Rio de Janeiro -
Hundreds of women are using Brazil's Carnival season to flaunt their curls in a party-time promotion of black pride.
The curl-power celebration in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday was one of hundreds of street parties that are kicking off in the run-up to Carnival, which starts on Friday. Some have social themes, but for many the basic message is just: “Dance”.
Sponsored by a beauty salon, the Curly-Haired Women “bloco” encouraged Afro-Brazilian women to enjoy their natural hair and resist social pressures to straighten it.
For Leila Velez, one of the partners of the chain of Natural Beauty salons, said her company and activists are fighting to break down a stigma attached to natural Afro-Brazilian hair that leads many to use straighteners.
“We are telling women that they can leave their hair the way it naturally is, and feel confident and pretty, without denying their identity,” she said.
Some activists have been visiting Rio schools to tell girls not to feel ashamed of having their hair grow up, instead of down.
At Sunday's party, women held signs that read “Powerful and Curly-Haired” and chanted a song written for the party: “If your hair is frizzy, no need to cry/ Join the curly-haired group/ and let's kick back.”
Some straight-haired revellers donned Afro wigs to join the group, playing tambourines and drums to a samba beat.
Partygoer Samara Vieira sported red-dyed locks and said that it felt liberating to accept her curls after years of straightening them.
“Curls can mean power. It's not only about hair,” she said. “It's who we are.”
Sapa-AP