I used to not hate my hair.
As a child I was quiet and scared of people.
I always avoided interacting them.
I was probably the quietest person anyone could meet.

My shyness increased in school.
That’s when people started commenting on my hair.
“It’s like a brillo pad.”
“Your hair is a mess.”
My classmates would always ask what was wrong with my hair.
There was never a time when they didn’t comment on it.

I started to hide, and I stopped talking with them.
I would pretend I didn’t care about what they said, even if I was on the verge of tears.
I would go home and cry.

My mother wouldn’t let me straighten it, but she never told me that it looked nice either.
“We’ll treat it with oils and creams and it’ll get better,” she’d say.

I wore the hijab to cover up my hair.
I still wear it to hide my hair even though I want to take it off.
I was always scared my female friends would find out about my hair type.

I only started to accept it a few years ago.
Why do I hide it?
Thanks to the group Curly Girls, some tutorials, and Facebook groups, I started learning how to deal with it and followed the curly girl routine.

I hope one day I can finally say that I love my hair.
I feel like I’m a drama queen sometimes.
I feel like I’m being too sensitive whenever I tell someone that comments about my hair broke me.
And that the comments I got made me avoid people.
And that I wish I could’ve been able to accept myself a long time ago, not just a few years ago.