Don’t Shame Me for My Curly Hair

Photo by Tim Mossholder from Pexels

I’m from a country that glorifies and celebrates smooth, silk, straight tresses.

If you turn on the TV, you’ll most likely find yourself in the middle of a commercial promoting how a certain shampoo or conditioner is going to make your hair stronger, smoother…and straighter. Stalls in malls call out to passersby to try out the newest product that will straighten their hair in a matter of minutes. Over the course of the holidays, aunties, cousins, friends will make their appointments in the beauty parlours and show up to family gatherings and reunions with their hair newly ironed out.

“Why don’t you have your hair straightened out?”

I wish I’d I asked for a dollar every time someone asked me that since I was young. I’d be a millionaire by now. From family and friends to random people and hair stylists who have done my hair for the past years, this has always been the number one question I’ve been asked by people who can’t believe I’ve decided to keep my somewhat thick, somewhat untidy locks.

In a straight-hair-obsessed nation, it isn’t that uncommon to see girls and women straighten their hair. If a girl comes to the city from a province where curly hair is a norm, the first thing she does is book an appointment to the parlour to have it straightened out. If a woman shows up to a…