I spent most of my growing-up years having my hair combed and brushed and smoothed so that it would look “nice.” Letting my hair go naturally curly at age 16 was the best beauty decision I ever made. Before then, I had always hated my hair because it never looked the way I wanted it to look without a lot of work. Once I just let my curls do what they wanted, my hair looked great. Even on “bad” hair days, my hair looked so much better than it ever did when I straightened it. 

So for all you curly girls out there…

Myth: There are only two types of hair, straight or curly.

Truth: There are four basic hair types and each has its own unique beauty and needs different care. All of these types can be thin, medium, or thick in density. 

Type 1: Straight. The hair has no curl and no wave. This type can be fine, medium, or coarse in texture.

Type 2: Wavy. The hair falls in very loose S shapes that are hard to see when the hair is short. This type is more likely to have fine or medium texture.

Type 3: Curly. The hair falls in S shapes ranging from loose ringlets to tight corkscrews. This type usually has a fine texture. It’s not unusual for curly hair to have several movements on one head.

Type 4: Super-coily. The hair falls in very tight S shapes or Z shapes. This is the type typically found on black people. This type has a very fine texture. 

Myth: Curly hair is coarse.

Truth: Curly hair is usually very fine. The terms fine, medium, and coarse are used to refer to the hair’s texture which is the width of the hair strand when looked at in cross-section. Coarse hair has a wide diameter and more cuticle layers to protect the hair. Fine hair has a smaller diameter and fewer cuticle layers which makes it more prone to damage. The curlier the hair, the more fine it’s likely to be.   

Myth: Curly hair is difficult to care for and style.

Truth: Curly hair can be EASY to care for and style. 

All you need to do is scrub your scalp in the shower, rinse (and let the runoff clean the rest of your hair), add conditioner, comb it through, blot with a towel, add some gel or spray gel, scrunch the hair, and you’re done. Hairstylist Lorraine Massey, curly hair specialist and author of Curly Girl: The Handbook, recommends using either a sulfate-free shampoo or a light conditioner as the cleansing agent for scrubbing your scalp. I use a light conditioner as my cleansing agent and it works great. She also recommends leaving some or even all of your thicker combing conditioner in your hair. I do that too and it works for my Type 3 hair. Type 4 hair also does well with this. Type 2 hair usually needs some or all of the conditioner rinsed out so as not to weigh the waves down too much.  

Myth: Curly hair takes time to look good.

Truth: Curly hair is not only easy but fast. By just using the right products and techniques and letting your curls do what they want to do, you can get a great look in five minutes. 

Myth: Curly hair requires a lot of expensive products and tools to look good.

Truth: Curly hair requires only good products and a few tools. Light conditioner for scrubbing, thicker conditioner for combing/leave-in, a wide-tooth comb, gel or spray gel,  cloth-covered elastics and scrunchies, and simple hair pins are all available at drugstores and they are not expensive. I love scrunchies for curly hair – they’re cloth-covered so they don’t damage the hair, they hold it well, and their crinkly texture matches the crinkles in curly hair. 

That said, with shampoos and conditioners, you do have to check the ingredients on the products. If you choose to use shampoo, it must not have any ingredients ending in -ate. Those are sulfates and they will leave the scalp and hair very dry (they’re the culprit in dishpan hands and they’ll give you a dishpan scalp). Conditioners need to have good ingredients, like stearyl alcohol and cetearyl alcohol, that will leave your hair moist and healthy and not sticky. Lorraine Massey says that silicones (any ingredient ending in -cone) weigh curly hair down too much but I’ve found that if they’re lower on the ingredient list, the conditioner works just fine. And Teri LaFlesh, author of Curly Like Me (a book that celebrates Type 4 hair and advises how to care for it properly), recommends silicones for tightly-coiled hair because they add slip and make the hair easier to comb.     

Myth: Curly hair needs to be combed and brushed every day.

Truth: First, curly hair should never be brushed with a standard brush. Brushing tears curly hair into pieces, leaving that frizzy, unmanageable situation stereotypical (but oh-so-unnecessary) with curly hair. Second, curly hair can be combed but only with fingers, a wide-tooth comb, or a Denman-style brush (it’s safe for curly hair because it’s gentle and acts more like a comb) and then only when the hair is soaking wet and mucked up with conditioner. Otherwise, the hair will get damaged. 

Myth: Curly hair looks too wild.

Truth: When curly hair is above the shoulders, it can grow outward and look a little wild. But with good conditioner and gel, the curls will still look great. And if the hair still looks a little wild, it can be tamed by pulling it back into a ponytail or up into a bun or twist. 

Myth: Curly hair should never be worn short or you risk looking like a poodle. 

Truth: Curly hair can look wonderful in many short styles. A great hairdresser can cut and shape it so that it doesn’t look like a poodle. I’ve worn my curly hair in a number of styles ranging from short to long. 

Myth: Curly hair must never wear bangs.

Truth: Curly bangs will not fall straight and smooth but they can frame and soften the face and look terrific. I love mine. 

Myth: Curly hair needs work to get into ponytails and updos.

Truth: Straight hair needs products and hot tools to give it texture and grip so that it won’t slide out of fastenings for ponytails and updos. Curly hair has that texture and grip naturally. All you have to do is pull it back or up, twist into place, fasten, and you’re done. If a few curls slip out, it actually looks more youthful and modern than if every hair were in place (that holds for every hair type, including straight hair).