CABELOS CRESPOS, TRANÇAS E BLACK POWER: REFLEXÕES SOBRE O ADOECIMENTO DE MULHERES NEGRAS, AUTOESTIMA E EMPODERAMENTO
Racism is perpetrated by colonialism and it is full of violence, oppression, exploitation.It remains in society by new colonialities in social structure.Since early childhood, black women have their identity denied by historically, constructed standards wich, over their life, produce self-denial and "not-self".Hair straightening is the expression of a racist social process.Hair transition and self-discovery through the acceptance of own hair mark the rupture of aesthetic standards, self-appreciation and promoting the afro-Brazilian culture.Through "writing-experience" [escrevivência] and narratives of a master's research, the authors discuss afro-Brazilian hair since inferiorization to empowerment.They discuss how mental suffering like trauma defines black women's not-belonging into the white world and hair transition as self-care, selfesteem and foremost, belonging to the black perspective.