WHY IS CURLY HAIR NOT A BEAUTY STANDARD?

Long, straight and dark hair is considered the beauty standard for women in our country. Hair even though it seems small is a big part of our beauty industry and our media as a whole. From hair oil and home remedies for long silky hair being part of our cultural practices to the many hair products available to us in the mass market, it is easy to say that hair is a crucial part of a person's appearance and first impressions.

In our media, we see hair as a great way to define characters which is nothing new because that is a big part of costume design and how we see characters on screen, but in our media, there is almost a stereotype associated with straight and curly hair, especially on women.

In many of our dramas, the nice and innocent main lead always has straight long hair while a villainous or even a more unruly female character will have curly and wild hair. In a way, these stereotypes portray the personality of the woman. A girl with long straight hair is usually seen as someone who puts more effort into her appearance and her personality is more in line with societal norms.

While a woman with curly hair, is stereotypically bold and unruly, a person who doesn't necessarily fit in with societal norms and doesn't put too much effort into her appearance. These things might seem as small but when we look at them, they affect us more than we think.

Many of us have naturally curly or wavy hair due to our heritage but we don't realise it because of how long we have been using the wrong products. Instead of using products that accentuate our curls, we use products that remove frizz in the hopes of making our hair straight. Not only do we use these products because we don't have enough information, but we also use these products because there are not a lot of curly hair products widely accessible.

By some miracle, if you style your curly hair with a dress, you will get a lot of comments from the people on why you should straighten it and they also tell you a lot of natural remedies by older women on how to ‘tame’ your hair. It's time we let go of these stereotypes and be comfortable in our own skin and hair.

Many of us have spent our whole lives straightening hair using excessive heat and treatments, making them worse. Instead, why don't we appreciate the beauty of curly hair and how much it can add to our appearance?