The Wordless Wars: Curly Vs Straight Hair

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In the very essence of your clothing lies the impression you give to others. Your shirt, your pants, and your shoes all give off some idea of who you are. But what about your hair? Hair is an individualistic expression, and lately I’ve been noticing something.

More women are sporting straight hair.

Is it me or does it seem that straight hair is becoming the more ‘feminine’ look? All the curly haired women are crying ‘Perm!’ left and right, and once I even struggled to try calming my untamed locks. But you see, after some time, burning my hair and wasting my life, I realized my hair is beautiful,so I left it as is. Then I saw something strange occurring. Less people were paying attention to me now that I had released my ruthless curls. It seems that straight hair has become an aesthetic style. Whenever I straighten my hair, I get a million comments, but when I make a common(or just nice) curly hairstyle, more disregard it than acknowledge it.

It seems that in society today, curly hair reflects a wild and unconventional personality, as opposed to straight hair reflecting a tame and orthodox personality. It’s also very noticeable in careers to date. Many women straighten their hair in an attempt to look cleaner cut and more presentable. However, there are quite a good number of curly haired women out there, but what’s going on? Are we ashamed of our locks? Have we been frightened by society, forced to conform to another Barbie look? As a matter of fact, I can’t remember a single Barbie that originally had curly hair(unlike my Barbies, whose knotted hair looked…curly). Do you? Not even the Barbie dolls today have curly hair. And well, back then, with the invention of the straightener, everyone craved silky straight and luscious manes. That same craze is still going strong today.

Hair Through The Ages

In the time of the Greek, curly hair was beautiful and praised much more than straight hair. Even earlier than that, during the time of Babylon, men curled their hair! And since then, curly hair has been evolving as a feminine expression of fertility and health. Until the 1800s or so. At this time, women with long hair of any kind were forbidden to wear expressive styles, especially if married, and were seen as promiscuous to flaunt such hair. Married women were told to put up their hair and hide it. Straight long hair was seen as the proper way for a ‘lady’ to wear their hair, and short hair was frowned upon. During the Roarin’ 20’s and the period of the ‘Bopped hair’ craze, the older generation lost many a lower jaw from seeing all these women cut their hair and smoke, women such as flappers, who redefined the women’s sphere.

Religions also hold a standard of hair for both women and men, but women are held more strictly to their hair codes. But that is another blog.

At the end of all, it’s just another people conforming to another society. Women have the power to wear their own natural hair, as their genes intended, and be seen as their own attractive person without having to be disciplined for being themselves in our modern world ruled by mass society.

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Tags: conform, conformity, Culture, curly hair, hair, hair trends, history, mass society, modern society, People, society, straight hair, women, women throughout history, women's rights