During most of my childhood I had pin straight hair that needed little to no management. Then right before high school, my curls happened! My hair started growing out curly to my surprise. I would try to hide with wide headbands and ponytails because people said it was buhaghag. In high school I was regularly rebonding my hair during the summers. By the time I was in college, my hair was fried, so I chose to stop getting my hair treated. College was more than five years ago at this point and while my hair is more alive, I wasn’t completely sold on how it looked. I knew I had curly hair; I just didn’t know what to do with it.

“Your hair looks amazing,” a stranger on the street comes up to me with a smile on her face. “Where did you get the curls done?” I then proceed to tell them that the curls are natural. It’s often met with an amazed face when I tell them I got them from my dad or a smirk that shows they don’t really believe me. Sometimes, I get someone who wants to touch my hair just to make sure. You see, all this has been pretty recent. Growing up in the Philippines in the 90s and early 2000s, my hair was never considered pretty. Straight, shiny hair was glorified and curls were often seen as unruly or buhaghag.