It’s become clear to me that a lot of people want to know the answer to this question.

If you’re in San Francisco, have you seen these signs?

I guarantee you know at least a few people who are secretly curly. And if you think you don’t, it’s because you’ve never been let in on the secret.

Consider the discourse around whether Odessa A’zion’s curls at the 2026 Critics Choice Awards. Her true coils were hidden under wigs in previous appearances so people thought the real deal was actually a wig!

We explored this phenomenon on the show, in one of our earliest episodes.

Throughout my life — in high school and college, in every workplace, at events from weddings to conferences to everyday parties — I’ve been highly attuned to the grip the flatiron has on American women spanning heritages. And the instinct to hide curly hair extends across genders. Some men get close cuts to avoid the whole matter altogether.

So we investigated why so many people are secretly curly. We interviewed a range of secret curlies to get to the bottom of the myths around curly hair, including why so many believe straight hair is more professional, that perpetuate the flatiron’s chokehold. You’ll also hear why some secret curlies are shifting their ideology.

I receive notes multiple times a week from listeners and readers who either went to great lengths themselves, or saw loved ones do so, to hide their curls. Consider this:

New pod episode coming later this week with a very special guest. I’ve been following her work for more than a decade. Stay tuned.

To work together, reach out to partnerships@wearespiraling.com.

Why Are So Many People Secretly Curly?