I hate it when curly girls straighten their hair. Because I'm cursed with limp fine locks and would kill for that kind of texture.

In other news, people still strive to attain "white ideals" of beauty.

Howsomever, this white girl would kill for a little body or curl in her stick straight hair.

I wasn't aware that having curly hair was a problem. I love mine. No one's ever dissed me for it. Wow. I guess everyone has been silently judging me. Huh.

Hate to bring her up, but if I could get my curls to look the way Carrie's did in the mid seasons of SATC? I would rock that shit so. hard.

But I have no idea how to work them, so it's either the blowout or the lazy girl artfully messy bun for moi.

Please, Oprah doesn't like curly hair? The, ahem, rounder she gets the more curls she embraces it seems to distract. I didn't think curls needed defending.... aren't there more important things for these woman to champion?

In my opinion, you want what you don't have. Or that was always my case. I'd die to have curly hair. Not this stick straight limp thin travesty that is masquerading a "hair" on my head...

beyonce has bad extensions as in braids not a weave in that pic

she actually wears curly sew-ins now

sorry im bored

but i agree with the open letter

I need to email this to my daughter. Curly forever!

@funnyface:

That's always been my feeling too. Although curly haired friends tell me it's hell to deal with some days. I am still jealous of them and their beautiful curly locks.

@funnyface: Yes! Curly girls should be so proud! I've ALWAYS wanted curly hair, I just think it's so beautiful and bouncy and lovely. I have to rock so many layers just to get the teeniest bit of movement into my hair... Curly is gorgeous!

The grass is always greener on the other side.

give me wild and untamed hair over stiff and over-processed helmet hair any day of the week. my hair is wavy and i let it be so. my sweetheart has the most amazing head of curly hair. if he ever tried to make it into something it's not, it would be a crying shame.

Amen, Dodai. I am sick of the curl-hating. I love my curly hair, but I've dealt with hostile stylists, a boyfriend who didn't like it (fuck him, right?) and the perception in the workplace that straight hair is more professional looking.

I spent many years straightening my hair. I hung up my porcelain straightener years ago, though, I don't have time for that shit.

@funnyface: Same, same, same.

Must everything be such a dramatic issue? Geez, people...chill out. It's called a TREND. Before you know it, poodle perms will be all the rage again.

My hair is naturally straight and I spent years and thousands of dollars to have spiral curls before I finally gave up. I guess the grass is always greener, but curly hair is fabulous in my book and if I had it, I would be rocking it like nobody's business.

For me its just wanting what I can't have. My hair is wavy so I want it straight. I think its more a fad than anything. Remember spiral perms? Yeah those were ridiculously fug...

Plus everyone knows that "ethnic" (ugh i cant believe im using that word) artists need to straighten their hair to make it. Beyonce has straight hair and is pretty much blonde, Jlo too.

Erykah Badu never straightened her hair and where is she now.

You said it, to make it - or be more successful - you got to get it straight. Can't be too 'ethnic', too NOT-white. How much time and energy goes into straightening?!!

My wife looks gorgeous with curly hair but is constantly straightening it out, despite my protestations.

I was reading the post and wondering when you were going to get to the racist implications of people straightening their hair. It's sad that beauty is aspirational and aspiration=white.

I'm a curly girl myself and cannot STAND when people are all like, "Oooh, it's so long, why don't you straighten it?" Cuz bitch - I wanna keep ALL my hair. Plus, that shit takes too long and humidity is NOT my friend.

Wore it straight all my life and just now getting comfortable with my curliness. It's healthier than it's ever been!

LOVE NaturallyCurly.com !

Fantastic points here :) I've got natural afro-amer hair, haven't straightened it in 10 years and ALWAYS get questions from my cousins about "What are you going to do with your hair!" as if I can't be a grown up with the hair which grows NATURALLY out of my head. I don't get very spiritual, but this is the hair I am supposed to have. It's the hair I had until I was 11 (and then an awful 80's jheri curl came into the picture and 12 years of straightening/cutting short/flat ironing/tiny afro-ing/growing out into a pin straight bob period happened and then, like magic I just decided to stop DOING that to my hair and wear it as is.
I hate that people do not find it pretty or acceptable to have non straightened black hair, but I am happy with my kinky hair, and I'm happy to part it on the side and wear it in my usual braided crown. It is me.

@crackbabyjesus: Horrible thought: the return of the Mullet.

that Mariah pic looks circa Vision of Love, love it.

I have pain in the ass wavy hair, which means it curls when it wants and goes limp when it wants.

I've always wanted to have the option to have both curly and straight hair, depending on how I felt that day. The most I can manage is a weird wave right at the back of my neck in my otherwise stick straight hair (tres attractive). I don't understand why straight hair is considered better at all.

@crackbabyjesus: it isnt just "trend". Have you read the Bluest Eye?
I can't tell you the number of times my niece(who is mixed) has lamented her features as they do not match her mother's or those damn bratz dolls, or barbies.
Not a trend.

@hypnotic:
Yeah don't think anyones ever seeing 'Bs' real hair??

And Dodai-you look so cool with straight hair...what a sweet picture...

It's all good unless it's done for the wrong reasons and more often then not-it is...so agree!

Screw you, Oprah. I'm gonna let my curls flow FREE!!!

