Diana Ross has big hair like that! I'm sending your article to my niece. She has curly hair that looks a lot like yours and she has battled it all of her life. I'm wondering if she doesn't have some biracial blood. She also has four biracial children but they are boys and keep their hair shaved. and by the way, my hair was thick and curly and unmanageable. It didn't fit the long and stringy waist length hair styles of the 70s. I hated it. I used to wash it at night and sleep with it wet pulled back in a ponytail so that it would look "normal" the next morning. I couldn't stand to have it really long because it was so hot. No products back then either. Loved your story. Love your hair.