I was born with naturally Curly hair in an Indian family. In this post I talk about the stigma of Curly hair in a desi-household, my Curly Girl Journey my favorite Curly Girls on Instagram.
Our society is designed for a certain set of people. For example, we live in one that is visual thus those who can’t see are visually challenged. In design terms, they become an irregularity in the system, because they have to be specially designed for.
In a desi household, I believe curly hair is an irregularity. It isn’t wished for, and it is always asked to be oiled, combed, plaited, and put in place. Leave it open and you get called names like Maggi, or comments like you look like a crazy person. The stigma is real.
In my home state Kerala, I believe more than 60% of the population has curly hair. Despite this, we are treated like an irregularity. Nobody has a clue how to take care of it other than to oil, comb and plait it. Even the stellar salons will only recommend you to ‘relax’ or ‘straighten’ your hair. I straightened my hair for 10 years to be exact. I absolutely loved the freedom that came with it. I last straightened my hair in 2018.
It is at this time that I discovered the CURLY GIRL METHOD when a friend added me to a group on Facebook for it. It hit me like storm. How could I be so ignorant to something like this for so long? I read up every article, watched every video, did it all. What I felt after that was liberation. I finally didn’t feel like an irregularity anymore. There were millions of women out there like me. I finally didn’t feel straight hair-challenged.
Even if big words like ‘body-shaming’ aren’t used, If you are different from the ideal, you are an irregularity. But in today’s world, there is already something out there for you that isn’t trying to straighten or ‘fix’ you. You only need to find it.
Find and support companies and products that don’t consider you an irregularity. Buy from them for whom you are the ‘ideal’. If you are a curly, find companies that sell products specially designed for curly hair. If you are short, buy from petite brands and so on. If you don’t support these brands they will also have to someday conform to the ‘ideal’.
Same for Social Media. Find, follow, and support women/men who produce content catered for you. If you have curly hair, please find them. If you are a mum with little girls with curly hair, please teach them the Curly Girl Method as well so that they can grow up knowing confidently how to take care of their hair without being asked to ‘fix’ it.From the time I’ve shared my curly pics, so many of you have messaged me asking me about it.
Here I’m sharing my favorite curly girls on Instagram who have taught me so much in this journey. I couldn’t have done it without them.
- Elizabeth Alex of Honestlizhere from India
- Lulu from Germany
- Ali of Wavycurly from USA
- Dominique of Powerdomi from Ireland
- Shosh of Welshiecurlgirl from England
- Kristy from Curlyloveclub
- Davida from Curlygreeneyes from London
- Jenia of jenny_thecurlymom from India
What is important here is to find women who have similar hair to yours, then the methods they use and products they suggest would probably suit your hair as well.
Are there anyone I’m missing. Please mention in comments so that I can add them to this list as well.
Here you will find other posts that I’ve written on this topic.
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