Question for those with straight hair (like me!)

[lillikins]

This is random, but are people always utterly fascinated when they find out your hair is naturally straight? People are always amazed, and can't get it through their heads that I don't straighten it, blowdry it, or have any weird straightening treatments in it. I seriously don't understand why they find it so odd.

Can anyone else relate?

[ashke50]

Mine is pretty straight, and the reaction I usually get is jealousy, rather than disbelief. Ironically I would prefer slightly curlier hair (although I know it is harder to look after).

[lillikins]

Mine is pretty straight, and the reaction I usually get is jealousy, rather than disbelief. Ironically I would prefer slightly curlier hair (although I know it is harder to look after).

Well... yeah. That too. xD I like having mine straight, it would just be nice to have some volume.

[GlennaGirl]

When I don't have layers, my hair hangs curtain-straight. It is very thin, though, so maybe it's not so staggering to see that way...not sure. I think people do assume I straighten my hair.

My avatar and siggie are bun or peacock twist waves.

[pink.sara]

Mostly people don't believe me when I say I haven't straightened it?!

It takes me coming out with soaking wet hair (summer only!) and them actually watching it dry to believe it's natural straight shiny-ness.

I find it annoying that people are starting to suggest I have extensions or some brasillian straightening or something again. One of the only pitfalls to long hair!

[Heartwillfollow]

Never had anyone ask if I straighten my hair.. I never realized how many people straighten their hair. just never occured to me having straight hair myself I always think it's naturally straight.. I admire people with thick waves and curls it's beautiful.. :)

[crystalkiss]

I'm one of the people who responds with awe and jealousy to people like you guys. :P My hair is faiirrrly wavy and I just wish it would pick one or the other - either be stick straight or be curly. Blargh. Not fair. I WISH I didn't have to straighten my hair. :(

[luxepiggy]

Oh yes. This happens with just about everyone I meet, but I don't mind. It's quite nice, actually - I think I get a great deal of undeserved credit from people who think I put a ton of time & effort into my hair, when in reality I'm so lazy that I often just roll out of bed & go (^(oo)^)v

ETA: Come play in the Straight and Silky Thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=22766)!

[nellreno]

I've gotten a couple people assuming that I straighten who are surprised that I do, but thankfully no one has been rude about it (yet)

[Snippety]

I have super straight hair but not many people comment as it's usually in a plait. I used to wear it down when it was shorter for going out, and one friend used to always ask the same thing when she'd had a few ales: "Do you iron your hair ? Go on, you must do ! Do you iron it ? Do you ?" etc. I'd never heard of ironing hair and though she was a bit bonkers :)

[apple cupcake]

YES

Most people assume I straighten it. As it gets longer it gets a bit wavier (that and I've been keeping it up so it waves a little) but when it is APL... it is stick straight. And nobody believes me.

It's kind of weird.

[beckishness]

Back when I was in high school I would get compliments all of the time. I would have girls I didn't know come up to me asking me how I got my hair so straight. At first I thought that they were joking because I didn't do anything to it! I do have to admit that after awhile it did kind of get on my nerves: "What flat iron do you use?" "What products are you using?" "I could never get up that early and straighten my hair like you do..."

My hair won't hold a curl to save my life. ;-)

[French Braider]

I also have naturally really straight hair. There is some disbelief that I don't do anything to my hair, but that is pretty much it.

[PixxieStix]

Well, at this point, I think my hair is too short for anyone to assume I spend any time straightening it. I never got asked when I was younger with long hair though, maybe the craze just hadn't caught on yet in my neck of the woods at that time.

So, nope, hasn't happened to me *yet*. In a few years, probably.

[islandboo]

I have never had anyone ask if I straighten my hair but I am guilty of naivety the other way. At a high school football game I actually allowed myself to be astonished by how many of the girls had straight hair like mine. It took a couple days before I realized that the vast majority of them were probably straightening it.

[vampyriccadence]

I had this one guy in the mall stop me (one of those straightener sellers) and he said "I bet you need a new straightener, how did you style your hair this morning?" I said, "A Brush" and he just had this shocked look on his face. Naturally straight hair exists.

What I find more entertaining is when people try and curl my hair, as soon as they finish one side and start on the other, the beginning has turned flat. It's always, "I can curl anyone's hair", mmhmm, I bet.