@fashionablyevil: Well, not entirely white. The straightest, sleekest hair you'll find is on Asian and Native American heads, not white heads.

Oprah rocks curly hair all the time doesn't she? Maybe the idea behind giving a curly girl straight locks in a makeover is to go for the most dramatic change possible. Because that kind of change is striking, indeed.

I'm a CG and I did the Japanese processing for a while, but now I'm growing it back out. Dunno, I just feel like straight is more versatile / polished looking, but I love having the option to let it go "wild" and get huge. Also: just got the BEST iron EVER, no joke, and it's changed my life.

>sigh< the grass is always greener, or in this case, whiter....
It's hard for us ladies sometimes to figure out that which we're TRULY comfortable with as opposed to what we think we should be rockin'. I only recently stopped using the hairdryer altogether and am happier for the air-dry and the curly part that's ONLY on the back of my head. I love the curlies, all of 'em: afros make me smile like a drunk little kid cos I find 'em gorgeous.

Omg Dodai, that picture is GORGEOUS. You are beautiful.

My hair is sort of in between, so I can make it go either way. I am ALL for the curls. It's just more my personality, more natural, and easier. Plus, I don't have to put my strands through hell with the flatiron and all that noise.

Plus, it's kind of nice to not look like everyone else. Your waves and curls are unique to only you, like fingerprints.

@JessicaLovejoy: Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, ACK!: I'm saying. My hair is naturally super-curly, but it only looks pretty when I either straighten it or use a curling iron. If I just scrunch and go, it gets all frizzy and gross by hour 1. Plus straight hair is just easier, no lie-- I think curls are gorgeous, but if I've got a full day ahead of me I'm going to need to be able to brush my hair every so often.

Curls are wonderful, a la natural or from hot rollers! Sorry the stringy, straight hair doesn't look as good as people like to believe.

The only thing I can say in their defense - and there isn't much because I think you're right about the whole standard of beauty - is that a blowout does make your hair look unnaturally silky and shiny and thus is like instant prettiness. I have straight hair, but it's just sort of course and not gorgeous or well-behaved - and when I get a haircut and they blow it out it looks all soft and shiny and I'll admit I love it.

I always wanted curly hair. Always. I wanted that stereotypical Irish curly, red hair. The red, I get from a bottle. The curls... not even with a curling iron, not even with a perm, nothing. My hair is thick and heavy and straight and I can't do a damn thing about it. :(

I straightened my hair for years because I thought it would be better. In college, I decided I was sick of the work and started to wear it curly.

I love it and I get tons of compliments on it. Never again will I straighten.

And another thing, it pisses me off when the people in the mall who are trying to sell the straighteners insinuate that I should buy one because I have curly hair.

i have curly hair and usually wear it as-is because it absolutely refuses to do anything else.

I only WISH I was a curly girl. I'm a frizzy girl. Must use product to make it curly or make it straight.

Yeah, I don't get it, either. I've always envied the ladies with natural waves and curls. My hair is straight and coarse, so it sticks up and out whenever it can. I've rocked a perm or two (or five) over the years, but my last experience was. not. good. so I'm stickin' to my natural texture (or lack thereof) for now.

I suspect that lots of women with curly hair don't have any idea how to style it. That was my problem. I found a curl stylist who told me to get my shit together, and now I wear the curls with pride.

I don't straighten my hair to hide the fact I have curls. I do it to give myself a different look once in a while.

I have never understood why people wouldn't want curly hair. It is so fun, and you can do crazy up-do's with no effort. I have straight hair (obvs) and I have suffered so much for curls, the only thing that ever worked was sleeping with all my hair twisted into tight knots on the top of my head,with this method, I achieved a white girl afro that I just fucking loved. However, the merest touch of water defeated me and my hair.
Love your curls! Curl pride!I will watch your Curl Pride Parade from the sidelines and cheer!

As a curly girl myself, my mantras are "EMBRACE THE CURL!" and "CURLY GIRLS ARE MORE FUN!"

I have super curly hair and I have never straightened it. Well, aside from that unfortunate incident my freshman year of high school when I bleached it and THEN tried to chemically straighten it...yeah.

Anyway, my BFF has the same hair and every now and then she straightens it with a flat iron but I will NOT let her touch mine with that thing. I'd be naked without my curls.

@funnyface: Same here!! My dad had naturally very curly hair, and my hair was curly when I was a kid. I cannot tell you how excited I was when my hair stylist informed me that lo and behold, I did have curl in my hair - it's just that I'd never known how to style it to bring it out. It's not super curly - it's more like a curly wave, or a wavey curl - and it takes a lot of work. But I love having the options of curls. Straight hair that just hangs there is booooooooring day after day.

@jezebelacious: Yeah, I think you're right. Girls with straight hair want curls. Girls with curls want straight hair. I am *trying* to embrace my hair's "wrinkles" (you can't quite call them waves) by not blow-drying and flat-ironing so much. It's hard to change though!

@BeckySharper: True. And society fetishizes Asian and Native American women.

(feeling cynical today)

I hate having high maintenance hair, and I'd do anything for curly OR straight hair if it meant less prep time after a shower! My natural hair is a wavy, frizzy, clumpy mess. Seriously, it just kind of sticks up in odd places and generally looks plain old UGLY. If I