TriSigmaTX...you're welcome.
Anything to help a fellow curly girl.
amycat...layers definitely are a curly girl's best friend. They make your hair less poofy and triangle-y, if you know what I mean.
I use a straightening iron when I straighten my hair. I use a Conair Professional one. It's silver and it has a comb attachment. I think that you can buy it at Target for $15. It's amazing. I've used irons before, but I would always have to go over each section about 5 or 6 times before my hair was straight...with the Conair Pro, I just have to do it once and my hair is stick straight. Completely wonderful. A little bit of hair wax after straightening helps tame down any frizzies.