EGYPTIAN WOMEN EMBRACE NATURAL HAIR IN IDENTITY REVOLUTION. Salons and kitchens are hotspots of a change that is sweeping Egypt as women reject European beauty standards and celebrate their hair as it is. “I was, like, fighting every day for no reason except that I have curly hair in a society that believes in one kind of beauty,” Noha Talaat, a 37-year-old English teacher, told Al-Monitor. As a girl with dark skin and kinky hair in a society that embraces European beauty standards, Talaat used to hear people describe her as a “house maid” when she was just 13 years old.