Curls just wanna have fun

That’s all they really want Some fun

When the working day is done

Oh girls, they wanna have fun

Oh, girls just wanna have fun (girls, they wanna, wanna have fun, girls wanna have)

— Cyndi Lauper

Long black mane…and the image of the quintessential Bengali belle begins to take form. Needless to say, we have moved away from that clichéd image. And for better or worse, we shall continue to maintain a distance from that; there is predictably a good chance that it shall only increase.

Our women are no longer looking forward to their knights in shining armour, and part of the courage comes from us curls. Defiance is our middle name.

Nicely combed; neatly bunned; pony tail…all goes with the Bengali look. But like girls — we, curls, too wanna have some fun!

High time, no?

Our days of repression are gone. We want to blow along with the gentle breeze, and bounce off the shoulders as our mistress sways. Truthfully, we are not much different from our straight hair cousins…although ‘twice removed’.

You can add colour to your life by simply adding colour on us. We are all inclusive and we hate discrimination. Just know this — genealogy is not a perfect science and even if it were, the storks certainly did not bring you.

We are the latent allele in the gene pool, and if you are wondering why on earth you have different hair than most of your family, just don’t!

We are not the proverbial selfish gene, but we ask our women to flaunt us with pride, because we curled bunch are a proud people.

We are not the selfish gene, and we maintain high regard for our arch-nemesis, a.k.a. straight hair, simply out of respect for the large fan following.

But, if I may ask, ‘Is it real?’ How much of it is brushing, wrapping, rolling, ironing? Rebonding!

Seriously, who are they trying to re-bond in the first place? Image of an archaic past?

We are more adaptive and cooperative of the wavy, and of course the kinky — no dear, we mean the hair. Like women of this land are making a mark on society, we are not only redefining features, but redefining feminine grace. 

It’s okay for Jibanananda to compare the eyes of Bonolata  to a bird’s nest, so take ‘pakhir basha’ analogies with a pinch of salt. We are simply better. We are high maintenance and we do like to be pampered, somewhat. But that goes for any hair type, with or without a personality!

Photo: Sazzad Ibne Sayed

Model: Zyma Islam, Sharmin Tasnim Kazi

Styling: Sonia Yeasmin Isha

Makeup: Farzana  Shakil’s Makeover Salon