I recently found a Facebook group which only consisted in discussions and representation of Asian curly haired women. Most of them were completely lost.
How do you learn to embrace your naturally textured hair when you are part of a community that is known for thick, straight, dark hair; when your entire family stares at you, confused and disturbed by the way you look?
However I learned to embrace my hair, after years of seeing it like a genuine curse, after experiencing a huge amount of derogatory comments in my younger years – probably coming from people’s confusion. They couldn’t get around the fact that I am Asian and has curls growing out of my head.
These comments led me to get into a bubble, not interacting with anyone at home and feeling anxious about going back to school the next day. But life has an interesting way to have your back though – look at me know. Rocking these curls and receiving compliments all the time.
My hair hasn’t always been curly though as it started to show up around age 7. My parents didn’t know how to care for it so started to straighten it. Therefore, this process became an automated response. Curls appearing directly meant grabbing the straightener.
We discussed it as a family later on and we believe the existence of my curls could be related to my Cambodian heritage.