A woman with sunflowers on her hair waits to walk the runway at a fashion show of Afro hairstyles in Havana, Cuba.
Cuban men and women who embrace their Afro-descended heritage and hair were on show as La Habanna hosted in late August the island’s first Afro beauty-aesthetics convention.
The trend that has been taking place around the world is gaining traction in the Caribbean nation.
Until 2021, Thalía Quesada had straight hair that was straightened with laborious treatments.
She decided to break the stereotype of what was considered beautiful, even within her own family, and now proudly shows off the voluminous curls of her Afro hair.
The medical student-turned entrepreneur used her own experience to create a line of oils, creams and waxes based on natural products – coconut, flaxseed, rosemary- with which she seeks to benefit the Black community on the island.
Said Quesada, who participated in the first Afro-aesthetics convention with her brand ThaliAfro: “Nowadays my job is to help people like me, who want to find themselves again, and get rid of the straightening and the torture of the hot comb”.
Specialised artisan businesses, models, fashion designers, make-up artists, stylists, and the public came together.
Several hundred people also discussed the racial context in Cuba. An important issue, the organiser, Annia Liz de Armas, said.
Noted Armas: “You have to understand the emotional and psychological side, the cultural effects, the historic reclaiming of our culture, our blackness and the importance of our hair to us”.
Cuba’s past is rooted in the island’s sugarcane production which employed enslaved Africans.
Black Africans had already been uprooted to the island prior to the beginning of the industry in the late XVIIIth century.
Official data reveal that from a 2012 census and based on self-reported information, 9% of Cubans are Black and 26% mixed race.
That year, about 11.3 million people resided on the island.
The Afro beauty aesthetics convention culminated on August 31 in a competition showcasing hairstyles.
Although, products for dark skin are now readily available in more drug stores and beauty shops around the world, they are expensive and hard to find in Cuba.
In response, 12 specialised local brands have emerged in the economy under embargo, and there are at least five beauty salons that cater specifically to Black women.
