Ok.
So I’m tall.
And I’m curly.
I tried to be short. Didn’t work.
Tried to have straight hair. Didn’t last.
Then I thought : “Hey! Let’s try something new and be myself!”
And that is : tall, and curly.
Some people think it’s nice to be tall. Some people think it’s nice to be curly. Some people would rather die than being one or the other. I simply have no choice, so I try to enjoy myself as much as possible. But some days… oh some days…
I have created this blog for those days when, if there was a vaccine against inches or curls, I would run to get an injection.
[UPDATE]
My story as a Tall N Curly person
I’ve received a few messages asking me if I keep my hair natural or not, if I have relaxed my hair before, and if I’m against relaxing.
I also got a comment on my Pinterest profile that made me realize some people might think that because I draw all these comics about being tall and curly, I hate being one or the other, or both.
Therefore I’ve decided to add some details in my about section so that everyone can understand my approach concerning my blog and comics. 
The HAIR.
The comment on Pinterest said that I should enjoy my hair because kinks are in. In other words : that I should stop complaining about it. I must admit I didn’t really see the connection between kinks being in or not and the fact that curly/kinky hair is very difficult to manage and sometimes complicated to deal with.
I’ve been natural for over 10 years now. Before that, I’ve relaxed my hair for about 10 years. And before that, my hair was kept natural. The problem is, being multiracial and my mother being white, she just never could figure out what to do with my hair and didn’t teach me a single thing about it.
Things were okay until I was 9 because my hair was very long and I always wore one or two big braids. But one day my mom decided to cut it very short because she found it too difficult to wash, comb and style. A little girl screaming for two hours when you’re trying to detangle her hair can get really nerve-racking – I guess.
So I went from this :
To this :
Please notice the smile in the before pic, and the “WTF” look on my face in the second one. Ooooh was I happy.
And so from there on kids started to make fun of me because I looked like a poodle, a sheep, a boy, the Jacksons 5… name it.
I grew up thinking I had the worst hair in the world and didn’t know what to do with it besides buns or ponytails. But that was until I discovered blow-drying. Then I spent a few years straightening my hair every week, fighting against rain, snow, wind… But that was until I discovered relaxers. Then the real trouble began.
I had no idea know how relaxers worked, so I went to this afro hair salon. I’ll never know whether the hairdresser didn’t like me or if she had missed a class in hairdressing school, but she relaxed my hair from the roots to the ends everytime I went there, which means every two months for 2 years.
My hair is veeeery thick and strong and I think it’s the only reason I’m not bald today.
Anyhow, one day I mentioned it to a girlfriend – didn’t think of mentioning it before, I didn’t even know there was a problem. I only knew my hair looked like sh*t, was dry as the Sahara, and almost cut my cheeks at night because it was so hard. The only thing that mattered to me at that time was that it was straight and manageable.
So my friend looked at me with big eyes and told me it was a miracle I still had hair. I stopped going to the hair salon and started relaxing my roots myself.
I remember hating my hair at that time, but as I said, it was manageable. At least.
I used to look at straight haired girls, envying their hair. I wanted their hair, I used to think they were the lucky ones. Like if I was born missing a leg or something. I simply couldn’t see my hair like a strength, a quality, something nice that made me special. I only felt handicapped. I tried to convince myself that straightening my hair made me part of the straight haired girls gang, glamorous and all, when I actually looked more like an old and worn out broom.
I think I would have relaxed my hair all my life if, when going to college, I hadn’t found myself tired of focusing on my hair instead of on my studies.
I remember one day looking at myself in the mirror, my roots being 2 inches long. You know when you have this adorable palm tree look, with the hair going up a little bit before falling back down like polluted waterfalls. It was time to relax.
But it was winter, it was cold outside and snowing, and I just didn’t feel like going out of the house. I had homework to do – homework that I loved because it was drawing homework – so suddenly I thought “Oh screw it. Damn hair. Do whatever you want.” And so it started to grow.
Months later I had to cut the relaxed part of my hair. I ended up curled up in my bathroom crying because as I’m tall, the little fro I had around my head made me look like a giant microphone.
Still, I don’t know why, I chose not to go back to relaxing only to gain a few inches. I decided to wait. And my hair grew and grew and grew. I didn’t have a clue about how to comb it, style it, wash it or take care of it. I was a newbie. I was getting mad at it 99% of the time. I thought so many times going back to relaxing you have no idea (or you do 
). But I did not. I’ve waited. I learned, and tried stuff. And like any curly girl, years later, I’m still learning and trying stuff. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes the hair will cooperate, sometimes it won’t.
