Nicole Kidman was photographed this week leaving Sydney Airport for Nashville, Tennessee. She was all smiles and wearing Chanel, with full-on curly hair. It had been her first Christmas on home soil in Australia since she ended her 19-year marriage to singer Keith Urban in September last year.

After years of seeing Kidman with poker-straight, or softly tousled, hair, her return to her once-signature 1980s curls felt like a deliberate change. Fans, such as stylist Rachel Zoe, commented that they were “obsessed” with seeing Kidman embrace her natural curls again, and some of her followers commented it was perhaps a nod to new beginnings, akin to when she famously changed up her image and punched the air in front of photographers, following her 2001 divorce from Tom Cruise.

As someone with naturally curly hair, I think the curls could also just be the sign of a good holiday and feeling confident and relaxed enough not to be a slave to the hairdryer and straightening tongs.

Curls are definitely a statement, emanating an air of nonchalance and confidence. I always think of designer Diane von Furstenberg, the queen of the laid-back curls, who manages to look both chic and laissez-faire, having not gone near a hair tong. And let’s not forget Carrie Bradshaw’s curls in Sex and the City, which seemed to be a narrative tool to reflect her “this woman cannot be tamed” game plan.

Of course, we’re used to seeing Kidman’s hair looking more styled and sleek on the red carpet. Her LA stylist, Adir Abergel, was behind her last year’s Sixties Golden Globe voluminous updo, which was so thick, swingy and swishy it deserved an award of its own for using a faux ponytail, tons of oomph and bombshell thickness (must have used several kilos of hair extensions?) throughout the mid-lengths to the ends. But off-duty, she has begun embracing her natural curls more and more – even when meeting Anna Wintour last October at the Vogue World Hollywood event, when Kidman chose a tailored burgundy leather blazer combined with her natural curls.

A full head of pre-Raphaelite curls was Kidman’s signature style in the Eighties and early Nineties – until she filmed Eyes Wide Shut. There’s a definite nostalgia for that era for lots of us. Notable for its volume and fluffy finish, think Cher, Madonna, Daisy Duke’s barrel curls and Stevie Nicks’s wolf cut. Hairspray was essential. Many misted their manes into rigid shapes that felt crispy and stiff due to old-school formulations. The perm was another big part of the era, as were mullets and other outré haircuts (shags and wolf cuts), which have crept back towards the edge of mainstream recently.

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Someone who knows good curls – and how to look after them properly – is hairstylist Sam McKnight. On a recent visit to McKnight’s studio, I asked for pointers on how to create volume as my 50-plus hair began thinning dramatically last year. Instead of suggesting rollers and products, McKnight was unequivocal, telling me to save my hair, I simply needed to stop blow-drying and embrace my natural curls. I was a bit gutted to be honest, as for me, curly hair had always felt just “messy”. Acceptable on the beach, but not anywhere else.