In middle school, every Latina I knew was trying to achieve that sleek, stick-straight hair look Jennifer Lopez famously rocked in her "If You Had My Love" music video. I remember my curly-haired Puerto Rican and Dominican friends saying they wanted straight hair like J.Lo. I had been following the actress and singer's career since before her break on Selena the movie, so I knew Jennifer's natural hair texture was fine and significant curly. Ironically enough, I never saw her sport her curls again until 2016 when she landed a leading role on NBC's Shades of Blue. But even now J.Lo never sports her natural hair outside of the show.
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Jennifer's short, curly hair on Shades of Blue is everything and it's especially nice to see because it's her natural hair and texture. In fact, her stylist on the show, Juan Carlos Maciques claims that J.Lo loves wearing her curly bob for the show.
"Playing a cop from New York, she wanted her look to be relatable, yet still sexy," he told PEOPLE. "She was so embracing of her natural curls, she rarely wears her natural texture, so she loved it."
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Before J.Lo's stint on Shades of Blue, she hardly ever showed off her natural texture, which is why we all freaked out when she shared a selfie embracing her short curly hair back in 2014. It was so refreshing to see.
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With that said, if you pay close attention, you rarely see J.Lo wearing her curls outside of her role on the show. While I 100 percent support anyone straightening their natural curls, if it's what makes them happy, I do wish she'd rock them more often.
This is how we usually see J.Lo:
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As someone who has recently been recovering from heat-damage, I had to cut my hair short, lay low on the hot tools and it took me a while to feel comfortable sporting shoulder-length curls. Like many Latinas, I grew up encouraged to straighten my long curly hair, So seeing J.Lo's character Harlee Santos showing off gorgeous spirals reminded me that I'm just as beautiful with short curly hair as I am with a sleek blowout.
Here's a picture of me sporting my long hair in a sleek blowout.
Here are a few pictures of me recently rocking short, curly hair.
Still cute, right?
If J.Lo rocked her natural texture IRL, imagine the amount of young curly-haired girls that would be encouraged and inspired to embrace their rizos? Listen, she can do whatever she wants. But if young Latinas saw Jennifer Lopez attending a red carpet event like Halle Berry did when she showed off her natural curls at this years Oscars, it would make all the difference in the world. I'm just saying.
She did it earlier in her career so there's still hope. Crossing my fingers I get to see it again one day!
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