[FroggyMonkeyMom]

I got the straight hair in the family. Most everyone else is wavy. I never get approached but when I visited Bahrain and Pakistan I think some of them had the idea that Americans are curlly. They were amazed that I do practically nothing except wash, bun, or braid.

My sister has a grade A, bonafide white girl Afro! I had no idea! If she doesn't do her "routine" within minutes of washing, her hair is a lost cause. And I have no idea what she does to it to tame it. The word "chi" is mentioned. I was at least 30 before I ever figured out what a chi is.

Most of my life I wanted curlly hair, not realizing most girl wanted straight hair. Always want what everyone else has, I guess. But now I am so glad I got straight hair.

[AngryVikingGirl]

Haha...this is how I learn that straight hair is so popular...Funny. :) I always wanted some waves, now I'm happy with my hair but this really surprised me. :D

[helenec]

I can totally relate!
I have completely stick straight hair and every single day people ask me where did I get my straightening treatment. When I tell them that it is my natural hair no one believes me.
I do understand where they are coming from because my hair looks completely and unnaturally straight.

[helenec]

I had this one guy in the mall stop me (one of those straightener sellers) and he said "I bet you need a new straightener, how did you style your hair this morning?" I said, "A Brush" and he just had this shocked look on his face. Naturally straight hair exists.

What I find more entertaining is when people try and curl my hair, as soon as they finish one side and start on the other, the beginning has turned flat. It's always, "I can curl anyone's hair", mmhmm, I bet.

All my life I dreamed about curls but my hair can never hold a curl. So, I decided that at my wedding I'll have curls no matter what! After spending 6 hours at a salon with curlers and having chemical stuff put in my hair, it held the curl for like a hour and a half... After the wedding I had to cut my hair because apparently the curling treatment destroyed it. But, I have pictures to prove I had curls!

My mom and I have the same hair and she has her hair permanently curled... unfortunately for her our hair can't hold even permanent curls LOL. But, she keeps trying for the last 20 years...

[PorkChop]

Mine is pretty straight, and the reaction I usually get is jealousy, rather than disbelief. Ironically I would prefer slightly curlier hair (although I know it is harder to look after).

Ditto. It baffles me. I spend time trying to get some volume/waves into mine and they spend all their time trying to straighten theirs !

[Mi-chan666]

I find this very surprising... my hair is very straight too if I didn't wear it in a bun or a braid before, but nobody ever asked if I straightened it... here, most people have very straight here, so nobody wonders if mine has been straightened... O.o

[WaitingSoLong]

I have only ever been asked on TLHC, never in real life. People may assume I straighten, I know it is pretty much the norm for people to do that now. I do get asked if I am natural blonde, but that is about it.

I don't try to get volume, I am happy with my volumeless straightness. If I want some wave, I just do the whole braid wave thing. Works rather well if I do it properly:

http://i393.photobucket.com/albums/pp17/Poetry4me75/DSC00688.jpg

[Becky9679]

My hair isn't absolutely stick straight as some on here but I still get disbelief from many people.

One instance that sticks in my mind is once when myself and a few work colleagues were discussing hair styling and one said 'of course, every woman owns a hair straightener these days'. I happened to be wearing my hair down that day and said 'I don't'. She gave me an absolute look of death! I don't know whether this was jealousy or simply because I contradicted her (she's one of those people that hates being contradicted, even if she is wrong)

[freckles]

Nobody ever comments on my straight hair because I almost always have some form of braidwaves if it's down ... because it's rarely down enough to stay straight. :shrug:

Pre-LHC sometimes people would assume I straightened it. :)

[evb]

my hair does what I call body surfing~~ a slight wave at shoulder/neck juncture so when it was longer I used to either blow it dry with a paddle brush to enhance straightness or sleep in double backed sponge curlers for sproings. I like it both ways. I am not sure what my hair is on the straight to curly range since I am still kinda new and typing is hard business!

[Diamond.Eyes]

I get that all the time when I wear my hair natural. I don't mind if they aren't rude, but I encountered an older woman who was pretty rude about it and called me a liar. :rolleyes:

[Nannanej]

A lot of people here (scandinavia) have straight hair.. Nobody ever comments on mine. Also, people I know tend to find wavy or curly hair more "interesting", so I've always felt that my straight hair was boring.

