Straight, Wavy, now Curly...

My hair and I have a long history of disagreement. It's a fight I forced my mom out of when I was 5 years old or so. I have very thick hair, and being a bratty little kid I decided that I could style it better than my mom. For the most part she let me. There were a few low maintenance hair cuts: the bowl cut of 1990, the bangs with bob of 1991... but overall my hair needed lots of brushing and de-tangling and I wanted to be the one to do it.

For fun (mine mostly) here is a short hair history:

Hair at Birth: full head of dark brown hair
As a kid: soft blonde curls until 4 or so, thick super straight hair until the "perm"
Proudest moment: at 6 years old when I created my favorite hairstyle "the waterfall" (a half-up ponytail at the crown of my head, that "flowed" out over my head like a water fountain...)
Most over used hairstyle: half up/ half down (all through jr high and high school)
Perms and chemicals: a perm in 2001, highlights in 2008, single process color twice in 2009.
Current hair: curly/wavy, long, dry at the ends, oily scalp.

There were a couple of years in between that I was ambitious and dove headfirst into french braids and barrettes and clips. But I ended up with lots and lots of broken and bent hair accessories from my thick hair. 11th grade started with a plan to grow my hair long to donate to a wig charity. I gave a whole 14 inches in the spring and was left with a short angled bob. bobby pins were my friends almost all of senior year. I was a pro at the twisty hairstyle. It grew out much more wispy and wavy than before, and during college I wore it pretty long- mostly in a ponytail.

Since being diagnosed with Addison's, my slightly wavy hair has seemed more and more curly. The top front section has stayed pretty straight, but the back and sections underneath are very spirally (i'm not sure if that is a word or not...).

I've tried the no-Shampoo method before, but I always go back to my favorite Pantene Pro-V. Now I'm trying it again with a twist. I'm washing my hair only with a sulfate free Conditioner. No shampoo. It was weird at first, because conditioner doesn't suds up, but I'm getting used to it. Conditioner actually has some detergents in it and removes any dirt or build up in your hair. Before when I tried this, I would just wash my hair with shampoo once a week, or every three days. So far this is working better because the conditioner is moisturizing my dry curls and my hair feels fresher.

Here's what my hair looked like after a few days of conditioner washing:

For reference, here is a picture of me when I used my normal shampoo conditioner routine:

What made me try again? I stumbled on the Curly girl method, based on the book Curly Girl: the handbook by Lorraine Massey.

Turns out there is a lot out there on caring for curly hair. I've been wanting to do something new with my hair, but all the cuts and styles I seem to like are for straight hair. I think I need to stop fighting what my hair has become. Any others with curly hair out there?