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Natural Hair Story: My Cousin Called My Natural Hair Ugly

This story is all mine and I thought I should share this with the world. So let's start from the beginning: In 7th grade after winter break I didn't feel like sitting in a chair for 3 hours to get my hair straightened so I decided to let my natural hair down for the first time in 8 years (if my hair wasn't straightened it was usually in two braids). I had a cute hairstyle that I stuck with and I go compliments on my hair every once and a while and I was feeling great. During this time I was not aware of how to actually take care of my hair, twist outs or braid outs, or how to really style my hair so it was usually just let down or in a ponytail. A year later, in 8th grade I stopped doing a ponytail as much because the lady who usually straightens my hair says its thinning & breaking parts of my hair. So in nearly all of my pictures from that year, my hair was out in its natural state. (Btw I only used one product at the time and it wasnt the best thing for my hair). Its about May/June at this time and I see my cousin post one of those things that say "comment for ...". I thought it said comment for a tbh but... it was a tbr but I decided not to delete my comment because I thought they would just comment on my poor style choice or something harmless. She was my cousin so I didn't think she would be too harsh. So an hour later I'm tagged on a screenshot of her conversation with her friend and I start reading it and theyre saying things like my hair's a mess and I need to do something with it and its not cute. And I'm sitting there on my bed offended. This is my natural hair and maybe its not the most moisturized and my curls aren't the prettiest but I was still pretty upset. While my cousin and her friend did not have curly hair (they had soft waves) and wouldn't understand the struggle of having curly hair, they still didn't have any right. They made it seem like it was so easy to get my hair straightened or to just wake up and have moisturized and non-kinky hair. Yes I did know a little what I was getting in to but I didn't know my own cousin would say that. I lost a lot of my confidence in my hair after that and for a lot of my freshman year of high school I tried everything to keep my hair pinned down instead of letting it flow out in its natural fro way. Before those comments I wasn't self conscious about my natural hair. There wasn't really a thought in my head that made me think that way. Now I have done my best to look past that and I have really gotten into the natural hair movement and make sure my hair is moisturized and shiny. I do my hair the way I want and the way I think is cute. I don't feel the need to lay my edges or anything like that. And my family comments on my hair all the time and they love it. They like finding out which hairstyle I did next or if I'm doing a twist out that night. And I've actually become more confident with my natural hair. So I guess the moral of the story here is really just ignore the haters and surround yourself with people who appreciate you for who you are and the decisions you make for yourself.