Why Do They All Have the Same Hair?

The Dugger family, whose show, 19 Kids and Counting, just started its eighth season, have their fair share of familial similarities. With so many kids so many ages, it's hard to tell everyone apart and is only made harder by the fact that everyone's name starts with a J. But the family's 11 daughters have a very similar look that goes beyond just a family resemblance, as all the Duggar girls have very similar hairstyles.

As with almost everything in the Duggar family, it all boils down to their religion. Every time they talk about their long, curly hair, they refer to keeping long hair because it is the most "appropriate" for their beliefs… and because Jim Bob seems to like it. His preference is for Michelle's hair to be long and curly. That's why even though she and many of her daughters have naturally straight hair, they curl it with either an at-home perm, rollers, or curling irons. Michelle once got a TV makeover, blowing out her perm and cutting off a few inches to add some layers. While she tries to be polite when she sees herself, it's obvious that she would prefer to stick with her curls.

And there may be another reason why both Jim Bob and Michelle prefer the trademark Duggar style. Bill Gothard is a preacher who runs the Advanced Training Institute, a homeschool system inspired by conservative Christianity that the Duggars use to educate their kids. Gothard is known to say that women and girls should keep long hair with curls, and, has come under fire after being accused of sexual misconduct with women who worked for his company. Gothard admits that he had "over emphasized" physical appearances based on his personal preferences, even though he claims that he never had a consensual or non-consensual sexual relationship with any women (or, as he says, "girls"). But while the Duggars haven't commented on Gothard's statements, they still stick with a very similar look.

In a post on their family blog, the Duggar girls shared a hair tutorial of how they turn their straight hair to wavy curls. It's not that dissimilar from a lot of style and beauty blog tutorials, save that their products are all bought in bulk from Walmart and they'll never be able to access their own video's Youtube page.

The key to the perfect Duggar hairstyle is to start with absolutely perfect, shiny silk straight hair, add tons of drugstore extra-firm hold hairspray and a sister or best friend to play stylist, because those extra long pieces in the back are hard to reach.

Images: Duggarfam/Instagram; TLC