For the longest time, there was generally very little awareness in the fashion and beauty world regarding the requirements of maintaining naturally curly hair. The most common solution given was to "just brush it". But as every curly-haired person is well-aware, that is the worst thing you can do to your hair and will only lead to immense frizz with your hair looking like a complete disaster.
However, during the past few years, there has been a great increase in influencers on Instagram that create content on how to properly care for and style curly and wavy hair.
One of the downsides of this rise in awareness about curl-styling and curly haircare, though, is that certain curly-haired girls feel insecure when they see wavy-haired girls learning to use the right products and style their hair correctly. Moreover, they try to discourage girls with diverse curl types from calling their hair curly.
What is the Curl Police?
The curl police are a specific crowd of curly-haired Instagram users that regularly leave critical and often downright rude comments on some girls' posts, claiming that they do not "actually" have curly hair. Many of the users that leave such hateful messages online have Type 4 hair, which means it is extremely curly, usually referred to as "coily" hair. But the hate also comes from people with Type 3 (curly) hair.
How the Curl Police Spreads Insecurity and Misinformation on Instagram
Most of the Curl Police Instagram users claim that if you have to do a whole haircare/ hairstyling routine, then you don't "actually" have curly hair. What they fail to realise though, is that most people that are starting their curly hair journey have used heat-styling and harmful shampoos on their hair for most of their lives and that is why their hair needs that process of healing to go back to its natural texture. Even if that isn't the case, the reality is that curly hair looks different on every individual and there is no one standard look that defines the hair type.