It’s time to embrace those curly tresses with many Curly Girl Bloggers broadcasting love for those luscious locks.

In her three-year-old Curlacious Blog, Divya Madaswamy from Chennai shares that it was in the year 2014 when her birthday was approaching and she felt the pressure to straighten her hair. “So, I bought a straightener… and ended up burning my hair.” This is when she said goodbye to the hair straightener and decided to flaunt her naturally curly hair.

Her research to nourish those curly locks brought her to Lorraine Massey’s Curly Girl: The Handbook that gives away many hair care tips. The ‘CG community’ as they call themselves has been dependent on the only information that this book provides, however, now the movement to embrace those curls is catching up in India, too.

Several Indian CG bloggers cover budget products and the transformation journeys of Indian women and it is so wonderful to see how the members of this community encourage each other and confidently reclaim their curly looks.

Speaking to The News Minute, 31-year-old Elizabeth Alex, based in Pune, says how curly hair used to undermine her confidence as a teenager. “I was ashamed all my life for having curly hair. I was never chosen for lead roles in plays because princesses could not have hair like mine. People would only talk and ask about my hair. They did not see me as more than that. I’m more than my hair, ask me about the book I’m reading instead,” she says.

As things have been changing for better, Anjana, who started her blog Curls and Beauty Diary in 2015, thinks that Indian brands now have a big opportunity to set up their market for curly hair products that had never existed in India before.

To add to curly hair woos, the environmental conditions in India make more waves on the way to curly hair care. “It may make more sense for Indian Curly Girls not to give up shampoo altogether because of the pollution and dust here. But there was no one to tell us that,” says Asha, who started her blog Right Ringlets in October 2014. Also, the products suggested by the international community bloggers are hard to find in India and they turn out to be expensive, which is where the role of Indian CG bloggers come in. “They try Indian products and let other curlies know about them,” says Divya.

Curly hair definitely require more care than that is provided by standard shampoos and conditioners and so Elizabeth, who started her blog Honest Liz, in May 2017, became a distributor of products that are sold by small businesses run by women in the US and UK. She personally does trials of products on herself and then reviews the products on her blog and social media. Once she gets orders from her readers, she purchases those selected products in bulk and sells them to women in India.

Talking about the cost of these hair care products, she says, “The average cost of on equality CG stash would cost around Rs. 5000-7000 and could last about four months. But if I do my hair with these, I don’t have to do anything else for a week and up.” While Asha too agrees how expensive these products are, Anjana insists that it’s possible to follow CG on a budget. “If you do your research right, you can easily get a gel, conditioner and leave-in conditioner within Rs 1000.”

With this, these happy bloggers share that the response to their blogs has been incredible. “In India Curl Pride, I have seen people transforming, sharing their before and after photos. It is truly astonishing and lovely,” says Asha.

H/T: The News Minute