"Your hair is great," said a friend. "It just doesn't move, or change or do anything."

Not entirely sure whether this is a diss couched as a compliment, I have decided that it's about time I got a bit more adventurous with my hair. The Afro itself is staying, but I've made a resolution to start trying to do something with it - you know, style it, as opposed to just letting it sit there, not moving.

It seems my timing is spot on. According to various hairdressers in the know, dressed hair, or "hair up", is what we'll all be doing over the next few months. "For the new season's looks, there is a slant towards somewhat grown-up styling," says Anthony Mascolo, of the Toni & Guy partnership. "But life is fun, so there needs to be an element of frivolity."

There are only a few hairs between naff girlie ponytail and a slightly messed-up sexy "up do". For those with straight hair, a just-got-out-of-bed ponytail is easier to achieve, but what's a girl with an Afro to do? A quiff, that's what.

Stop laughing at the back - quiffs are back, though in a sexy, modern way. But how on earth do you achieve this season's rockabilly style if you've got Afro hair? "I'd shape the hair with a marked quiff effect," says Nicky Clarke. "The great thing about Afro texture is that you can literally push it and shape it every which way. Assuming hair is mid-length and basically all one length [the classic 'fro], I'd simply push all the hair forward from the back and pin it flat just in front of the crown, then simply tease the quiff shape with the mass of hair created at the front and polish it with rich finishing creme for a super-shiny look."

And if that all sounds a bit too complicated, just pinning your hair flat against the side of your head (as if you were trying to make the ends meet in the middle) has a similarly rock-chick effect. It's also pleasingly slimming on the face - and you really can't ask more of a hairstyle than that.