Why can't we just be happy?

Statistics show that one of the biggest concerns girls obsess over is their hair. A typical conversation between two teenagers involves each ruthlessly insulting her own hair while passionately expressing envy of the other's locks. Girls with straight hair find it dull and wish for something a bit more exciting. Girls with curly hair yearn for a tamer scalp. Through this inner dissatisfaction, brands such as Conair make millions. Curly-haired teens by straighteners, and straight-haired females buy curling irons.

My parents' strict rules meant a restriction on unnecessary hair products. With my curly, infuriatingly frizzy hair, I needed a solution desperately. At 13, I went to my best friend's house daily to get my hair straightened (at that point, her parents were the coolest in the world because of their lax hair-product rules), trying as hard as I could to distract my parents when arriving home with my newly-sleek locks. One day, my BFF raised the heat to a particularly high level to quickly straighten my thick hair. She kept checking to make sure I did not feel a burning sensation. A few days later, I felt a bump on the side of my scalp. Six months and three dermatologist appointments later, I realized the dangers of hair-processing and vowed to remain with my natural, annoying hair. I, too, initiate the hair-insulting conversations with my friends with seemingly perfect hair. But it's time to break the cycle. If girls learned to appreciate their own unique look, the "perfect" hair standard would become extinct, and there would no longer be a single look deemed acceptable. Adolescents would be doing a favor for their scalps as well as their parents' pockets. The large-barrel curling iron pictured above is Infiniti by Conair's 1 1/2" Tourmaline Ceramic Curling Iron (see title link). It costs anywhere from $30-$35. Paying to damage your hair doesn't make any sense. So try to break the addiction; if I can do it, so can you.