[geminiwoman]

I've never had anyone rude about it. Once or twice maybe someone was confused at the idea that no really, it just grows out of my head that way. What I think is funniest is getting compliments on how I 'did my hair all sleek and shiny!' when chances are the reality is more like 'I haven't washed it in 2 1/2 days and I ran a brush through it' :D

[brittiedikins]

This is random, but are people always utterly fascinated when they find out your hair is naturally straight? People are always amazed, and can't get it through their heads that I don't straighten it, blowdry it, or have any weird straightening treatments in it. I seriously don't understand why they find it so odd.

Can anyone else relate?

Well yeah... people always fuss over my straight hair. Is wavy and curly hair so common?

[Bagginslover]

Oh gosh yes!! Even hairdressers have asked if I've had it chemically straightened!! Most 'normal' people simply don't beleive me, but I don't really care to be honest, I know its straight, they obviously don't know me very well if they think I'd lie about something so silly!

[Renate]

Uhm.. I can't remember anyone asking me this, probably because my hair isn't straight "enough", but I agree that it isn't uncommon for people to assume a naturally straight hair is straightned.. I have a friend who is 1a and she has told me that people have asked her this!

I love my straight hair! :D It is so unbelievable easy to look after..

[B-L]

A lot of people here (scandinavia) have straight hair.. Nobody ever comments on mine. Also, people I know tend to find wavy or curly hair more "interesting", so I've always felt that my straight hair was boring.

This! ^^
It's really common here so I fit right in. :p

I've always wanted wavy or curly hair.. The grass is greener on the other side :D

[Tisiloves]

I actually had to make one of the girls on my rugby team watch my hair air dry before she would believe that it was "just like that".

I'm another one who's a bit naive about straightening. I was 20 before I twigged that my next door neighbour relaxes her hair. I always wondered why the length was straight and the root/baby hairs were really kinky....

[Carissamarie08]

Yes my hair is very straight naturally.

[millyaulait]

I used to get a lot of comments when I was younger about this, I think because straightening hair was all the rage back in high school. My friends would burn their hair to death & tell me "You're so lucky - your hair is so straight!", but to be honest I hated it... I wanted more volume & wave! The grass is always greener, huh? :)

[Grillz]

It seems like all the teenagers around here straighten their hair. The main difference I've noticed is that my naturally straight hair looks soft and has movement while their flat-ironed hair looks stiff and crispy.

[Bunnysaur]

Yep. My roommate has really cool wavy/wurly hair, and she was shocked and jealous when she found out I don't straighten mine. Sometimes I do (on a low setting), when it's being particularly rebellious, but I generally have stick straight, well behaved hair.

[Mairéad]

People have done that to me. What irks me is when people suggest I should still flat iron my hair. :rolleyes:

Like, what business does that annoying kiosk in the mall think I have with a straightening iron?

[oktobergoud]

To me, it's the other way around lol! I have a bit of a wave, and sometimes it gets quite wavy and when it is like that, people are like 'ha, you used a curling iron today!' or something like that :P

[RapunzelKat]

On the rare occasions when I wear my hair down :D I often get comments along the lines of "Wow, it's so straight! Is that natural?" There's a pretty wide variety of hair types around here, but stick-straight is not too common. I think the comments may also be due to the combination of length and straightness. I only have a very few slightly wavy 1b strands in my underlayers, so my hair lies perfectly straight allll they way down its length unless it's been braided ;)

[heidi w.]

This is random, but are people always utterly fascinated when they find out your hair is naturally straight? People are always amazed, and can't get it through their heads that I don't straighten it, blowdry it, or have any weird straightening treatments in it. I seriously don't understand why they find it so odd.

Can anyone else relate?

My hair is dead straight. NO wave, no bends, no furl, no curl. Not one in sight. And I can barely get my hair to bend, much less curl it. If you look at my HAIR album here on LHC, maybe that might answer your question somewhat. Straight hair that is naturally stick straight is fairly shiny on its own, for one.

I've kind of experienced people's fascination with the straight, but not a whole lot. They're more impressed by the length because most people in my universe have not seen really long hair.

heidi w.

[spidermom]

What's funny is when somebody has straight hair and still uses a flat iron on it.

[terylenerose]

I don't have straight hair, but I do have curly hair that straightens on its own after a few days of not washing. I have been asked sometimes if I curl it and the answer is always no. One girl at school asked me recently, and she didn't seem to believe me at first but then she understood. I can understand why she thought I curled it. At my school it is just as common to see curled, straightened or relaxed hair as natural, if not more so. I see people come in with straight hair one day, then curly hair the next. It's often impossible to tell their real hairtype. They are also not very big on wearing it up. I see lots of BSL-tailbone length hair that is always down. But for some reason it still looks fine.
ETA: I did ask some girls once if they straightened their hair. The answer was yes. They proceeded to tell me that I needed a straightener, although I suppose I invited it by telling them I had tried unsuccessfully to straighten my hair.
Okay, that was a bit off the rails.

