Scientists could develop a pill to "fix" curly hair.
Do these lovely ladies need a pill to “cure” their textured hair?Scientists who discovered the ‘curly gene‘ are developing a treatment that could spell the end of hair straighteners.
It is hoped the breakthrough could lead to a pill to make hair straighter or curlier, rendering the must-have beauty accessory redundant.
The discovery will also make it possible to predict whether a baby will have straight or curly hair.
And it may even help police, with DNA found at the scene of the crime indicating how wavy a suspect’s locks are.
Researchers in Australia identified the trichohyalin gene as being mainly responsible for creating curls.
Although it was known to play a role in the development of the hair follicle, Queensland Institute of Medical Research scientists have discovered its role in curliness.
Professor Nick Martin, author of the research, said a variation in the gene determined the straightness or curliness of hair. Professor Martin said it may be possible to come up with treatments to make hair straighter rather than relying on heated hair straighteners.
He said: “Potentially we can now develop new treatments to make hair curlier or straighter, rather than treating the hair directly.
“I will be discussing this with a major cosmetic company in Paris in January,” he said. (NaturallyCurly guesses this is L’Oreal, who supposedly has been working on a pill for curly hair for some time.)
— The Daily Mail
This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 at 8:00 am and is filed under Curly Hair (Type 3a). You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment.
December 10th, 2009 at 8:58 am
This horrifies me! It plays into that whole mentality that curly hair is something that needs to be fixed! And God only knows what it’s doing to your body.
December 10th, 2009 at 10:18 am
This “treatment” will probably lead to the same results as Dolly the sheep! I knew that some people were insecure about their hair, but this?! I think counseling would be cheaper and more effective.
December 10th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
This really breaks my heart! When can we curlies finally live in hair-peace?? *sigh* Also, notice how they say “can make hair staighter OR CURLIER” about once in the article, and everything else is about the straight hair:(.
December 10th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
What they need is a pill to make everyone curly!
December 11th, 2009 at 11:14 am
horrifying!! i would never do this, i love my curly hair, but i hate to think of my grandchildren-to-be doing this!!
all in all, can’t they focus on important health issues?
December 11th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
goddamit I am sick of this! Why can’t people juts agree to be themselves??
December 11th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
I agree with admin_kevin!! What is with this curly hair is bad???? Why can’t the straight haired people feel our pain just ONCE???
December 11th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
This reminds me of a horror story that happened to me once. One time I was talking with some friends about my new “miracle product” that gave me beautiful hair, (it was in shipment at the time, so I was in the transversion period between running out of the product, and waiting for it to be shipped to my house). I said it gave me beautiful hair!
My one friend just had to say, “oh, does it give you like
straight hair?”
Me: No.
Her: ohhhh
I left. Of course this girl had straight hair, but what I didn’t get was that she had curly-permed straight hair. I was so offended!!!!!
December 14th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
why does straight=good hair? curly hair is beautiful!! i agree with jiji d we should just be happy with ourselves. we’re all beautiful we all just need to rock it! we shouldn’t be messing with our genes…we’re born this way for a reason.
December 20th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
It shouldn’t matter if the pill makes your hair curly or straight. The scary thing is that our future will be a future filled with fake people. Genetically and physically altered. this is gonna be one scary fake world.
January 12th, 2010 at 12:02 am
[...] Naturallycurly.com is correct, our post on 7 Sure Ways To Straighten Your Hair may soon be obsolete: that’s [...]
January 12th, 2010 at 2:17 am
[...] Naturallycurly.com is correct, our post on 7 Sure Ways To Straighten Your Hair may soon be obsolete: that’s [...]
February 8th, 2010 at 11:27 pm
I have 3B, sometimes 3A, hair and I usually I switch it up all week. I wear it in french braids, a ponytail, curly, and straight, all different all the time. I love my curls though and this article just influenced me to go completely natural, 100% my curls, for awhile. Society should replace the stick they have up their butts with their “perfect image.”
April 11th, 2010 at 11:23 pm
[...] that could make straightening irons and the like a thing of the past, most curlies who took NaturallyCurly’s online poll said no [...]
April 21st, 2010 at 11:23 pm
This right here proves that people with straight hair are superior than people with curly hair. Why else would they be investing research into it?
June 4th, 2010 at 12:29 am
[...] Would you take a pill to “cure” your curly hair? — Naturally Curly [...]
September 8th, 2011 at 3:09 pm
[...] about whether or not textured hair is a “genetic defect,” and whether or not the so-called “curly hair gene” can be manipulated to produce straight hair. Naturally, we decided to call on some scientists to [...]
November 17th, 2011 at 2:50 pm
I find this to be another example of our society putting this idea in our heads that something is wrong with what you were born with. For those who want this that is your own thought. However you should really examine the reason. Is it because of your hair or is it because of what society has told you about your hair. For those of us that love our hair just the way it is let continue this road of love for your hair. Hell love for you and what you were born with is the best way to be.
November 17th, 2011 at 5:34 pm
“Cure” my hair? Since when was there something wrong with it? It’s scary what science can do nowadays. I’m sure that kind of pill would totally mess up your body. I’m not really a religious person, but I do believe you were born with the right type of hair for you. In the same way your skin tone compliments your eyes, your natural hair will compliment your face. I guess people tend to want what they don’t have, but society always seems to be pushing straight hair. Strange how things can change over time… up until recent history curls were considered the most beautiful type of hair you could have.
November 19th, 2011 at 10:46 pm
That’s the thing, with the advent of better products I’ve gone from relaxing to loving my natural curls; my hair has never been healthier. I’d rather take a supplement to make my natural hair stronger, shinier and healthier, but straighter? No, not when there are so many great products out there. I use WEN and Jonathan Torch’s Extenzz, with a little Body Shop Body Butter I now have the hair I’ve wanted all my life. I would take a pill to get rid of gray, or to banish frizz but leave my curls alone.
November 20th, 2011 at 3:07 pm
wow, people really need to calm down and get off their high-horses. Stop taking this article so damn personally and playing the victim that Big Bad Society is saying curly hair is disgusting/ugly/wrong etc. The author of this article most likely purposely chose the words, “Cure” to spark heated discussion because, hey, this is a BIASED website (not saying that’s a bad thing). I for one think it’s kind of cool what modern medicine can do. A pill is just the same as using relaxers etc to straighten hair. Maybe I want straight hair one day but don’t want to use a flat iron. Ever think about that?
November 21st, 2011 at 8:41 pm
jesus take the wheel. And yet we still don’t have cures for CANCER or AIDS.
January 31st, 2012 at 11:51 am
NaturaIdoll I hear there believed to be a cure for both actually not totally for Cancer but certain ones. But they don’t wan’t use the cancer cure because pharmaceuticals make too much money. As for AIDS they think it would be best not to because it will not fix people bad behaviours that cause the disease to spread and also as slight population control.