The thing is, growing up, we all learn things about life, and the path I chose brought me closer to nature. Looking for the truth everywhere I now believe everything happens for a reason. And in “everything”, there is my hair. I was born with this hair. There must be a reason for that too. So although I still – and will always – get angry a lot at it, I now respect my hair for what it is : a part of me.
Actually it’s not that different from who I am. I’m pretty stubborn and rebellious too. What was I expecting from it ?
So to answer the question “Am I against relaxing?” I will say that I understand when girls with curly/kinky/nappy hair choose to relax it. I understand because it’s complicated and sometimes expensive to take care of this kind of hair. I don’t judge girls who relax their hair. It can turn out very pretty when it’s done right. So no, I’m not the naturalista-power-dictator kind of girl, no.
On the other hand, I find curly/kinky/nappy hair not only beautiful, I find it magical. This kind of hair is strong in essence. It’s the root. The origins of hair. It’s a force of nature. It looks like there are magical powers in it. There’s something magical about a woman who walks proudly in the street with this big, voluminous, “do-you-have-something-to-say?” hair. She walks on top of the world. She couldn’t care less about what people think or say. She couldn’t care less about what products or beauty ideal the magazines are trying to sell her. She’s not discreet. She does not hide. She is there. She IS. And to have the courage and the pride to BE who you are, under everybody else’s eyes, THAT’S magical.
I also tend to find that a curly girl is always prettier when she wears her hair curly. Simply because it’s her! Her true self! How could it be better than that? She can be pretty with her hair straightened too. I blow-dry my hair sometimes and I like the way it looks. But I always end up being in a hurry to go back to my curls, and right after I washed my hair, seeing my curls living again in the mirror gives me the feeling I’m back to my true self.
If a girl relaxes her hair, I will respect her choice. But if I see the tiniest shadow of a doubt in her attitude, the kind of “I’d like to go natural but I’m afraid of what other people may think” I’ll definitely encourage her to stop putting dangerous chemicals on her head and to walk the path to learning to love herself in spite of others’ opinion. And to walk that path, you have to learn to love or at least accept every single thing about yourself. The curls are often a big part of the journey.
So people, I LOVE my hair. 
Still I fight with it all the time, and that’s why I find it funny to draw some of these experiences because I know – I hope hahaha – I’m not the only one having to deal with all of this.
The HEIGHT.
I’m 6′. I used to hate being tall too. I went to the same school from age 6 to age 16, and during all the time I’ve spent there, the same kids who made fun of me because of my poodle haircut made fun of me because of my height. I can tell you it’s very difficult to love something about yourself when everyone has been telling you that you look ridiculous for over 10 years. I admit it, it took me ages to get over it.
I did model for 3 years or so, and it did help me accepting my height. I definitely wasn’t the tallest girl in the runway shows, and wearing heels seemed to be normal for all these giant beautiful girls so I started to think being tall wasn’t that of a curse. It still felt weird sometimes and I was having a hard time understanding what I was doing amongst the models, and I still had to work on myself a lot to stop focusing on what shorter people had to say about me all the time, but eventually it did help.
Some may think being a model should have cured everything instantly but it didn’t. My complexes were too deeply ingrained!
Another thing that helped me a lot is that my cousin is very tall too. She’s 6’3″ so we shared a lot of the tall girls problems and learned to laugh about it together.
The journey to accepting my height was pretty much the same as accepting my hair. One day I simply got sick of feeling bad about it. I decided that I came on Earth with these extra inches, so that I had to deal with it. There was reason for that too. I worked hard and had to hush my complexes, but today I feel great about my height and wouldn’t let go half of one of my inches. I wear heels, I walk with my head up, I’m proud.
Still, like for the hair, being tall can be REALLY challenging because you have to deal with other people’s remarks, questions, and sometimes stupid attitude. That’s what I like to share through my comics, because again, I know I’m not the only one going through this.
Lastly, the fact of being tall AND curly, let me tell yall, that’s something you better accept and love because otherwise, your life can be a hell of a nightmare. You simply CANNOT HIDE, no matter what you do, no matter where you go, no matter how hard you try. You are THERE. So yeah, some days you just feel like you could have used a little bit of invisibility, but in the end, all that matters is to feel great about yourself at least 99% of the time. That’s where I’m at, so I’m able to laugh about everything that makes a curly and/or tall girl’s life sometimes irritating, and so that’s how and why I draw my lil comics 🙂
Amazing work 🙂 all of it. Loved it.
But I didn’t know tall people have to go through this much.
I am not that tall. My hair’s not that curly. But I think you are brilliant…..and I love your creativity, artwork and sense of humor. You go, girl!
