Transição capilar e identidade: o cabelo como um demarcador de fronteiras sociais entre estudantes de Design-moda em Fortaleza

Abstract

This work analyzes the hair as an element of the construction of the identity of the black woman, as well as to study if the capillary transition collaborates with the movements of valorization of the black esthetics in a context of supremacy of the caucasian beauty standard, that was established and consolidated by fashion. Its main objective is to understand the relationships between the acceptance of the curly/coily hair and the discussions about racism today. The work was initially based on bibliographical research, for the construction of the theoretical reference of the research, and later the qualitative research, which was carried out through structured interviews with five black women from the Fashion-Design course of the Universidade Federal do Ceará who have undergone the capillary transition process. Based on the interviews, we observed that the main motivation for the informants to decide to resort to hair straightening was the racist comments related to their hair, which turned hair straightening into a way to escape the inferiority that was imposed on them and to approach the ideal of prevailing beauty. After years of straightening hair, feelings of dissatisfaction with that appearance and economic expenditure were added to the desire to rediscover its own roots, culminating in the capillary transition, which despite being a difficult period to deal with, was softened by the support and Encouragement that the interviewees received from some people. After finishing this process, we verified that this change did not occur only at the aesthetic level, it was important to awaken a self-reflection in each of the informants, who came to recognize curly/coily hair as beautiful as any other.