Up, up and not away!

Jodik says: The coir might look dry on top, but down in the center of the pot, it could be quite moisture-laden! I have found it helpful to insert little wooden skewers carefully into the soil to about root level, and leave them there... I take them out and press them against my cheek to test for dampness... if they feel at all damp, I wait to water... but if the skewer comes out dry, it's time to water. My coir is 4" deep in a closed pot. I put the skewer to the bottom of the pot. When I take it out how many inches of bone dry top "soil" should there be before it's time to water again? Is it 1", 2" or 4"? I just went 10 days without water and only 1" of the top was dry so am I supposed to water this direct sun pot once every two weeks or so to avoid over watering, really? And how much water for my 6" closed pot? I had been watering 1 1/2 cup or so once a week and my plant was fine but I'm now worried that was too much so I'm re-evaluating. I know what conventional wisdom says (water deep, not shallow) but that advice doesn't seem to apply to my situation. Also how long should it be before I see new leaf growth in the summer time (first season outside)? My 18 month old Red Lion so far has only grown new leaves once a year. At potting and at dormancy end.

You can see my picture of the Maltese puppy above. I continued to play with it, by adding spruce, gifts and snow picture tubes. When I was finished, I saved it to jpeg. It wasn't until I tried to email the picture to my sister that I realized the file size had grown to 612kb, with the additional picture tubes. Is this normal for a file size to increase with the addition of picture tubes or is there a step I missed? Until just recently, I used PSP 8 only for editing my pictures and knew little about the programs other functions such as layers, masks etc., so I hope my question doensn't sound too ridiculous. Judy

D_gw, I look awful with straightened hair too because it seems to take all the volume away and the top gets as flat as a pancake. Even though it is straigthened you still have to pull it straight when drying and frizz still happens with regular straightening. I haven't tried the Keratin but my stylist who has trained to do it said it isn't low maintenance. You still have to spend the time pulling it straight. If the Keratin left the curl and just added moisture and shine I would be on board for it. Star, I'm glad the Keratin worked for you. Fighting curly hair IS NOT fun! You say it's easy to style and wash and go. What do you do to style it? Do you blow dry it with a round brush? I am so glad that you posted about this because there are so many people who don't want to embrace the curls and this sounds like a great alternative!