RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Hundreds of women are using Brazil's Carnival season to flaunt their curls in a party-time promotion of black pride.
Sunday's curl-power celebration in Rio de Janeiro is one of hundreds of street parties that are kicking off in the run-up to Carnival, which starts on Friday. Some have social themes, but for many the basic message is just: "Dance."
This one was sponsored by a beauty salon that encourages Afro-Brazilian women to enjoy their natural hair and resist social pressures to straighten it.
Partygoer Samara Vieira sported red-dyed locks and said that it felt liberating to accept her curls after years of straightening them.
She says, "Curls can mean power. It's not only about hair. It's who we are."
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