Princess Diaries and Why I Am Insecure About My Hair
I, like many others, was thrilled to learn recently about the confirmation of a third Princess Diaries movie, after years of production hell. To celebrate, I rewatched the movie I loved as a pre-tween–a classic staple at sleepovers. I was brought back in with the amazing humor, classic catch-phrases, and iconic performances, but had to face the one scene that I hate to watch: the makeover. I don’t remember watching the movie for the first time, but I remember at every subsequent rewatch, the disappointment I felt as I watched Anne Hathaway go from looking like my twin to having a makeover and finally being deemed fit for a princess.
Growing up, I always hated my frizzy, curly hair. Why wouldn’t I? Every makeover scene, red carpet events, and tv show told me that shiny, sleek, straight haired girls were beautiful–an added bonus if they were blonde. No-one wore their hair natural. No one wore glasses either. So many movies and tv shows had makeover scenes that showed that it wasn’t until a girl took off her glasses that people saw her as pretty. These scenes made me, and many other young girls (As studied in my thesis) insecure about our own appearances and left many of us with lower self esteems as we continually abused our bodies trying to look like what society said we needed to look like.
I remember being about eight or nine and standing in Toys R’ Us excited to purchase an 18-inch doll for my birthday. I stood in the aisle with about ten different options looking at each one, taking forever to choose which doll I would take home. I had gone into the store excited to get a mini-me, but came out with a doll with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, nothing like my hair or eye colors. But I was beyond excited because for the first time, I found a doll with curly hair like my own. Often, when playing games or doing an activity that required choosing an avatar, I, White, chose Black characters because their hair was most similar to mine. That being said, many Black characters also didn’t wear their natural hair, a similar issue that is still persistent today.
By the time I turned 12, I owned a hair straightener and was convinced that my hair should be straight if I was dressing up as that made me more beautiful. I had a fight with my mom about my hair because I was convinced I should straighten it for my Bat-Mitzvah. It was the most important event of my life–I wanted to look beautiful with straight hair like every other girl in my class. My mom told me I would regret not looking like myself in the pictures–and she was right–I just didn’t realize that until I got older. Looking back at those pictures from my Bat-Mitzvah, I don’t look like me because I felt pressured to conform to the beauty standards of that time.
Now, over a decade after I first watched Princess Diaries and all the other movies with makeover scenes, I can finally appreciate my body image. Part of that has to do with the fact that I have better control over my hair (so many new curly products have entered the market!) and part of that has to do with the fact that as a society we are shifting towards people embracing their natural curls. It is now more likely that you will see celebrities like Nicole Kidman, Zendaya, and Taylor Swift sporting their natural curls. It warms my heart when I am with my young niece and people always compliment her head of curls. I am so glad that this next generation can grow up embracing themselves and having the representation to do so.