[MeowScat]

My hair is stick-straight, hip length and fine. I can't get a curl to stay no matter what I do. Meh.

I was at a restaurant and my back was to the kitchen. My waitress came out and said, " Oh my God! How long did it take you to straighten your hair?"

I said, "I didn't, I don't even own a straightener . I just comb it and let it dry."

Her eyes widened, her jaw dropped and she said, "I have SUCH hair envy."

All I kept thinking was she was crazy for wanting to straighten her gorgeous, bouncy curls.

I can't get mine to curl and she can't get hers straight. We wanted to trade hair. :)

[Teufelchen]

On the rare occasions when I wear my hair down :D I often get comments along the lines of "Wow, it's so straight! Is that natural?" There's a pretty wide variety of hair types around here, but stick-straight is not too common. I think the comments may also be due to the combination of length and straightness.
I think so as well. :)
My hair always get's that type of comments. Well, I am used to by now.
But I have really made the observation that naturally stick-straight hair is quite uncommon, most people with straight hair, still have a slight body wave giving volume and are 1b therefore.

[KarenLilie]

A lot of people don't believe me as well when I tell them it's natural. It's interesting how they get fascinated and stuff. But no one has ever been rude or mean about it, most give me compliments that seem really sincere. Most of the people who comment on my hair are girls at my school. They almost always see me with just straight boring hair or a ponytail. I can't ever curl it cuz my hair can't stay curly for more than half an hour and I feel really guilty about using hairspray. Maybe they think I'm boring for having straight hair all the time so they find nothing to be jealous about. :p

[Illr Kona]

I have never been asked if my hair was naturally straight; I have been asked if my hair was "real" so many times that I would not be able to count. :)

[Illr Kona]

What's funny is when somebody has straight hair and still uses a flat iron on it.
Ha ha, YES! I never understood that as well. :p

[MeowScat]

I get the same reaction and it never ceases to amaze me.

Sometimes I'm told that they have "hair envy" or else I get a look of shock / disbelief.

It's funny because I'm always shocked when someone tells me their hair is naturally curly (or wavy) since I can't get mine to hold a curl (or wave).

The curlies tell me they airdry for curls and I tell them I airdry for straight. The conversation usually ends with a "Wow!" from both of us!

:)

[lunalocks]

My daughter tells me this happens to her all the time. Girls she goes to high school with assume she straightens her hair. It is sleek and stick straight (and beautiful) and all she does is comb and air dry.

Why do so many girls/women (and maybe men?) iron their hair? I love the look of perfectly straight hair, but I also love waves and curls and texture. I had a co worker who, one day, came to work with the most beautiful curls. Turns our she flat irons it every day to get rid of them. With the extra body she insists she looks like a mushroom.

[PinkyCat]

Ironically - there are people out there who think all curls are fake - as in "Hey, where'd ya get that perm? It came out so natural!" :p
"What?? You mean it just. Does that?"

[Jessy22284]

My sister is the only one usually that's jealous of my straight hair. She has very thick curly/wurly hair, which grows amazingly fast. It's basically the opposite of mine. We are both envious of each other's hair. I guess it just goes to show you that we always want what we can't have.

[mzBANGBANG]

I had a very pretty friend in high school try to give me hair styling tips and she was completely floored when I told her the scrunching technique doesn't work in my hair; even more floored that I had never heard of it. This was about 3 years before the whole flat iron phase took over. I think at my young age I didn't even realize hair could be wavy, it was either straight or curly to me. At the time, I just assumed I was doing it wrong. Alas, scrunching requires a night-time bun in order to give some kind of result on my straight hair.

[Melolf]

Yeah, everybody always goggle when I say my hair just comes out that straight. I had to dry my hair in front of a friend before she believed me!

[cremenoir]

i have waves, but i have a friend who has absolutely stick sgraight hair and i was shocked when i saw it air dry one day.. i always thought she ironed it, or at very least blow dried it to get it that way. i didnt know hair that straight occurred naturally haha i always thought everyone had a little wave.

