I think he just doesn't want to do it.

Yesterday I was talking to this girl from work who has her hair straightened. I was getting the scoop from her. I thought it was like getting it permed, only instead of rolling it, they comb it out straight. And she said, "That's the old way of straightening." Now she goes to this girl in town who trained in New York. She puts the chemicals on, but then takes teeny, tiny little pieces at a time and FLAT IRONS it while the chemical is on. She said it took EIGHT HOURS the first time and cost $150 AN HOUR which, dude, that is way, way out of my price range. I'm thinking I'm gonna have to go with the old fashioned straightening for now.

(She also said that it strips the color out of her hair - like, the NATURAL COLOR, not color she's put on it - so that can't be good, can it? She says it lasts about 8-9 months [depending on how fast your hair grows which of course mine grows like weeds] and the maintenance is just re-doing the process but only at the roots so it doesn't take near as long. Still, $1,200 to have my hair straightened? Dude.)

I used to know this girl who was a cancer patient whose hair grew in curly after she lost it all in chemotherapy. It looked a lot like mine when it grew in, and we always used to talk hair. When hers got long she started getting it straightened. She went to the same salon I go to, but a different location (and obviously a different stylist). Her hair always looked great. She LOVED having it straightened. She said it was the best thing she ever did and even when it rained she didn't have to worry about losing her style. She used to color her hair at the same time, too, and her hair never got fried. I think if my guy doesn't want to do it I'm going to call her and find out who did hers.

Because I just can't get over how great it would be to have to do nothing but put in a few strategically placed hot rollers for body and go.