The Hate of Curly Hair in 2010s TV

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at DCU chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

Over the summer, I was prompted by my friends to straighten my naturally curly hair, and I eventually gave in. The result was…unexpected. It wasn’t that I didn’t like it, or that it looked horrible. But that thought of ‘I like my curly hair more’ surprised me. For many years of my life, I didn’t like my curly hair. Maybe it was because I didn’t know how to style it properly, or the fact that it could be very inconsistent. But I think there’s a bigger villain that contributed to the dislike of natural hair in people who grew up in the 2010s: the media. Curly hair was never correctly represented in TV shows or movies. It was either artificially curled or done in a mocking way against cultures. Either way, I’m pleased with the resurgence of love for curly hair. 

I grew up watching a lot of TV and movies in my spare time. Looking back now, I think the media I consumed at a young age affected my idea of ‘normal.’ I was constantly seeing girls with long straight hair, think Elena Gilbert in The Vampire Diaries or Blair Waldorf in Gossip Girl. If all the women I was seeing had very different hair from mine, how was I supposed to feel anything but abnormal? How was I supposed to love my hair and think of it as beautiful when the definition of beauty that was being given to me was of girls with straight hair? 

A factor that may have affected why directors choose to have characters have straight hair is dealing with the curls. Curly hair is inconsistent. You can have a great hair day on Tuesday and flat hair on Wednesday, and you don’t know what you did to cause Tuesday’s hair. Since TV and movies require each take to be identical even if they are filmed on different days, curly hair would have made this harder. Granted, with all the tools available and the fact that sets have hair departments, this would not have been a huge difference to incorporate. 

Additionally, curly hair (unfortunately) requires specialists. Because straight hair is centred in the hair styling world, many hair stylists are not taught how to deal with hair of different textures. This leads to experiences like mine a couple of years ago, when I got a horrible haircut from someone who did not know how to cut curly hair. Since movie sets have hair and makeup departments, they would have likely needed to hire or train a new person to deal with the different hair, costing the company more money, which they did not want to do. This led to many actresses being forced to hide their hair behind wigs (which could damage their natural hair from constant usage). This happened to Kat Graham, who played Bonnie in The Vampire Diaries. She had to wear a wig for 8 seasons while filming for many hours a day, leading to a lot of damage to her natural hair. 

Trends and beauty standards would also have impacted directors’ choices. Straight hair – or hair that had been curled using heat – was more popular back then and fit the rigid beauty standard. Since TV shows want to cast beautiful people to make their show more enticing, they would have opted for actors with straight hair. Interestingly enough, this is the exact thing that is helping curly hair become more embraced in current society. Content revolving around curly hair routines and how to get consistent curls is making people more inclined to wear their natural hair, since it is being deemed cool. More actors and celebrities are keeping their hair natural as well, helping build a new sense of ‘normal’ where all hair types and textures are included. 

Societal views of beauty are changing and will continue to change. Although trends can push people in a specific direction, especially when it comes to beauty, it has recently been positively affecting the curly-haired community by encouraging people to wear their natural hair. The trend of ‘being who you are’ is letting people break from the ‘norm’ to do what is most comfortable for them. Although the media was a major source of insecurity and caused dislike for my hair, it has been changing for the better to be more inclusive of all hairstyles. 

Although my relationship with my curls is still complicated, at times they elevate my appearance and at others, they completely ruin it, I wouldn’t change it for the world. It has taken me time to love my curly hair, but once you learn just how to perfect it (or about as close as you can get), you will love it. And it’s truly heartwarming to see people embracing their curly hair because even with all its quirks and kinks, it tends to be your best look. After all, it’s the most like you.