Day 5 – Dear Mane Family, I Stepped Out With My Curls... and It Was a Whole Moment

So…

Today, I did something wild (for me at least).
I stepped out in public with my curly hair open.

No bun. No scarf. No last-minute panic to tie it up because “log kya kahenge.” Just me, my frizz, and a whole lot of hope.

I had used the Volume Gel from Manetain India in the morning. Scrunched it in, air-dried while having chai and listening to old Bollywood on the speaker. I kept thinking — “One more product… let’s see if this one does anything.”

Surprise: It did.

For once, my curly hair looked... nice. Not just “okay for home,” nice, but step-out-and-not-feel-weird nice. The curls had bounce, that soft bounce when you touch them. Not sticky, not flat, not confused — just real.

I wore my favourite Fabindia kurta, added kajal, a pair of oxidised jhumkas, and went to the tapri near End Point, Manipal. My friend saw me and just went:
“Babe, your hair is full-on heroine vibes today.”

I laughed, awkwardly pushed the curls back, and pretended to act cool — but inside, I was doing bhangra.

See, growing up, we weren’t taught how to do hair care for curly hair. We were taught how to tame it. Comb it till it hurts. Oil it till it’s flat. Tie it up till it disappears.

But now, with the right curly hair care products, like this one from Manetain India, I’m slowly learning that my hair doesn’t need to be “fixed.” It just needs to be understood.

So yeah, today I didn’t just style my hair. I wore it. With pride.
And that felt like more than just a “good hair day.”

Talk to you tomorrow