It’s Hispanic Heritage Month and as a Peruvian woman, I have so many amazing memories regarding my culture. I’m so excited to share my experience living in Peru and how I broke generational curses and inspired the women in my family to embrace their curls!
Influencing My Family To Love Their Natural Hair
Growing up in a Peruvian school was difficult. I often felt like an outcast because the girls in my class had pin-straight silky hair and would tease me about my “frizzy” hair. In Peru, it was rare to have curly hair, which strongly affected my Peruvian household. My mom and my grandma have curly hair like mine but kept it “boy” short for the most part. Many times it was suggested that I cut my hair short as well but I declined. I liked my long hair!
However, styling it was difficult and I always kept it in a braided ponytail. When my mom tried to style my hair it would be so tangled (boy did I hate that!) because she had very little knowledge of how to manage curly hair since she never styled her own. It didn’t help that there weren’t any products available in Peru for curly hair at the time. The only time I recall liking my hair was when one of my aunts would patiently detangle it for me!
Even after moving to the states, I struggled with loving my curly hair. I would purposely dye and over-process my hair so that it would be straight enough for me to successfully flat iron! It wasn’t until 2016 that I started to embrace my curls! I found products like Curly Magic from Uncle Funky’s Daughter that changed the game for me! Today, I love my curls wholeheartedly and even inspired my mom to grow her hair out and start loving her curls as well. She is now an Uncle Funky’s Daughter fanatic like me! I’m so proud of myself for breaking generational curses and inspiring the women in my family to love their curly hair.
Fond Memories & Great Food
Despite it being rough growing up Peruvian and having curly hair, I still have very precious memories! For example, I was a part of a folklore dance group in school and I loved it! I also have fond memories of the holidays in Peru. We would gather at my grandma’s house and the whole town would stop by to see her huge nativity. There was so much detail, it was beautiful! Then we would have a delicious Peruvian dinner, panettone, and homemade hot chocolate. I remember staying up until midnight, unable to sleep because I was waiting for Santa to come and drop off our presents. To top it off, at midnight we would hear fireworks outside in honor of the holiday!
Weekends at my grandma’s house were also very memorable. We would start off the day with a traditional Peruvian breakfast of tamales or chicharron; which is deep-fried pork in chunks with a side of fried sweet potato slices, red onions in a lime sauce, and fresh bread from the bakery.
Overall I’m proud to be Peruvian and I love my culture. Our food is delicious, our people are family-oriented and Machu Picchu in Peru is one of the seven wonders of the world! I’m so happy I was able to share with you my experience growing up and a few little pieces of my culture. Happy Hispanic Heritage Month!
xoxo
Catherine (@cathyslayzzofficial)
