A viral video has shed light on society’s attitudes toward natural hair through subconscious behaviors that most people wouldn’t think twice about.
The 22-year-old graduate Elizabeth McGovern took to TikTok to share the different treatment she has become used to receiving on a night out if she wears her hair in its natural curls.
In the viral clip, which has amassed over 3.5 million views and more than 314,000 likes, McGovern wrote, “me when I know going out with curl hair means I’ll be buying all my own drinks for the night.” Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please Please Please” played in the background. She asked in the video’s caption, “why do curls = man repellent,” with the clip sparking conversations around public attitudes toward the natural hair pattern.
McGovern, from New York, told Newsweek: “I do notice a difference in attention when I wear my hair natural, especially when I’m out. I’ve noticed that I seem to get a lot of compliments from women, and it’s often a conversation starter with other girls who wear their hair natural.”
McGovern said: “I also notice a pretty big discrepancy between the male attention I receive when my hair is natural or not. When I heat-style my hair, I feel like it’s almost a guarantee that I’ll get a lot of attention from men I don’t know. This was especially the case in college, where a joke started with my friends that, if I was wearing my hair natural, no guy was going to approach me.”
McGovern isn’t alone in this realization, and discovered many of her peers had the same experiences and attitudes toward their curly hair.
“A lot of my female friends who have naturally curly/wavy hair shared a similar feeling, and have said that they prefer going out with heat-styled hair for that reason,” McGovern said. “I think that it became most obvious to me when I started dying my hair blonde, and honestly the difference between going out with heat-styled blonde hair versus natural blonde hair could be pretty striking in regards to male attention.
“I suppose this is probably because the heat-styled blonde hair conformed more to Western beauty ideals than perhaps my heat-styled dark hair did, but it’s interesting to consider how this changed people’s attitudes toward my natural versus heat-styled hair.”
Others’ attitudes toward her natural hair has had a knock-on effect on McGovern’s own relationship with her locks. She said: “I think that it’s unfortunately a natural human reaction to associate positive attention with how you feel about certain physical attributes.
“It’s hard to feel 100 percent secure in your appearance as a woman, especially because we’re taught from a young age that our worth is tied to an unattainable beauty standard. It’s incredibly difficult to ignore the noise of external validation and focus solely on how you feel about a certain aspect of yourself. So, I do think the attention, or lack thereof, has negatively affected how I feel toward my natural hair.”
The video sparked thousands of comments from users sharing their own experiences, as well as going against McGovern’s theory, although she “never meant for the video to be taken as seriously as many took it.”
“I didn’t post on TikTok regularly and only interacted with my friends, so I assumed they were the only ones who would see it, and I knew that they would understand my sarcastic tone,” McGovern said. “I never expected it to resonate so much with so many women, but it’s been interesting to hear about people’s different experiences.”
The comments section allowed viewers to voice vast opinions, as she added: “The reaction has been all over the place. I would say that it remains pretty split between women saying that they have had a similar experience, and women saying that they experience the exact opposite.
“A lot of people were saying it was because of what they assume is my own lack of confidence, and others argued that the experience is legitimately rooted in science, the beauty standard, cultural norms, etc. Some people accused me of lying; others said it was because my natural hair didn’t look as good as other women’s did; and some said it was because I look intimidating. I honestly can’t draw any conclusions due to how diverse the reactions were.”
Despite picking up on how differently she is treated with her natural hair, it hasn’t put McGovern off embracing her curls. She said: “I really do love my natural hair and feel confident wearing it, despite the difference in attention I receive.
“But I do think that it is human nature to feel somewhat uncomfortable when you are going against any kind of standard. It’s unreasonable to expect anyone to feel totally confident in themselves all the time, so I try to give myself grace on the days that I don’t feel great wearing my natural hair.”
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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