Beyond Roots: Redefining the Standard of Beauty in Cuba

By Alejandro Murillo

Let me introduce you to one of the most significant contemporary entrepreneurships in Old Havana - Beyond Roots. Launched in September 2019, Beyond Roots’ initiative is to promote Afro-Cuban culture through educational experiences for visitors to the island and its Old Havana storefront, the first of its kind in Cuba to offer such an extensive panorama of clothing, accessories, and hair products dedicated to the Afro aesthetic. Perhaps more influential is their campaign to redefine the standard of beauty in a country where the majority of black Cubans straighten their hair.

Keratin treatments, capillary surgery, flat irons, and extensions are hair straightening procedures well known to both Cuban men and women. Beyond Roots’ founder, Adriana Heredia Sanchez, attributes the popularity of these treatments to the lifestyle and aesthetic that has been sold and promoted by the hair care industry, media, and society over the centuries. “When the dolls you play with and the actresses and artists that you admire, all have straight hair, it becomes your reference for beauty. Black women come to believe that to be beautiful you must straighten your hair.” In fact, curly and kinky hair are commonly referred to as pelo malo.

Adriana Heredia Sánchez, Founder of Beyond Roots

Beyond Roots collaborates with different entrepreneurs and stylists to host a monthly event of workshops on locks, curl definition, essential oils, turbans, makeup, free professional photo sessions, and fashion shows. The most recent event drew more than 100 participants, mostly women. The workshops are an opportunity to re-educate people, redefine concepts of beauty, deconstruct stereotypes, and revise one’s vocabulary. There is no such thing as pelo malo, there is just hair. Everyone must get to know their hair and its texture. What is the diameter of your curls? Do you have a slightly wavy 2A? Or more of a kinky 4B? If one uses hair products designed for straight hair on their curls and lacks hair care know-how, it’s understandable why they come to the conclusion that they have pelo malo.

Consistent access to black hair products has been difficult for decades, given the habitual inconsistency in supply of consumer goods within Cuba and the global hair care industry’s preference and promotion of straight hair. The shampoos, conditioners, and creams that are most abundant and affordable are those for straight hair. Beyond Roots’ apartment-turned-store fills a void in the market by offering black hair products and reliable hair advice. Oftentimes Cuban women challenge Adriana, suspecting that styling natural hair is expensive because it necessitates purchasing special combs and specific products. Adriana counters: “Don’t you spend twice as much on invasive chemical treatments that in the long run contribute to hair loss and also expose you to harmful chemicals?” 

The costly yet popular keratin treatments in Cuba are masterfully (yet painfully?) documented in Los Van Van’s 2015 hit, La Moda. In the music video, the price of one ounce of keratin even surpasses a barrel of crude oil on the stock market. 

Workshops serve as an important place of community that offers a support system. Wearing one’s hair naturally is a form of resistance because it goes against societal patterns. Sometimes one’s own family is the first barrier. Imagine telling your mother that you no longer want to straighten your hair, when it is your mother who has told you your whole life that you need to straighten your hair to be beautiful. In workshops, women are offered a new standard of beauty as they meet attractive and beautiful women wearing their hair natural - women who supposedly have pelo malo.

Adriana utilizes aesthetics and the Cuban youth’s desire to dress well as an entry point for raising consciousness around racial identity. “We are not reinventing the wheel. We are continuing the work of numerous Cuban academics and social projects.” Workshop attendees are taught that wearing your hair natural is not just about following the latest trend, it is a responsibility. Beyond Roots aligns itself with such cultural movements as Black is Beautiful, which emerged in the US during the 1960s. Wearing your hair natural means that you have “a connection with your ancestors, that you know your history, and that you know what it is to be black.” 

The ripple effects of Beyond Root’s initiatives are extensive and powerful and easily tie into the mission that they defend: inclusivity. To reach the widest possible audience they chose to use an international language for their organization’s name. Their intention is to create spaces of cross cultural exchange that go beyond your ideologies, beyond your religion, beyond your skin color, beyond your roots.