I n her first year of culinary school, Reanna Bryan, 18, was told her braided hairstyle was not suitable for the kitchen. “I was like, ‘What do you mean, you can’t have braids or dreads?’ because this is what I wear. My hair is in braids the majority of the time,” she says.
When she shared her experience with the young woman’s circle she is a member of at Rise.365 , a community support group based in Hackney, similar stories were echoed back. “Straight hair is the norm,” she says, “and [afro hair] is just not represented.
” This discussion spiralled into an idea for a campaign to tackle one area with poor representation of afro hairstyles: emojis. There are 3,790 emojis , among them mermaids, vampires and an afro pick comb, but none feature afro hairstyles typically worn by Black people. “It’s sad and disappointing because it’s just showing how we [Black people] are not really seen in a bright light, because you’ve got a blond or ginger girl, and you haven’t got just a simple girl with an afro, braids or anything like that,” Bryan says.
For Amina Gray, a youth mentor and facilitator at Rise.365, this is exactly why the campaign is important. “Black people, and women in particular, tend to have so many different hairstyles but none of these are represented.
“We need to normalise that our hair – whether it’s in its natural state or it’s in a protective hairstyle – is acceptable ...
is professional.” To address the imbalance, Bryan an.