A curly-haired girl does everything she can to straighten her stubborn curls-after all, everywhere she looks she sees heroines with smooth, silky hair. Then one day, a bigger bully comes along and everything changes! I Hate My Curly Hair is a humorous tale of self-acceptance. And of hair, lots and lots of glorious curly hair.
Divya Anand is a book that aims at teaching the kids about body positivity and self-acceptance through a humorous tale of a little girl who has an unruly, unmanageable curly mop of hair. It is an attempt to inculcate in kids that it’s okay to be different from other (people and ads with silky smooth hair); it’s okay to be unusual; it’s okay to be different. And that it’s all about celebrating oneself and learning to accept oneself as they are born—and that all sizes, shapes, are equal.
“‘Maggi’, ‘Saibaba’, ‘Kuruvi Koodu (birds’ nest) are just a few of the nicknames I’ve been called. I spent a large part of my childhood wishing I had silky-straight hair and trying to tame my unruly curls into submission. As I grew older, I realised that it’s fun to have hair with a mind of its own – it’s unique, makes you stand out in a crowd and is also beautiful. I’ve also found the thick curls to be super useful – to hold up pens and pencils when I’m writing, to cover my ears when it’s cold and so on. I Hate My Curly Hair is my attempt to show kids with curly hair just how cool it is to have curly hair, and get them to think of all the fun ways they can use their curls," tells Divya, sharing her personal experiences around her curly hair and the idea behind writing the book
Divya, often called 'baal ki dukaan', struggled with unruly, thick, curly hair for over two decades before she realised her hair looks best when it's left uncombed! She gets her best creative ideas when she's hanging upside down, doing anti-gravity yoga. If you're in Bangalore, you might spot her (and her distinctive curls) with her husband Vivek. Their quest to eat bizarre foods from around the world features in her first book, Dare Eat That.