Since when is there a prejudice against curly hair?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Some people, on this board and in the media, are in a snit about a movie called The Princess Diaries. The main character starts out awkward and not conventionally attractive, then suddenly finds out she’s the Princess of Something, and therefore has to be made over. Part of the process is changing her not really curly, but wavy and unkept hair, to a sleek mane. A curly-hair advocates group interprets this as an unfair claim that curly hair is unattractive.

WTF? My hair is straight, has always been straight, and I like it. For those who haven’t met me, and since we have no People Pages (grrrr), I wear it schoolgirl-style: over the shoulders with bangs. But I constantly, constantly heard, over and over in my teens and early twenties, “You should get a perm…See, the problem is, your face is okay but your hair just hangs straight!..Straight hair is boring; you should curl it and see the reactions you get!” And so on.

I happen to think straight hair is classic. And perhaps that’s what the director and hairdressers thought as well. A lot of changes were made to this young lady before she was ready for presentation: she apparently got a skin treatment, teeth whitening, contact lenses*, and who knows what else. As I said earlier, her hair was unkempt. You could call it curly, but it didn’t look good for curly. The made-over hairstyle makes her look more mature, which was probably the main objective. It’s also possible that the director simply wanted to make the change as dramatic as possible, for the benefit of the youngest children in the audience. (This is a Disney film.) Her hair was curly and now it’s straight? Wow, they really changed everything!

At any rate, I don’t think this was a slam against curly hair, and I wasn’t aware of any prejudice against curly hair.

Trying and failing to think of a movie where the female lead was changed from curly to straight, or the reverse. Anyone? Anyone?

*And if I suddenly found myself being made over by the royal puff-and-comb, no one’s taking my glasses away. Tried contacts and they are hell. The princesses of Pakistan wear glasses; so would I. (Of course, they could choose better frames…That’s it; I’d let them change my frames. But no contacts.)

2

Huh?

3

They’re all N/A: not available. With a very few exceptions, but effectively, there are no People Pages.

4

Haven’t seen the film itself yet, but the TV ads are ubiquitous, so I know what you’re talking about.

I think you made some good points about a) the drastic overhaul this kid goes through and b) the classic look of straight hair.

In the former case, she goes not just from curly to straight, but from an unkempt fright wig appearance to carefully coiffed and sleek. The change is immediate and arresting (sorta like if Steve Perry got a crew cut). You can’t help but notice it.

In the latter case, just keep in mind Audrey Hepburn, which is sorta who this girl resembles after the transformation. In thinking of classic looks, it seems to me that even with longer, styled hair, the effect was soft waves rather than curls.

Mostly, I think it’s not a slam against curly hair, but more a feeling of “she really didn’t have it together before and now she’s neat as a pin.” Her hair wasn’t so much curly before as fly-away and uncontrollable.

5

I think people are oversensitive, but (no offense to anyone) I happen to find curly hair for the most part to be unattractive. Occasionally it looks really good on a girl, but my preference is nice wavy hair or straight.

6

Well said, DAVE.
Speaker, that’s your considered opinion, so that’s okay. I just think these curly-hair advocates are taking it too hard.

I don’t really watch “chick” films, so the only makeover sequences I can think of are in Pretty Woman and Clueless. In the former, Julia Roberts’ character wasn’t changed physically; she just got new clothes. Of course, a streetwalker would have her perfectly clear skin and healthy hair. :rolleyes: I thought the Laura San Giacomo character was much more realistic looking. In the latter, Brittany Murphy’s character had curly hair, and it stayed that way; only the color was changed.

Oh, and Breakfast Club. I don’t think the hair bow was as bad an idea as many people do. The objective was to get Alison’s hair off her face, and not even Claire would have hot rollers in her bag at Saturday detention. I wonder, though, if that was ever followed up on. Claire could have given Alison some of her clothes that were soooo last season, and accompanied her to a salon and the cosmetics department at Marshall Fields. But she probably didn’t. Like the girl in my high school who was always promising to take me to her house and give me a complete overhaul…but was always “busy” when I tried to cash in.

7

What about Barbra Streisand in The Mirror Has Two Faces? I think her hair gets curly when she becomes a glamourpuss, but I am not sure.

Personally, I like curly hair, especially if it is red. Yummy.

8

Two words about curly hair and perms. Brady Bunch guys.

9

Yeah, but my seaweed like hair has NO body…it looks AWFUL if I don’t curl it with a huge curling iron and then set it in curlers everymorning. Otherwise, it’s terrible, and so thin and wimpy looking. It looks MANLY almost, I hate my hair so much. :frowning:
Or I put it up. But it looks AWFUL if I don’t do anything. Seriously limp like old kelp.

I personally think the girl looked prettier BEFORE the makeover. But that’s me.

10

Speaking from the perspective of a girl who has been cursed with curly hair, I don’t give a damn. Well, not really true, but my hair can change with my mood. Feeling a bit energetic or wild? I blow dry it straight–halfway, then let it air dry the rest. Makes cute waves. Exhausted? Put it up in a tight bun and let it dry that way for 8 hours, relatively straight with body. I usually dry it straight and then curl the ends.

But this is off topic.
I think the curly to straight hair is just for dramatic effect. BTW, most girls with curly hair don’t know how o maintain it, so in many cases it is unkempt and dare I say…ugly. But, no matter. My opinion stands.

I think the Curly Haired Women of America (or whatever organization protested this) are overly sensitive, as most organizations are. It’s just a movie. Let it go.

11

IMHO, curly hair is particulary attractive. :wink:

12

I watched that Princess movie and thought the makeover was cool except they put WAY to much makeup on that 15 year old girl. Having been blessed/cursed with curly hair, I thought it looked great straightened because as a young teen, I couldn’t tame my mane: this is in an era before mousse and spray gel. Her long curls were frizzy and her hair was not well cared for. But Disney made one technical error-----the last scene where she was rained on-----her hair is spaghetti limp! When MY naturlly curly hair gets any where near moisture, it curls up tight. I have learned to like my curly hair, but I straighten it occasionally for a sleeker, different look. No cite, but I remember reading in Cosmo that 51% of men they surveyed prefered curls to straight hair.

13

My hair is dead straight, my sister-in-law has curly hair. We each envy the other. The difference between us is that I can get away with not looking after my hair, but she can’t - curly hair goes BOOF if you don’t care for it properly. Her hair is beautiful when she takes the time to style it properly, but the rest of the time, it just looks horrible (she’s young enough not to be totally obsessed with her hair just yet).