The Agony and the Ecstasy of Being a Curly-haired Girl

Having curly hair is like a high school relationship. You laugh at the bliss of it all, and then later find yourself crying on the bathroom floor at midnight eating ice cream.

You can’t control it, it’s unpredictable, and yet you wouldn’t trade it for the world. It’s your favorite characteristic about your physical appearance, and your biggest flaw. If you’re anything like me, you probably hate your hair, yet if you were given the option to trade it, you wouldn’t have to think twice. There’s no way you’d ever give it up. Your hair is part of your identity and for all the quirky, fun, tortuous memories you have together, you would never part with it (because, let’s be honest, parting curly hair can be disastrous).

 The Agony:

• You straighten your curls so when you curl the straightened curls you can achieve perfect curl status.
• Your yearly conditioner budget is equal to the GDP of a small country.
• When you shower at a friend’s house and they only give you one towel.
• Why is it that my glasses look so good on me when my hair is straight, but when it’s curly I revert back to my dorky, frizzy 7th grade self?

• Remember when front bangs were all the rage in grammar school? Remember when swoopy bangs were all the rage in high school? *sigh*
• Picture day in elementary school: the photographer would hand out mini combs so everybody could fix their hair, and all the straight-haired curls would fix their perfect, pin-straight hair, and then you’d comb your hair too (oops). Picture day was always rough.
• You have to deal with the annoyance of having a product work perfectly on your hair one day and then destroy it the next.
• Strangers touch your hair way more than is socially acceptable.

The Ecstasy:

• If we’re being honest with ourselves, we know there’s been a period of time where we went a week without washing our hair. It’s naturally dry, so washing it everyday is bad for it, and sometimes, the more oil it accumulates the better it looks. Plus, if you’re going to spend hours straightening your curls only to curl them again, you might as well get a few days wear out of it.
• You can get away with cutting your own hair. If you’re broke like me and you don’t feel like shelling out $40 every time the mop gets too long, you can just take a pair of kitchen scissors (or a hedge trimmer) and hack at it yourself. The curls are the perfect cover and nobody can tell just how uneven it really is.
• You’re frequently told you look exotic. People ask you if you’re a Gypsy and strangers talk to you in foreign languages (how do you say, “sorry, I’m from New Jersey” in Farsi?).
• Remember that day in high school you discovered product/flat irons/layers? Your life literally changed for the better. I still remember that day (November 14th).
• “I woke up like this.” Yeah, those days are the best days.
• You’ll be having a rough day and a stranger will tell you that you have incredible hair and they’re so jealous (right before asking you to cut off a lock so they can perform a Satanic ritual).
• You’ve never had to deal with flat hair. Your hair has more volume than Encyclopedia Brittanica.
• You feel like a goddess. At some point in life, you stop trying to tame it and embrace its natural beauty and uniqueness. Sure, it’ll never be pin straight, but it’s more fun and flirty this way (and going out dancing with curly hair makes you feel like Beyonce).

[Featured Image Credit: Eloïse L via Flickr]