Learning to love my curly hair

MEGANA KASHYAP

In the movie, the Princess Diaries, there was always that one scene I loved. Mia, the protagonist, would get a makeover, transforming from a really scrawny teen to an extremely beautiful princess. One thing that noticeably set her apart in my eyes was her hair. The thick frizzy, curly hair she sported throughout the first quarter of the movie was now a straight head of hair that fell beautifully over her shoulders. I wanted exactly what Mia had. I wanted to have a makeover that would transform my hair the same way.

My whole life I was told by my dad that my hair was his favorite. And as one of three sisters, it was special to be told that. Both my sisters had either wavy or very straight hair, both hair types that I believed were ideal. In contrast, my hair was unmanageable, big, poofy, frizzy, and most importantly- curly. My mother, who sports much more tamed, thin curls, and I never quite understood how to control my hair. Oftentimes, on Saturday nights, you would have found us wrestling with my hair, and I would be in tears because the tangles appeared to be never-ending. It was around the same time I would constantly get sly comments from those around me. I wonder how you would look with straight hair. And the comment that topped them all; Your hair is unprofessional, maybe when you get a job, straighten it. As a thirteen year old girl, I ate these comments

right up. Unable to understand the uniqueness of my hair at that young age, I was now on a mission to get a straightener, I wanted to look “professional”, whatever that meant. My mom, however, was adamantly against it. In fact, so were my aunts and grandmother. Everybody tried to tell me that my hair was beautiful, yet my mind was made up. Two years later, my mom gave in. She bought a straightener for my 16th birthday. Finally, I thought to myself, I would have my “Mia Thermopolis” transformation. I straightened my hair the day after my sixteenth birthday. Much to my dismay and as I explained to my best friend the day after, I looked sad, and lost this carefree nature to my face; I felt in so many ways unrecognizable. It looked like my hair was weighing me down, taking on a character of its own. As it came as no surprise to me, I did not have my Princess Diaries transformation.

It was at this point, I learned to accept my hair. I started to watch YouTube videos, learning how to properly care for my hair, making it more curly and less frizzy. In so many ways, I started to have a better relationship with my hair. For many, this statement is really weird, nobody pays that much attention to hair. But when lots of media and almost everyone brings up your hair, it feels like it takes on a life of its own. Learning to accept my curly hair allowed me to gain confidence in myself and become the best version of myself

Your hair is unprofessional,

maybe when you get a job, STRAIGHTEN it.

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