“It’s so unique!” 

“It’s so wild!”

“I bet it looks so good straight!” 

These are just a few examples of the backhanded compliments that have followed me all my life.

Growing up with curly hair, these words were on repeat all throughout my childhood, feeding me insecurities and anger towards my curls. The mess of curls that has always been a part of me was the one thing I grew most ashamed of. 

Part of my insecurities came from watching shows in which only the unlikeable characters had curly hair. The presentation of curly hair in the media is usually used to represent messy characteristics, according to a 2023 article by HerCampus, a media platform dedicated to young women, on curly hair portrayal. Curls have been used to represent untamed characters and villains on screen, like Mother Gothel from Tangled and Bellatrix Lestrange from the Harry Potter Series, according to HerCampus. 

Even when a  main character has curly hair, it is portrayed as the “before” of a makeover where the immediate reaction is to “tame” the curls. In Princess Diaries, for example, Anne Hathaway’s character became “beautiful” only after straightening her curls.

As a young girl seeing the only characters I shared a characteristic with being the villain or in need of a makeover twisted my self-image. I began to feel isolated or out of place when I was the only one in a room with curly hair. 

Growing up with the idea that I had to tame this permanent trait of mine fueled my insecurities bolstered by the comments of others. What were meant as compliments held the underhanded meaning that maybe my hair was just a bit too much, too big, and too uncontrollable. 

Over a third of the world has hair that holds some type of curl pattern, according to a 2024 article on hair diversity by Scientific American, a news platform dedicated to scientific research. My hair is not “unique.” 

The hair industry does not properly represent curly products and hair types. Attending cosmetology school is about 1,500 hours of focusing on hair, butonly two hours are devoted to working with curly hair, and even then it is focused on straightening the curls, according to an article by Beauty

Matter, a media platform covering the beauty industry.  

Curl specific hair products tend to be twice the price, and brands without a textured-hair focus tend to be lacking in products and are just “checking a box”, according to a 2024 article by Body and Soul, a media platform focusing on health and beauty. 

Buying creams, gels, leave-in conditioners, specific shampoos, and brushes is the only way I can properly care for my hair. A normal Tresemme shampoo can cost around $3 per 100 millimeter while curl specific products can cost up to $13 per 100 millimeters, according to Body and Soul. 

The reality is curly hair is treated as a last priority and portrayed as something unmanageable, by the media, the hair industry, and many people. We should create room for understanding textured hair and get rid of the stereotypes defining it.

Caring for my hair takes time, effort, money, but most of all love. I have taught myself to embrace my curls, through years of different routines, products, and styles, but not everyone is ready to embrace theirs.  Creating a healthier environment for textured hair can change the portrayal of hair completely. 

My hair is part of my identity and embracing it means accepting it in its best and worst forms. Curly hair is something to cherish and not something that should be labeled as unprofessional or messy. The image we attach to curly hair doesn’t just define the curls it defines the person attached to  them.