Hey! Thanks for sharing your experience. I’m 6 feet, have naturally curly hair and come from a mixed background (one side being a ‘well-mixed’ Haitian and the other being a Trinidadian with a strong Indian background). My curls suffice to say have a mind of their own.
Growing up my mother always permed her hair so when I popped out different textured curls and all, she was reasonably challenged. At first she tried to tame the curls and leave them be. But hair grows and soon so did I.
So she began blow drying my hair and boy, everytime she brought out that comb I would find some corner of our home to hide. Then came the growing pains.
My hair was long and she would have to stand to do because soon enough I was too tall for her to sit me in front and pull up.
Then it was finding clothes for a not only tall girl but tall chubby girl. Needless to say mini skirts were and will never be worn.
Then my mother discovered a flat iron that would actually flatten my top. And for years that was the new deal. It was manageable and could stay at least one week, if PE wasn’t tough.
Finally I got to the point I understood my mothers Yoda like ways with hair and I took on the care of the mane myself. I remember the first time I washed the darn thing. It wasn’t clean and my mother kept making me wash it. Then she would blow dry it. And flat iron it.
This whole spiel wasn’t meant to complain, in fact was to do the opposite. My mom never having been taught how to manage long natural hair chose when I was young to never put a perm in my hair and never cut it.
She was amazing. And because of her efforts when I finally figured out how wear my hair curly, I could do with out having to cut half of it off or figure a way around a small puff ( no judgement implied).
I write this because reading your story makes me feel like heck yea we exist! Tall, curly and proud! (And yes the air up here is better, and thinner which explains much of the tall people humor.)
I’m short, with the kind of curly hair that only curls when it’s wet, then turns into fluff balls of tangled frizz. The only way it looks good is half up or in a bun/ponytail. People always tell me to let it down, or cut it so it is easier to manage(it’s very long), but they don’t understand how hard it is to let it down. I look like a mushroom when I let it down, and I can never find any product, so I gave up eventually. I also started using a hair line called Monat and it made my hair look healthier, which boosted my confidence. Thank you so much for running this website, it makes me feel like I’m not the only curly person in a world of straight haired people❤️
I just wish you would start by checking the facts and by not listening to what only one person has to say. This is like believing Facebook is the best source for international news. The person you’re talking about is trying to convince people that I can’t stand that someone is creating comics about curly hair. I never said that. Many other girls are creating comics about curly hair, and I never went after them. Why? Because they create their own material. Of course, creating comics about curly hair will lead to the same kind of comics and ideas. But if you spent enough time scrolling through my comics and through hers, you would realize that she is copy/pasting ideas, only changing the characters, fonts, colors and a couple of words. This is not creation. It’s not coincidence either. It’s stealing.
But I understand you’re a fan of hers, so keep on following her. Good for you. But no one will stop me from standing for my rights. And this is exactly what I did here. You probably only have her version of the story. It’s your problem if mine is of no interest to you.
Yes! You tell it girl don’t back down when you’re right!
Thank you 🙂
I’m a man. I’m also a husband and a father. From those three views (albeit limited), I can say that the world needs more women who will not conform to society’s expectations of what’s ‘beautiful’ and who’ll stand up for themselves, because if you start with standing up for yourself, it’ll make it easier for you to eventually be able to stand up for what’s right, too. Actually, every person – woman or man – should know that, so I’m very happy to see you going down this road.
Fight for what’s just (your beauty) AND for what’s rightfully yours (your work). Fight that good fight. You’re more of a positive role-model than you know. I’m glad my daughter has you as one of the strong women in the world from whom she can learn.
Thanks for being out there, all curly, tall, strong, and proud. 🙂
Hi Jim,
Your message moved me deeply. Thank you so much for taking the time to write to me. I also believe that standing up for yourself is the first step in standing up for what’s right. I haven’t always been able to do it in the past and that’s probably why it’s so important to me now. Your daughter is very lucky to have a father to teach her this 🙂 Much love to you both <3
Hello,
I am another with the same “problems’ that you face. My hair wasn’t all that curly till puberty and actually it isn’t that damn curly as yours. I am 5’6″ which is not that tall either. But in our community, I am Very Tall and have Very Curly hair. I relate to your comic strip on Curly hair problems very much.
Aah those questions like ” Have you ever tried straightening your hair?”, “How about relaxing it?”, and older ladies going “Will she ever find a suitor?”! BLAH BLAH BLAH.
One time when I went to get my brows done in a salon, the lady there was like “Do you want to see our rates on straightening hair?”
Me: “No Thanks”
Her: “How about relaxing it a bit?”
