Everyone has at least one most recognizable that makes them physically stand out from other people. Mine just so happens to be my big, curly hair. Growing up with two white parents, my mom with straight hair, and my dad of course being the one with curly hair, my childhood was characterized by frizzy, big, poofy hair that served as the butt of elementary and junior high school jokes. In my sophomore year of high school, I grew tired of my hair being a joke, logged on to YouTube, searched up “white girl curly hair care routines”, and found that I was not the only white girl with textured hair. After watching my first India Batson YouTube video, I immediately made a trip to Ulta to grab every single product my new curly hair mom suggested.
After an hour of combing, conditioning, and scrunching I realized my hair was not just wavy, it was COILY and the next day at school my new coils made their grand premiere. The most common question my peers asked me was “Syd did you get a perm!?” No, no perm, just proper care techniques. How does one go from their hair being the butt of a seven-year-long cruel joke with nicknames such as “sasquatch” to being nominated for the senior superlative of “best hair”? Patience, and lots of it. My natural hair endured years of improper haircuts, product use, straightening, and care. The purpose of starting my curly hair journey was to embrace the natural coils that I was born with.
Even after starting my curly hair journey, I hit another roadblock when I found out that DevaCurl, which was the line of products that helped me start this journey, had several class-action lawsuits filed against them for permanent scalp damage on long-term customers. Back to square one, spending even more money to find products that work for me. During this time I noticed the days in between wash days became shorter, I was experiencing intense headaches, and my hair began to look like how it looked when I started my curly hair journey… except slightly more defined. On my search for new products, I came across a curly hair stylist that recommended AG natural hair shampoo and conditioner that would help hair that experienced a minimal amount of “Deva-damage” recover. Every curly girl’s curly hair journey looks slightly different, but personally, the further along I go on this journey, the more confident I grow in myself.
For any girl (or boy) who wants to start their curly hair journey: BE PATIENT. Your hair will not form these amazing curls that you see plastered on social media overnight. This process can take several years of love and care before you start to see these kinds of curls form. Along this journey, you will feel discouraged, but I encourage you to keep going! The curly community is always accepting of new “curly babies”. I’ve been on this journey for about 4 years now and I’m STILL learning new things about my hair, and I STILL experience days where I wish I had straight hair. To everyone who says “it’s just hair”: yes, it is “just hair”, but when my hair is my most noticeable feature my hair’s “mood” for that day can make or break my confidence.