THE PERSON BEHIND THE CURLS
For years, I believed there was something wrong with my hair.
My earliest memory of my curls is not a happy one. I was around seven when my hair was cut very short. I remember looking at myself and crying. At an age when I should have been learning to love what made me different, I was already learning that my hair was something to feel unhappy about.
At seventeen, that message became even louder. I was told my curls were not professional and that I had to straighten them every day for work. So I did. I made myself fit in, hiding the very thing that made me me. It left me embarrassed by my natural hair and less confident in myself. Looking back, I feel angry that a young woman was made to believe her natural texture was unsuitable simply because it was curly.
I carried that feeling for years, even while building a career in hairdressing. Then I finally booked an appointment with a curl specialist for myself. For the first time, somebody did not try to tame, correct or disguise my hair. They understood it. I saw my curls differently, and I saw myself differently too.
That appointment brought my passion for hairdressing back to life. It made me realise this was the work I was meant to do, because I knew exactly how it felt to sit in the chair believing your hair was the problem.
