Natural Hair Rut… Help!!! What to do????

I usually write about my son Myles, but this post is about my hair and me.   The picture seen here is my best style yet thanks to my fabulous stylist.  However, too bad for me I could not recreate it ever again which brings me to my natural hair crisis.  I’ve had it natural for a little more than a year now and it’s awesome to be free of the relaxer.  I wouldn’t trade it for the world!  The one thing I didn’t truly realize is that natural hair is a work too.  Not as labor intensive as straight hair, but it still requires routine maintenance, which I just don’t have the time or patience for.  I don’t have 20-30 minutes to really work the Miss Jessie’s Curling Pudding through every little strand of my hair.  Reason… I go to work at 4am and I have a 3-year-old, so I just don’t have the energy to fuss with hair.  I want to wake up and go.

Well, I’ve been waking up and goin’ and I’m not happy with the end result… it’s not cute!  What I have now is a big dry bushy afro-puff that’s unruly!  It’s such a mess I didn’t even want to post a picture.  Now, I’m starting to hate my hair and very tempted to cut it super short so it won’t even be an issue.  My stylist is encouraging me to keep my length and wants to try to texturize my hair so it will be easier for me to maintain.  I’m game, but now my concern is six months down the road I’ll be back in this same position wanting to pull it out again!!  I am actually considering dreads or sisterlocks, but I haven’t come across any super cute short styles yet.  Trust me I’m looking!  I’m also not sure how I would handle the process of growing out the dreads.   I know they require maintenance as well but it couldn’t be as bad, right?  I’ve also thought about twists and braids but they don’t last as long as I want them too, which would be pretty much six months or forever.

So, I am calling on all the natural hair bloggers out there… what’s a girl to do when you fall in that natural hair rut. If you have any suggestions or hairstyle ideas or pictures of cute easy to maintain styles… please bring it on! Share your natural hair experiences and advice with me.