I'm sitting in bed and I got sucked into the rabbit hole of Facebook videos and a video from the Rachael Ray show comes up. A 50 year old who hasn't cut her hair in 8 years is getting a makeover...already I know how this will end. Oh I forgot to mention...she has curly hair.
I'm sure you've seen it a million times; girl with curly hair gets a makeover and BAM - straight hair. We're brainwashed by movies and tv to think that beauty means long straight hair or soft beachy waves.
I've had naturally curly hair my entire life, and have been asked the question, "is your hair naturally curly?" more times than I can count; but I don't think it was until middle school that I realized my hair wasn't the "norm". In high school I was introduced to flat irons and started straightening my hair. I would say I had a healthy balance with straightening and leaving it curly, probably just because straightening my hair took so stinking long.
In college it was the same story, curly, straight, curly, straight, back and forth. I didn't mind my curls, but I would wish for straight hair to reach that "beauty" standard. After college I finally found some fun ways to style my curly hair and started embracing my natural curly hair more, but would still break out the flat iron every once in awhile (with the exception of summer - straightened hair doesn't stand a chance with the heat and humidity of the Midwest).
When we had Claire, I found myself hoping and praying that she would have curly hair like me (especially since everyone always said how much she looked like Chris). As soon as those beautiful curls starts showing up in her hair I realized, if I wanted her to love her curls I needed to love mine too.
On one hand, I've never hated my curly hair, on the other, I don't really remember ever loving my curls, but the more Claire's curls pop through, the more I love my own curls, and I can't wait to watch her curls grow and teach her to love her hair. It's now been almost a year since I last touched my flat iron and I've been working on finding a routine that works and helps my curls look their best. I've found a great curly hair community and learned so many helpful ways to take care of curly hair.
There's nothing wrong with wanting to change your appearance every now and again, straighten curly hair, curl your straight hair, cut, color, whatever; but I think it's so important to love who God made you and the physical attributes He's given you. I want to stop comparing and start celebrating who God has made me to be.
Of course I was right about how the makeover ended - straightened hair. Why can't the stylists teach them how to style their curls instead of flattening them out and making them disappear? I'll never know why this is the standard for makeovers. But I do know that my before and after will always be curly hair. I was born with it, and you better believe there will be detailed instructions for my curly hair when God calls me home.
If you or someone you know has curly hair and need a pep talk or want to talk about styling and taking care of curly hair I would be more than happy to talk, swap tips and just love on our curly hair!
I saw this video when Claire was almost a year old and loved seeing other mom's encouraging their daughter to embrace their natural beauty. Take a few minutes to watch the video here.