When I first watched the movie “The Princess Diaries” in elementary school, it made me extremely sad. Not because of how Mia was bullied, or even because of her father’s death, but because of the makeover scene.
Mia Thermopolis was an awkward teen with glasses and big, frizzy, fluffy, curly hair. She was just like me.
I was heartbroken when they straightened her hair to “fix her” and make her beautiful.
However, this is the reality for many people with textured hair. Society paints a picture that long, straight hair is the peak of beauty. It is also more “professional” and often preferred in a job setting.
Growing up curly, you’re used to hearing people shower you in compliments when you occasionally straighten it. A lot of times they tell you that you should do it more often, that you look better that way.
My family and the media helped instill this idea in me.
I had straight hair growing up, until middle school. No one, not even I, knew that it was curly. Everyone in my family just assumed it was coarse and frizzy straight hair.
I would constantly get comments thrown at me like, “Do you even wash your hair?” “Have you tried brushing it?” “You probably don’t use conditioner, that’s the problem.”
To compensate, I would straighten my waist-length hair every day. It looked great and I was happy.
I did this every day for three years, but when I entered high school, I didn’t have the time to keep up with it.
My hair at this point was completely fried and felt like straw. From my ears down to my waist, my hair had changed from black to a light brown color. The burnt smell from the straightener was stuck on my hair, no matter how much I washed it.
When I would run my fingers through my hair, the brown pieces would completely break off–and I was losing hair fast.
What bothered me the most out of all of this was that I had nobody to turn to at this time in my life. My family and my friends all had straight or straightened hair and had no idea how to fix mine.
I looked into chemical straightening and had set an appointment to do it. I was tired of feeling so ugly.
This all changed one day when I was browsing YouTube and found video tutorials on the Curly Girl Method.
Developed by Lorraine Massey, this method involves eliminating the use of all sulfates, silicones, harmful alcohols, bleach and heat styling in order to embrace natural texture.
In many of the “before-and-after” progress pictures I saw, the “before” looked just like me. The stories the women shared about their curly girl journey were also similar to mine.
I started my journey in May 2015, which first started with me making the “big chop” and cutting all of my damaged hair off, which left me almost bald.
The natural hair movement has seen a great amount of progress in recent years and has amassed a huge following.
Disney princesses with natural hair like Moana and Merida have been introduced and social media has also helped create an amazing, diverse community that serves as a great support system.
Transitioning taught me an important lesson; my hair doesn’t need to be “fixed.” Society’s view of beauty is what’s broken. I hope to change the stigma and inspire people of different hair types to embrace their natural beauty because, as the saying goes, “We don’t go natural, we return. Natural is where it began.”
