How Curly Hair Is Linked To Our Body Image

The body positive movement is in full-force and women all over the world are giving diet culture a big fat hand to the face, and are saying all sizes, shapes, colors, hair styles and more are equal. Meaning each and every woman is beautiful in their own right and perceived cultural standards of beauty have got to go.

It’s been an amazing movement to watch and be a part of personally, especially as woman who has also desperately wanted to fit into the “normal” beauty box.

Because I didn’t fit the way society wanted me to fit, my body image and my relationship with my body was deeply broken and I tried every diet, workout and juice cleanse known to woman kind to try and finally be in the box.

I studied the pages of every magazine taking notes how each celebrity got summer body ready.

I studied celebrity hair styles, their clothes and even the nail polish color they wore on their toes so I could model everything I did to ensure I fit the mold.

Cue in my curly hair.

I spent yearssssssssss straightening my hair. Before flat irons were a thing I used an actual clothing iron to straighten my hair (literally, who does that?!).

I was desperate to get rid of my curl cause stick straight hair was the beauty standard and I wanted to fit in.

And yes, even during the hot, humid jungle like summers in Ohio I still straightened my hair and fought the battle of humidity frizz like it was a matter of life and death.

But as I got older, the more I started to embrace my natural curl. I still believed my hair wasn’t polished or pretty unless it was straight or curled with a curly iron, but during the day I let my hair be free and do its thing.

Now, I embrace the curl and it feels more me. I feel free, wild and oh so not perfect and I love it!

So when I was watching a story from my favorite Instagram influencer, Natalie Borton, who has started wearing her hair curly and doing the ‘curly hair method’ I was curious why she would be so interested in trying to curl her straight hair. She has been working on her curls for about a year now and she shared the most interesting insight about her joinery the other day.

She shared how wearing her hair curly has brought up body image issues for her because the curls are not perfect. She is still exploring how to do her hair and allow her hair to naturally do it’s think. She goes on to explain how she was not used to seeing herself with these curls and it has been an interesting process to embrace her ‘natural look’.

It really sparked something in me, an ah-ha if you will. I knew exactly what she was talking about because when I wear my hair curly it is being me…in my natural state. It is me being myself. I am not aligning with someone else’s standard of beauty but embracing me. I am saying to myself each time I do something that is natural and more in alignment with who I am that I chose me. That I am okay with me. That you need to be okay with me too.

I have never linked it to body image before BUT it is another step in accepting and loving myself each time let the curls out.

So I ask you….when you wear your hair au natural…

How do you feel?

What comes up for you?

Are you able to?

Do you think it affect the way you view yourself?

Do you think it is tied to your body image?

Let me know in the comments below.