Me: I like it curly as it is. *insert mean-eye here*
We are all beautiful the way we are!
As for you, I think you’re awesome! Go girl!
Hi TallNCurly! My hair has been called a lion’s mane for as long as I can remember and I have been told that I am unfeminine because of my height (despite not even passing 5’9″ YET, as I am STILL growing) for almost as long. Finding you blog and then finding out that you are also mixed race has helped me accept myself and I felt it only appropriate to thank you for all you’ve done for me and others as well. You’re truly an inspiration to tall and curly girls everywhere!
Hi Fia 🙂 Thank you so much for your message ^_^ It really warms my heart to know that thanks to my little comics, my message is getting out there and speaking to the girls who need it the most 🙂 Keep staying true to yourself and only listen to what people who love your truth have to say. All the rest is just some background noise in your life 😉
Hey TallnCurly! This blog is so inspiring to me. It took me so long to appreciate not only my crazy curly hair, but also being biracial. I’ve been going to a small private school with mostly white people for 10 years, so I never got to see my race represented anywhere. People would make racist jokes and down talk other races all the time. I started to think something was wrong with me because i wasn’t “light enough”. Rude people would always make comments on how my brother and I couldn’t possibly be related because he was so much lighter than me. I has taken some time and a long journey of learning to not only accept myself but appreciate my special gift of being biracial. It is a beautiful thing! I have learned to stand up for my race and not listen to other people’s rude comments! I now fall in love with my curly hair every day, even when we have wrestling matches.
Hi Alanna 🙂 I love reading this kind of message! YES curly hair is beautiful, YES being biracial is a beautiful thing, and YES being different is precious. 🙂 Kids in school were teasing me because my mom had green eyes, very light skin and auburn hair. They told me I must have been adopted. Growing up I learned that unlike many people think, being biracial is not the result of a division, as in being the half of two things. It’s the sum and even the product of two (or more) things. It is indeed a special gift, something one must learn to embrace in order to find happiness, just like anyone who was born different in some way 🙂 xxx
Dear T&C and Alanna,
Being of mixed ancestry can be inclusive, for example the Black Community in America tends to accept anyone who visibly part African, regardless what other ancestry they have.
However, being visibly of mixed European / Native ancestry is the opposite, if you are not a member of a nation, say due to adoption. Many White people will a problem with you being part Native, but usually will use the S-word instead the H-B-words, as if that is somehow a greater insult.
My mom is of mixed European / First Nations ancestry, but my grandparents took the story of her adoption to the grave. My dad is of mixed European, African and Native American ancestry, but his family tries to hide their non-white ancestry. For example, my dad literally killed his hair by using straighteners. When my parents split, my dad’s family started hating on me & my mom, but just love my sisters who can more or less pass for white.
I resemble my mom, and I can’t pass as white, as I have the typical broad shoulders, wide cheekbones, limited facial & body hair, etc., that make my Native ancestry obvious. Fortunately I didn’t inherit my dad’s hair, as it resembled the hair of a kid I knew in junior high, after he tried to straighten his afro with his mom’s clothing iron.
Like Alanna, I attended a private school, after my stepfather decided to end the abuse I got from other students and the staff in public elementary school. Unfortunately I had to return to public school in junior high due when my mom & stepfather split. Of course there was no one like me there.
As for bullying, try getting beaten up by a couple of kids at once, only to then be assaulted by the assistant principle. And because the assistant principle would throw me up against the wall before asking to see if I had a hall pass, it was open season on me from other students, because they knew I would be blamed.
Needless to say, I am very glad to see your efforts & hopefully you will be able to change people’s attitudes, by educating them. Also it sounds like both of you were able to accept who you are at a much younger age than I did. Please keep up the good work…
David
p.s. Finding clothes & shoes that properly fit me is impossible, except for work clothing like Carhearts & work boots like Wolverine…
Hi! My names Lola,for all of my life I’ve been the tallest person in my class. I have 4A-4C type hair, and it’s a struggle. But hey, life goes on. I’ve learned to use my height to an advantage. I guess you could say people look UP to me:P I’m 5’10 1/2 and I’m loving my life!:))))
Hi. I’m 15 years old and I really love your site. I first discovered it through pinterest, and I was like, that’s so me. I’m 5’6″ and am taller than most of my girl friends, most of whom are 16 and older to about 19. I have crazy curly hair, that I wou,d really like to chop to shoulder length (when straight) because I am tired of combing it, and doing it, and it’s better for wrestling head gear (yea, girl wrestlers!) But I really love your website, because it’s got a lot of the same struggles I go through. Anyway, just wanted to say hi, so HI!!