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Can curly be cool?
Updated On: 11 May, 2020 10:00 AM IST | Mumbai | Fiona Fernandez
A children's book addresses self-acceptance issues with a young protagonist coming to terms with her unmanageable hair
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When curly-haired Divya Anand was growing up, she had to deal with all kinds of nicknames, including Maggi, baal ki dukaan and jhaadu. "I hated my thick, frizzy hair because it was so unmanageable. We didn't have any representation of curly-haired people in books, movies or pop culture," recalls Anand, who's written a children's book, I Hate My Curly Hair (Puffin). The seeds of it emerged at a picture book writing workshop three years ago where she had to create a story overnight; "The story would be about a curly-haired character struggling to deal with her locks. My aim was to create a spunky protagonist who goes from hating her hair to accepting herself the way she is, through a fun incident."
This little gem highlights the issue of body shaming in our society. "Kids can be cruel. I've struggled with accepting my hair, and have friends who still cannot bear to step out without straightened hair because society has drilled it into their heads that curly hair is messy," she elaborates, adding, "I realised how important stories around self-acceptance are for kids these days. During the lockdown, I've been doing sessions with children where I learned that kids have been body-shamed with names like 'pizza face', 'stork', 'duck walk 'and more. It's especially telling that they would only share these confidentially and didn't want others in the conversation to know who it was about because these nicknames make them feel sad and angry."
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