I was eight when I started taking care of my grumpy hair, commonly known as ‘curly hair’.

“Brush your hair more often; it will make your hair straighter,” my mum said to me while I glared at the mirror, frustrated, with my hair all frizzed up.

I followed the advice coming from a lady who has always had hair as shiny and silky as silk. I started brushing my hair slowly and gently, until I reached a point where I had knots in my hair. Exhausted, I hysterically started bawling my eyes out because I was at a stage where nothing, literally nothing, was working out. Not even the unsolicited advice people gave me, like using certain shampoos, putting certain oils, combing and doing all the work to make my hair straight.

But that very day, I wanted to know why I didn’t have straight hair. So, curiously, I searched on the internet and found out that, in the first place, having curly hair depends on my genes, and in the second place, the science behind it is even more interesting. It says that people who have curly hair have hair follicles with an asymmetric shape, because of which, when the hair grows, it turns out curly and coiled, whereas people who have straight hair have hair follicles with an oval shape, which lets the hair grow straight.

Sigh! I have to tell this to my mum. I did so; she hugged me tight and then we searched for how to take care of curly hair.

And to my surprise, it was totally different from a straight-hair care routine. Curly hair needs a shampoo that is made for curly hair, and then what surprised me even more was that curly hair needs to be brushed slowly and only when it’s wet. Then, after brushing my wet hair, I would scrunch it to maintain the structure of my beautiful curls while applying a leave-in conditioner, which helped control the frizz in my hair.

Gradually, I learnt that my hair was not grumpy, but I just didn’t know how to take care of it. Our society refuses to accept that some people can have curly hair and that it’s absolutely normal for them to have a different hair-care routine.

So, my dear young friends, I want you all to promise me to accept people as they are. We are all different, and that’s what makes us beautiful.

Published in Dawn, Young World, September 19th, 2026