Am I being over sensitive about this?

[Frizzyhairday]

Im prepared to accept IABU (I promise!) but just wondered if anyone else has noticed this too!

Has anyone ever felt like frizzy or curly hair is seen as not being as professional or as good as straight hair?

I have extremely frizzy hair. It’s sort of a hybrid between curls and ringlets, waves and kinks, and just general frizz. Over the years I’ve tried just about every shampoo, conditioner, straighter, smoother, oil, keratin treatments, masks, defrizzer-the lot! Nothing stops the frizz. If I straighten my hair it starts out straight and very quickly goes frizzy again. It’s in good condition and has always been like this, it’s just my hair type. I’ve permenantly got a halo of frizz around my head- even when I’ve tied it back, it still looks like there’s frizz across my head and it’s like a halo of frizzyness and flyaways and be wisps across my scalp. I have a lot of curly baby hair and flicks of hair that won’t stay down too, I have to use about 40 clips to keep them down bit as the day progresses the wisps get worse. It looks like I’ve always touched a plug! I could literally use hairspray or glue or clay and half an hour later and it’ll be frizzy and flyaways again.

I always look neat and tidy but I feel like frizzy hair is seen as being unprofessional or not neat. Ive bad countless comments from people trying to be helpful and recommended products to smooth my hair, and a previous boss in an old job actually said my frizzy hair looks scruffy. Just to clarify- it’s always neat and tidy and it’s always off my face and appropriate for work, it’s not like there’s flyaways of bits of hair everywhere. I don’t work in an environment where hair would be a health or hygiene problem and I can have it down, but whether I have it down or up I still get the halo of frizz and wisps and staticness!

my hairdresser said there’s nothing I can do and it’s just my hair type, but I feel like socially there’s a preference for smooth hair and that frizzy hair is seen as more undesirable. Has anyone else noticed this or am I just being super over sensitive?! It’s a bit unfair when people literally cannot control what their hair type is.

Yes, I’ve been told twice that I could have the job if I straightened my hair so I look professional.

My hair is wild too. It's long to weigh down most of the frizz but the little flyaways at the top drive me batty. I don't know the answer but am watching the thread eagerly to see what others suggest.

Not too sensitive. Black woman have been fighting this one for decades.

Yes, my hair sounds exactly like yours OP. I once had a Brazilian keratin straightening thing done which kept it poker straight for about 6 weeks and I got so many compliments on how well groomed I always look during that time - nothing else was different, I wore the same clothes, make up etc but seemingly it was the hair that pulled it all together for others ☹️

I'm not sure if this will help at all as you may already know about it and find me annoying for mentioning but I'm only trying to help and I wanted to be sure you know about something called "the curly girl method"? Because it's for people who have any type of curly hair to bring out the best in it, learn how to look after and manage it so the curls are more defined and less frizzy etc. It's easier to just go and google it if you want to know about it and find a site that has all the info you need on it. I would look at a few sites though because some I've seen are more extensive and show before and after pics of different types of hair and they are nothing short of amazing! I will say though that it seems like it takes quite a while to get the full benefits (although I'm sure you see improvements all the way through) and you need to be dedicated to sticking to the recommendations. I only say this as I remember reading about one person who would do something that would set their hair back steps every now and then and it made it take much longer until they had their hair in as good conti on as it ever could be.
I hope it helps and if you have already seen this then I apologise! But maybe someone else may be edit from looking it up too so I thought it would be worth posting it still.

Sorry that should've said that "someone else may benefit from it"

A friend gave me the curly girl method handbook and some product that worked for her. It’s addresses the many different types of curly hair and a process for managing each.

www.wmagazine.com/beauty/curly-girl-method-creator-lorraine-massey-honest-haircare-tips-advice/amp

That’s absolutely awful 😦 unfortunately it’s not even that surprising though, frizzy hair is definitely looked upon negatively, I really don’t understand why!

Curly Girl method is really great. You have to use your own judgment once you get the hang of it because it can be incredibly strict for no reason, but a lot of the facebook groups are very chill and only want to help. Curly hair can't be treated the same as straight hair but this isn't something that's common knowledge among white people. Def look into it.

Stupid question but is your hairdresser actually a specialist in curly hair too?

The curly girl stuff annoys me. If you have curly hair surely you've found all that out by trial and error anyway. I'm fed up of people recommending it to me. I know when they do they are just actually saying my hair looks a bit shit and why don't I put some effort in. I have done, it just still look like that!

Although I agree with @Kaitness . The right hairdresser can make a difference.

If your hair is naturally curly, then it is what it is - embrace the curl!

I have what's called Type 3A/B hair which falls in natural natural ringlets. I used to try desperately to straighten my hair, but it never worked, because MY HAIR IS NOT STRAIGHT and I can't make it do something it's not made to do.

When I learned how to look after my hair and style it as it is intended to be, it was a breakthrough. I work in a senior role at director level in a very conservative industry and wear my extremely curly, long hair as is and never receive anything but glowing compliments about it.

As PPs have said, look up the Curly Girl method, find a hairdresser who is a curl specialist and I promise you, you will never look back. Enjoy the journey!

Curly girl doesn’t work for everyone but definitely go and see a hairdresser who is a curl specialist. They will give you proper advice.

Thanks for the help and advice! I’ve actually done curly girl already and it helped but my hair is still naturally curly and frizzy no matter what. It helped a bit though but I doubt I’ll ever fully get rid of the frizz and staticness!

I just posted this because I felt like curly and frizzy hair is looked down on and it’s so unfair when it’s not something we can control! 😞

Did you use the book though? I read it recently and was surprised at how much I’d missed by just checking out websites about it.

It’s truly unfair but I don’t know how we change the mindset.