Dear Curly-Haired Girls,

Since the time our curls stopped being our mothers’ responsibility and became our burden, we have had to learn how to be curly-haired girls in a straight hair world. Regardless of our appreciation for any compliments that we receive from people who we may not even know, the struggle is real and is one that only someone with curly hair can understand.

For starters, we have all had that friend who complains that her hair is “too frizzy” or “is too big” whenever there is slight humidity (you know who you are). If looks could kill that friend is probably six-feet under right now while you’re still trying to get that knot out of your hair so that you look presentable for their burial.

When you were younger, you also probably felt the need to warn your friends at sleepovers that your hair becomes wild in the morning (nothing can prepare them for that chaos). From the bottom of my heart, I feel your pain and understand the resentment that you felt when you looked over to that friend with the pin-straight hair who rolled out of bed looking ready to dance to “Wakin’ Up to Love” like those girls with straight hair in the old Clean & Clear advertisement.

We've all heard "W\why we don’t simply brush our hair in the morning?" We all know though that if they saw the result, they would understand why combs are our best friends. The worst though is when we have to watch these people who don’t understand, roll out of bed ten minutes before class, wash up, brush their hair and they are on their way.

But despite these struggles, there is also the break-through moment. The moment that changed my life was in eighth grade when I had my hair blown out and flat ironed for the first time. I still remember how there were some people who did double takes because they had known the curly hair for as long as they had known me. If you don’t believe me, there was even one person who I had known for nine years who asked his friend who I was.

For a couple of days, us curly-haired girls are able to live the dream with the help of a flat iron. It certainly makes college a much happier place when we do not have to get up as early to find a way to tame the beast. Sadly, as my mother likes to remind me, even when our hair is temporarily straight, our curls are just a bucket of water away.

Sincerely,

A Curly-Haired Struggler