Some people get curly hair later in life and some people get perms. But most people with curly hair, myself included, have had it their whole life. In my 21 years of life, I’ve had some interesting experiences with my hair. I’ve gone through multiple hair routines, constant bad hair days, people unexpectedly touching my hair, and so much more. Having curly hair in a world dominated by straight hair is a challenge, but is also so amazing and fun. But some people don’t get the day to day struggles that come with curls…
“I Would love to have curly Hair!”
Sure, maybe you would for a day. But once I tell people all the effort I have to go through to make my hair look semi decent in the mornings, they’re usually pretty satisfied with their straight or wavy hair. While everyone’s hair routines are different, here’s a breakdown of mine.
Hair Wash Days:
Shampoo with PS Clean Gentle Beauty Shampoo for Curls ONLY on the top of my head. Leave in for 3 minutes, then repeat this step.
Condition with PS Clean Gentle Beauty Conditioner for Curls ONLY on the bottom part of my hair and then comb through your hair. Really scrunch it in there and put on a shower cap. Rinse after 10 minutes.
After you rinse out the conditioner, brush through your hair with a Denman brush. Make sure you properly brush through and curl each section. Once you’ve brushed, scrunch your hair with Love Ur Curls Curl Cream. Plop your hair with an 100% cotton t shirt or towel for about 20-30 minutes (or overnight if you’re lazy like I am sometimes).
I repeat this routine every 3 days when I wash my hair.
Non Hair Wash Days:
Every night I sleep in a silk bonnet to help maintain my curls. It took me awhile to get used to it, but now I can’t really sleep without it.
Sometimes, I get lucky and my hair looks fine without me having to do anything to it. This, however, is a rare occurrence. Most days, I have to flip, fluff, and style my hair. Some mornings I tease it, somedays I have to wet my hair to attempt to recurl it, and somedays I just say f*** it and wear a headband. My hair really has a mind of it’s own.
I know a lot of people with straight hair have complex hair routines too, don’t get me wrong. But usually when I tell people all the work that goes into maintaining my hair day to day, they usually tap out of wanting curly hair.
“Well, Why don’t you just straighten it?”
Because that’s a giant pain in the ass?? I get this suggestion more then you would think. Not only does my hair take about 2+ hours to properly straighten, I HATE the way I look with straight hair. The rest of my features are really round, so I personally think curly hair suits my face better anyway. If I do end up straightening my hair, I usually just end up curling it with a curling iron.
During my last sorority formal, I wanted to straighten and then curl my hair. I straightened my hair and then went to go curl it, only it wouldn’t hold a curl. I was freaking out, as the last thing I wanted was my hair to be straight. But nothing I was doing was working. I had a whole breakdown (call me dramatic, I know) and called not only my mom, but my roommates mom crying for help. Nothing we were doing was working, so off to formal I went with straight hair. I felt like an imposter with straight hair, I always do. So no, I will not just straighten it.
“can I Touch Your hair?”
No. Don’t even ask.
“My friend does this with her curls, you should try it!”
Thanks for the suggestion, but everyone’s curls are different! Just like straight hair, everyone has to do different stuff with their hair. For me especially, because not only is my hair curly, I have super bad psoriasis on my scalp. If you don’t know what that is, it’s when your skin medically peels itself and gets super dry. Gross, I know. I get it on my scalp, in my eyebrows, and around my nose. Not fun. But because of this, I have to be extra careful with the products I put in my hair so they don’t dry out my hair and scalp even more. It took me so many trial and error hair routines to finally like where my hair is now, and I’ll probably still switch my hair routine again if I can find a way to make my hair even curlier.
Matching my outfit to my hair
Guys it’s a thing I swear. Sometimes I put on an outfit and literally think “this doesn’t look good with my curls” and then I have to change. Is this a straight hair thing too?? This especially becomes painful when I’m trying to pick an outfit to go out. I don’t know what it is about going out clothes that don’t match my hair, but I feel like everything I own doesn’t match. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know. But anyway, I’ve mostly perfected my wardrobe to match my hair, especially the length my hair is right now. I’ve learned that one off the shoulders, boat neck, square neck, and regular shirts work best with my curls. Maybe I’m crazy, or maybe I’m onto something. Still to be determined…
The pain of seeing celebrities get rid of their curls
I’m not sure if anyone else has noticed this, but I’m always so sad when I see celebrities slowly get rid of their curls. Taylor Swift, Julia Roberts, Sarah Jessica Parker, and much more have gotten their hair permanently straightened and it breaks my heart each time. We should be proud of our curls, not hiding them to fit the imaginary beauty standard. I remember being little and feeling like there were no big names out there with curly hair. And then came Merida from Brave…oh god. I think it is a canon event for anyone with curly hair to be told they either look like Merida or Moana. Guess what guys, I look like neither. MOVE ON!!
But really, why are all of these stars straightening their hair? A part of me hopes that they do still have their curls and they’re just hiding them under a wig to keep their natural hair healthy. Even when I googled celebrities with curly hair, not much came up. Maybe this is my sign to become famous and rock my curls because NOTHING could make me get rid of them.
My jealousy of straight hair
Despite me not liking the way I look with straight hair, I’ve always wanted my hair to be straight. For as long as I could remember, I’ve been so extremely jealous of anyone with straight hair. I can pinpoint the exact moment this jealousy started, too. I was in 1st grade and a girl came up to me and told me my hair looked weird and asked why my hair was different from everyone else’s. I didn’t know what to say, I just felt so flustered. From this moment on, I was very aware that my hair was different from most peoples. I became aware of the hairstyles they could do that while I could attempt them, I knew wouldn’t look the same. Braids, buns, and especially slick-backs (which are my greatest enemy, btw) would never and will never look the same on me. Little Zoey didn’t understand how this was fair. Why couldn’t she have nice and easy straight hair?
Little Zoey also had to deal with the struggle of no one knowing how exactly to handle her curls. My mom, who has straight hair, didn’t know how to best go about having a curly haired daughter. We spent YEARS trying to get my curls to look the best they could. She would search websites and do all of her research just to make sure I could get the best products (shoutout to my mom, she’s the best!). But a lot of my friends have straight hair too, and they didn’t always know what to do either. I recall one time I was at a sleepover and they wanted to do a braid train, but they all called NOT being the one to braid my hair cause they didn’t know how. So there I sat, the back of the braid train with no one braiding my hair…how unfortunate.
I guess I’ve always just assumed having straight hair would be easier then having curls, as it just seems like a lot less maintenance. I know a lot of girls have very complex hair routines, but don’t you ultimately always know you’re hair is going to be straight? I’m not referring to the girls who have some waves in their hair, I mean girls with actual stick straight hair. And I’m genuinely asking, too!! Like I have no idea what it’s like but I’ve always been so jealous that you don’t have to bank on whether or not your curls look good that day. It can get extremely tiring.
Personally, I would never trade my curls for the world. My hair is one of my favorite parts about myself and I don’t think I would be me without them. I like being known as the girl with the curls and having people compliment me on them. I’ve grown to accept my hair and while yes, I may still be jealous of girls who can pull off a perfect slick-back (grrrr), I know that my hair makes me unique. People get weirded out when I straighten it and I don’t like how it feels either. Learning to embrace what makes you unique can be hard, but it’s what makes you different and beautiful. So if you’re ever feeling different because of something you can’t control, remember that you’re perfect just the way you are!