Over the last few years there has been a noticeable shift towards embracing natural hair and curls. Young people in particular have ditched the straighteners for the diffuser, showing off their voluminous curly locks. Curly hair styling products have now been given a whole section in the Boots aisle. However, not all that long ago there was a pretty limited selection intermingled within the general smoothing and taming frizz products. So why has natural hair had a revival?
Wearing hair naturally has been the symbol of emancipation for years, especially amongst African and Caribbean communities. For instance, the natural hair movement of the 1960s discouraged the use of chemical relaxers in naturally coiled, kinky or tightly curled hair. There have been multiple attempts in the last fifty years or so to break down the image of straight hair as more professional or in line with current beauty standards.
As a curly haired girl myself, I struggled with thick and uncontrollable hair during my school years and would straighten it most days. I don’t think I even questioned why I was doing it particularly, it was just what everyone did. In my early teens, there was a clear lack of curly-haired role models and I very rarely saw anyone in the media with my type of hair.
At this point, after years of harsh heat, my hair had lost all curl definition and looked like a frizzy bird’s nest that could barely be contained by a couple of loops from a hairband. I couldn’t have even worn my hair naturally if I wanted to look remotely ‘normal’. When lockdown hit, I suddenly had quite a lot of time on my hands and experimented with different styling methods, mainly out of pure boredom. Amazingly, after a couple of months, I had managed to set my hair back ten years, taking on the ringlet form that I had as a toddler.
Clearly hundreds of others had the same idea, flocking to TikTok and Instagram to share their ‘curly hair routines.’ Words and phrases I had never heard of like ‘scrunching,’ ‘plopping,’ ‘curly girl method,’ and ‘finger coiling’ became permanent buzzwords on my feed. The sheer amount of information on distinguishing a curl from a 2C or 3A pattern was mind-boggling.
So where was this information when I needed it five years ago? Is the rise of curly hair simply just a fashion trend born out of viral social media posts? Or is it something more? Perhaps we’ve just all grown up a bit and are less bothered about the pressure of adhering to western beauty standards. The curly hair era appears to have outlived the trend cycle, extending beyond the limits of personal fashion choices. There are more models with curly hair in magazines, more actors on our screens embracing non-straightened hair, and an ever-growing choice of new brands of shampoo, conditioner, gel and curl cream, all marketed as curly hair specific. Brands like Umberto Giannini, Mixed Chicks, Shea Moisture and Noughty have become well-known staples in Superdrug and Boots.
I won’t lie: maintaining curly and natural hair requires time and effort and I am sometimes tempted to pull out the straighteners from the cupboard again. Despite the discourse online about this, there is nothing wrong with straightening your curly hair if you genuinely prefer it that way, but equally, there’s less pressure to now. The great thing about curly hair is that you have the option to experiment and find what works for you.
“Girl with curly hair” by faceseveryday is licensed under CC BY 2.0.