in defense of curls

I was reading this article about curly-haired celebrities the other day, and it got me thinking about my own curls.

(source)
Fellow curly girl, Elaine Benes.
Because everything in my life can be related back to Seinfeld.

When I was a kid, my hair was mostly straight. Then one day when I was middle school, I woke up and my hair was curly.

Seriously.

Since then, I've been in a love/hate relationship with my curls. For most of my adolescence, my solution was to wear it pulled back in a pony tail. (Or under a Cubs hat. Yay hat hair!) By the time I got to college, I had begrudgingly embraced my frizzy hair. Although, once I was even told by an academic advisor that I needed to straighten my hair for interviews if I ever wanted to get a job. Um, what!?!

I just don't understand who decided that straight hair was synonymous with attractiveness and professionalism. What's wrong with just accepting, dare I say loving, yourself just the way you are? Why is it that women are expected to straighten their hair, put on makeup, and dress a certain way in order to be taken seriously? I'm not saying that doing any of those things is at all wrong, I just don't understand why they have come to be viewed as necessary.

I'm finally able to say that I love my crazy hair. (Now I just need to work on embracing my natural hair color. What can I say? I'm a redhead at heart.)

Are there any other curly girls out there? Has anyone ever been told to change their appearance for some reason?