It took me years to finally embrace my naturally curly hair and I'm still facing the consequences of constantly blow-drying my strands straight (I hate you heat damage!). You see, now I know how blessed I am to have spiral tresses growing from my head, but it didn't always feel like that, especially due to all those annoying back-handed compliments I'd get from people sometimes. Don't get me wrong, most of these folks mean well. In fact, nine out of 10 times them really are trying to say something "nice." But if you're telling me my hair looks really pretty when it's straight, how am I supposed to respond to that? Thank you–I guess?!
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Anyone that knows me (or reads my curly hair posts) knows that I'm still in the process of growing out my natural curls. So these days I'm mainly wearing my hair straight. You know, so I'm not walking down the street with half straight, half curly hair. But that doesn't mean I don't still try to rock my rizos from time to time–and when I do, boy does it fascinate people!
I usually get bombarded with a ton of compliments and questions like, "Why don't you wear your hair curly more?" Despite the many attempts I've made at explaining my heat-damage situation. But that still doesn't bother me half as much as the back-handed compliments like, "You look so pretty when you wear your hair straight" or "I wish I had curly hair–it's so exotic!" Here are the eight most ridiculous compliments curly hair chicks receive!
1. Oh, you straightened your hair. It looks pretty like that: A not-so-subtle way of telling me I look better with my hair straightened than the way God made it. Thanks for the "compliment" but no thanks.
2. Your hair looks so wild and exotic: Please don't talk about my hair like it's a rare fruit from a tropical rainforest. It's not that exotic–it's just hair!
3. Thank God your curls are soft: I get this compliment mainly from Dominicans basically implying that I'm lucky I have soft, medium curls as opposed to kinky, coily curls. All curls are beautiful–plain and simple!
4. But your hair looks so natural when you wear it straight: Um, it's called an awesome $25 Dominican blowout girl!
5. Your hair isn't that bad: This one is especially painful because it's basically implying that hair that isn't naturally straight is considered "bad" or unmanageable. There's no such thing as bad hair. There's just healthy and damaged hair!
6. You look like a wild child: Just because my hair has a mind of its own doesn't mean I'm some sort of free-spirited bohemian. Quite the opposite, actually.
7. You make curly hair look so good: Um, thanks? What does this even mean?
8. Your boyfriend must love your curly hair in the bedroom: A guy friend actually told me this once and I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Curly hair can be pulled just as easily as straight hair. What makes my hair more sex friendly?
Image via Thinkstock
