“A maravilha que é a gente se dar bem consigo mesma”: transição capilar, cabelo cacheado/crespo e mulheres negras

Abstract

The body is socially constituted, together and through systems and symbols of race, gender, age, class etc. On the body, hair, in Brazilian social relations, plays an important role in the process of identifying Black people as it is understood as one of the constituent elements of the perception of race. In the case of Black women, the dimension of race and gender places hair in a prominent position due to the relationship that this part of the body has with ideas of femininity. For many years, in the context of Brazilian race relations, many Black women used straighteners and relaxers that change the structure of their hair to straight or curly. In recent years, there has been a larger-scale movement to no longer use such products and techniques, called hair transition. Such movement can be accompanied by a process of questioning, reflection and change in the relationship with the body and subjectivity, and can be understood as a channel of changes in the relationship with oneself. In the midst of this process, a new aesthetic ideal may emerge, understood as a perfect curl, which brings its own dynamics of care and expectations. At different moments in the relationship with curly/coily hair there is a comparison between real hair and ideal hair, and the experience of this difference builds a relationship with the body interpreted in terms of prison and freedom. The transition enables questions and reflections about the relationship with hair, the body, and oneself, carried out from other models and references that do not have white bodies and experiences as a standard, so that this can enable the creation and expression of another experience as a Black woman. This research aimed to investigate the emergence of new corporeal and subjective relationships through the experience of transition, as well as changes in perception and experience as a Black woman. To this end, the analysis of open interviews with Black women who went through the process was used, as well as the analysis of audiovisual materials on the topic. It was possible to verify that the hair transition led to bodily and subjective transformations among the Black women interviewed.