How to Keep Hair Stacks, Feathering Hair and Short Haircuts Neat

You got the short haircut because you thought Nia Long and Halle Berry looked too cute rocking the feathered cuts cropped close to their faces. You left the shop feeling like a million bucks with your hair shaped around your face and bringing out your cheekbones and eyes. But a few days later when the stacks start tumbling down after you've taken a shower or accidentally fell asleep on the back of your head, now you don't know what to do with your hair.

So you immediately run to hair gel to slick your hair down. But hair gel, especially the hardening gel, can dry your hair out and make it hard to comb. Yes, it slicks down your hair, but as soon as the gel wears off, you have to add more and more gel. Even hair lotion will make your hair look a little rough if not constantly packed on. And the growing back process when the hair goes from really short to really long-specifically in the "kitchen" new growth area-makes you want to keep cutting it so you don't have to mess with that.

So how do you deal?

Just like a tattoo, a short haircut is just not for everyone. Seriously think about what type of short haircut would fit your face, not what looks good on someone else. If your face is round, a Mohawk hairdo is going to make your head look bigger. If you get a really fluffy haircut with curls feathered all over your head and you have a narrow face, your hair will drown out your face. Look through black hairstyle magazines like Hype Hair, Sophisticate's Black Hair, Black Beauty, Essence and any other magazine you can get your hands on in a beauty salon or the magazine rack at bookstores and retail stores.

Now after you've gotten that haircut, how do you maintain it? Some of you may feel more comfortable visiting a beauty salon every week or two to maintain your cut, but that's quite an investment for something you could learn to do on your own.

I've rocked short hairstyles for nine years and only went to the beauty salon every six months when I needed my hair cut again or wanted to try out a new haircut when it was growing back. I was able to save that $40 to $50 each week by perming my own hair and investing in different curling iron sizes. The main size I used was a 0.5" curling iron to tighten up the curls in the back.

People get used to sleeping on one side of their face if they don't regularly sleep on their backs. I would usually have to re-curl one side of my hair instead of both and not all the curls. It was just a matter of touching up a few. Holding your head under your palm through eight hours of sleep will give you all types of neck aches. That idea grew old quickly. But keeping curling irons around to do touch-ups worked. All you need is a hand mirror to see the back of your hair when it's done so you can curl your hair to match the rest.

Some other tricks to keep short hair in tact are the following:

1. Avoid wearing a scarf around the sides of your hair. As soon as you go to sleep, that scarf is going to slide around and flatten your curls. Yes, it may flatten out the edges, especially your sideburns, but hair lotion can do that too without making your hair hard as a rock.
2. Do not use hair gel in the "kitchen" area of your hair. There's a reason, when you go to the salon, they shave that area off instead of packing it down with gel. The more gel you use, the dryer that area will become, and you'll increase the likelihood of dandruff. This also makes it even more difficult for the hair back there to grow back. Use hair lotion if you insist on slicking that area back or get your husband, boyfriend or brother to shave it off. If you know how to line your hair, do it yourself.
3. Make sure you're using the right size curling irons. If you're using curling irons that are too big or too small, the curls will look odd. A curling iron that's too big will almost straighten out the curl or make it stick out no matter how much you try to comb it into place. A curling iron that's too small will make the curl twirl twice and mess up the feathered look.
4. When your stacked curls are just too long to stack anymore, use a feather (i.e., wide-toothed comb) to just comb them all out so your hair looks sort of like a wicker basket. Curls on top of curls, just longer. It looks much better than trying to force longer hair into tighter curls.
5. Consider using small hair rollers. They may not be comfortable to sleep in, bur the only alternative is to keep curling your hair daily. And constant heat on your hair will dry it out.
6. Invest in earmuffs or headbands. You can pretty much say goodbye to your feathered curls in your haircut if you're trying to wear a hood or cap to hide from Chicago winter cold. Sometimes people will add entirely too much hairspray to their hair to keep it in tact, once again drying out their hair. Don't make yourself sick trying to be cute, and don't blow that $40 to $50 at the beauty salon when you knew Chicago's winter was going to meet you anyway. Scarves, earmuffs and headbands should do the trick to cover your head.