[luxepiggy]

i have waves, but i have a friend who has absolutely stick sgraight hair and i was shocked when i saw it air dry one day.. i always thought she ironed it, or at very least blow dried it to get it that way. i didnt know hair that straight occurred naturally haha i always thought everyone had a little wave.

LOL! I'll admit, I've been guilty of the opposite, especially amongst my Asian friends. I was shocked to discover how many of them own flat-irons. My entire extended family on both sides has 1a hair, so I grew up thinking all Asian hair was stick-straight :o

[xoxophelia]

Ironically - there are people out there who think all curls are fake - as in "Hey, where'd ya get that perm? It came out so natural!" :p
"What?? You mean it just. Does that?"

Same thing with waves. My siggy is my natural hair texture just from wash and go and I get people asking me how I got the waves (or victoria secret waves I've heard :shrug:). I think what it comes down to is that people assume everybody styles their hair and puts x amount of time into it.

[spookyghost]

I also have naturally straight hair-thin too. And I am also amazed that you dont have to do anything to it to wear it like that. That you can just wet or shampoo your hair, let it air dry, and woo-lah, you have straight and fabulous hair!:D But I know its because your hair is probably so healthy that you can do that. So I think that maybe some people arent so shocked that you have naturally straight hair but that even though its straight that you dont have to straighten it to look so good and they probably do. You know what I mean?

[Capybara]

I don't have stick straight hair, but I'm often asked whether I straighten it. They are always amazed when I tell them I don't.

[Nedertane]

While I can't recall ever having been actually ASKED about straightening my hair, I know that whenever it's come into conversation people are sometimes really shocked when I say I don't straighten it. I remember a woman I worked with once in a Halloween store who told me she was envious of my hair since hers used to be very straight like mine, but once she got to middle school, it got curly and frizzy.

I admit that I used to have quite a penchant for wavy hair. My friend has 1c/2a ish hair, and I think his is really, really nice (^_^). Anymore, though, I am very happy with my straight hair, since, aside from the tangles, it's pretty easy to manage and (heh) I know how much other people will work to get what I have.

[Springgrl]

I definitely get asked all the time if I straighten my hair, and whether or not it is fake. I think it is because straightening is so 'in-fashion' right now, people assume everyone does it. So I just politely say no it's neither one of those things, and I interpret it as a compliment :)

[chenille]

Ha, it's only happened once but I thought it was funny. I was at a networking lunch with some women, I can't remember how the conversation turned to hair, and one of the girls next to me said, "Oh, I'm just addicted to my straightening iron," and another one said "Oh, me too!" And they both looked at me with this expectant look, and I was like, "Er, um, my hair just grows this way." I felt sort of silly but I didn't know what to say. And they both exclaimed that mine looked straightened, and I was thinking to myself, "Hmm, I'm sure they mean it as a compliment, but it's sort of like saying my hair looks unnatural!"

[citadel]

I have pin straight hair but I usually do pin curls or braid waves. Whenever I'm lazy and wear it straight, people are shocked. Even when I lived in Asia, my hair stylist refused to believe that my hair was naturally *that* straight.

[holothuroidea]

My hair turned wavyish when I had my first baby, but I grew up with 1a hair. Every inch of growth I get I loose some wave. I'm going to hair type my hair again next month and I think I'm going to probably be 1b/1c instead of 1c/2a.

When I lived in Minnesota, nobody thought anything of it except that a few of my classmates who had curly hair did express some envy. Straight hair was really common there, probably because there is such a large Scandanavian population.

However, when I moved to Delaware it was a whole different story. I had a few black girls ask me where I got my hair relaxed. I asked them where they got their perms!! (I always wanted an Afro, call me crazy :D)

My DH has a family of curly-headed Italians and at first they all wanted to know how I got my hair so straight.

Other than that I have had a few ladies express some envy, which was usually reciprocated because I always adored curly hair. I was very happy when I developed some waves, but I see that they fade with length. I am fine with that, it was nice to have them for a little while.

[bumblebums]

I don't have straight hair, but I think I know what's going on.

For a while, straight hair was in style. Most people in the world have hair that isn't super-straight (that is, if you take all the Africans and all the Australians and all the other wavy-haired folk out there), so 1a hair is an extreme, and it seems like an unattainable one if you have wavy or curly hair. So people are surprised that some have it "for free".

I was similarly surprised when I realized (as a 15-year-old or so) that some people have natural corkscrew curls that seemed to only be attainable through the dreaded 80's perm. Now that I'm older, I know better :)