When I was younger, my mom kept my hair in these pigtail braids and when I entered middle school, I decided I didn’t want to wear my hair like that anymore. I wanted to wear it naturally curly. After testing out a million products to see which mousse could hold my curls, I noticed that almost everyone in my grade was going for the “straight hair look.” Of course I started to feel insecure walking around the halls with my giant head of hair. When I started high school, I decided to relax it, in other words, straighten it with chemicals. I didn’t know how to accept my natural hair at the time.
So I decided to ask some flawless Ithaca College women how they have learned to embrace the poof, their natural and curly hair:
Marina:
I embrace my hair by wearing it in its natural kinky state and being unapologetically black. I realized at a young age that with the color of my skin comes the texture of my hair so I have to embrace it because that is how I was made.
Casey:
Most days I get at least one comment about my hair, mostly good things, but occasionally I’ll get: “your hair is so poofy/frizzy/afro-y today, it’s sticking out all over the place.” Sometimes that is true, but that is part of what is so cool about it. One time a girl asked me: “oh does it look better when it’s straight?” No. No it doesn’t. It's 100,000 times better curly. Curly hair is so much fun. I’ve grown to embrace it and its craziness and I love it. My hair is part of who I am and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Sabrina:
I learned a lot about myself and what self love really is by keeping my natural hair. I learned that just because my hair is curly doesn't mean I'm not beautiful. I learned that by embracing what I have is what makes me beautiful. #EmbracethePoof
Devin:
As a kid, I constantly hated my hair because it curled and tangled causing my mom to brush through it. Tangled hair + hairbrush= frizz. I was pretty self-conscious of my hair when I was younger because the frizz in the summer gave me a blonde eight-year-old afro. So I grew it out, seldom cut it, and never styled it until last year when I decided to embrace the poof. I chopped 14 inches of hair off and today I rock my chin-length curls with confidence (even if I might look like a cocker spaniel).
Shalice:
For about 7-8 years now I have treated my hair with a Brazilian treatment in order to achieve this “straight look.” I realized how much damage it was actually doing rather than helping my hair. I finally decided to stop the treatment and four months ago I cut off the damaged hair so that I can have my thickness, volume, and kinky roots back. I have been wearing my hair in curls, buns, and box braids a lot more since then. Can’t wait to see where my journey takes me!
Farwa:
I learned to embrace my hair in a few ways. 1) Coming to understand that it was unique to me, and there was something really powerful in recognizing its uniqueness. 2) Weirdly enough, education. As I went through high school I understood how I was made to feel like my curly hair wasn’t pretty because I’d grown up on the blonde-straight-hair-image. When I came to understand the pressures that told me my hair couldn’t be pretty, I started embracing it, almost as a kind of defiance.
Courtney:
Senior year of high school, this girl told me that my hair looks like I don’t wash it and was spreading that rumor around school, that it was dirty. I told her I washed my hair every day, it was just curly and she was probably jealous with her thin, wiry, toothpick hair and that I know the truth. I’ve learned to embrace my hair by loving what I see around me in a typical day (especially at IC). I spent most of my life processing, straightening, and lightening it and trying to burn out the kinks and frizz instead of being happy with my uniqueness. And you know what I noticed? If you embrace your hair and your insecurities in general, it’s easier for other people to accept them too. The best way for people to love or appreciate you is to teach them by loving and appreciating yourself first.
Kameryn:
Being in an African American family, my mom’s side of the family is very concerned with the presentation of hair. They think curly is untamed. Throughout the transitioning of my hair, I taught my mom and aunt to embrace their hair, now they both have dreadlocks and are embracing it too. My past relationship was full of insults about my hair, and they didn’t understand that it was hurtful coming from someone you love. Then again, I’m ready to challenge, change, and protest in my own way to let people know this is how I define beautiful with my own hair!
Hailey:
How do I #embracethepoof? I cut it off and now I let it go free!
Me:
When I was in high school, I always wished for longer curls like my sister, instead of these short kinky curls. No matter how much mousse I would put in my hair, it always shrunk into little coils. But I think curly hair and the afro style is totally back in trend. I embrace my natural hair by looking in the mirror at the end of the day when my hair has completely frizzed out and say: “No one has hair like you.” That is the best part.
