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| Angela of NaturAngi |
At the beginning of 2014, the natural hair movement in Italy took
off through blogs and online communities on social media. Inspired by the
natural hair movements in the US, UK, France and Belgium, AfroItalian online
influencers such as Angela Haisha Adamou of NaturAngi and Evelyne of Nappytalia
launched their pages to increase knowledge about self-love and to build
networks amongst AfroItalians, or African descendants living in Italy. In a
country where the politics
of AfroItalian belonging are only at the beginning of getting
explored, these online resources represent some of the few places where the
intersection of AfroItalian identity and womanhood are discussed through hair
care. Angela’s decision to
launch NaturAngi.it
in January 2014 was inspired by not only movements she witnessed in the other
parts of Europe and the United States, but by her life experiences in Italy as
an Italian with Ghanaian roots. On her award winning blog NaturAngi, she offers
tutorials, product reviews, advice, and suggestions on where to find products
in Italian and English. My conversation with Angela focused on various aspects
of the natural hair movement in Italy, such as the importance of representation
and how her experience from a small town shapes her role as a natural hair
blogger.
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Angela’s first book, Love is in the Hair, Volume 1,
Consigli per aver ricci belli, sani e senza capricci, was published in June
2017. The book is available on Amazon in both Kindle e-book format and in
print.
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Representation Matters
Initially started as her space to share about the beginning of
natural hair care journey after doing a big chop, her blog became a space where
other women with curl afro hair in Italy would be able to find themselves
represented in the hair care and beauty fields.
The needs of AfroItalian women are excluded at stores
that sell hair or cosmetic products, as tints and the like are not available in
dark tones. Angela describes AfroItalians as a “hidden community” not yet
prioritized by major beauty companies. Even though Lancôme has been selling
darker skin tones for years, these products are often of higher cost, compared
to those sold by KIKO Milano. “When I went to KIKO to find products for a make
up tutorial workshop I organized, I found affordable dark skinned tints. At
KIKO, I matter.”
Representation is the essence of Angela’s blog, as well as other
blogs and e-commerce sites such as Nappytalia, AfroItalian Souls, and AfroOn Hair
Addict. Even though Italy does not conduct racial or ethnic
statistics, research by the country’s national statistics committee, ISTAT,
states that nearly 20%, or 1 million of the country’s immigrants are African.
Much of Italy’s African population comes from West African countries such as
Senegal, Nigeria and Ghana. These online influencers and e-commerce sites
demonstrate how hair is political in Italy, specifically that Africans and
AfroItalians are integral to the country and must be considered as valuable
members of Italian society.
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Angela and the founders team of the online magazine AfroItalian
Souls. L-R:
Naths Grazia Sukubo, Angela Haisha Adamou, Bellamy Okot
Photo Credit: Angela Haisha Adamou
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Experience as a natural hair blogger in Italy
Angela launched NaturAngi as a platform to inspire people to
learn more about how to take care of natural hair, and to develop a network of
other AfroItalians across the country who were learning to take care of their
natural hair. She shared that most Africans and African descendants in Italy
have been pressured to relax their hair, as that has been taught as easier to
manage. Through NaturAngi, Angela promotes knowledge of taking care of natural
hair. “If you don’t know the ways you can take of your natural hair, then how
can you choose which styles are best for you? If you don’t know, you’re not
free.” NaturAngi promotes the
value of hair care knowledge to make the best informed decision about which
hairstyles to wear.
Coming from a small town in the northeastern region of the Emilia
Romagna, she used her blog as a means to reach out to other bloggers and learn
from them as well. Many of her contemporaries are based in metropolitan areas,
such as Milan and Rome. Most immigrant families and their children are spread
out across cities in the country, compared to segregation in the United States
and France. Due to the dispersement of AfroItalian communities, Italian based e-commerce
sites for natural hair products have also emerged, such as Vanity Case,
Nappytalia
and AfroRicci,
and ship to the doors of their customers.
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The team of Roots Evolution: Sofia Bodian, Aida Aicha
Bodian, Fatou Bodian, and Fatou Coly, and Angela Haisha Adamou. Photo Credit:
Angela Haisha Adamou
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Angela uses the relatability of her experience as a black Italian
in a small town to reach out to other AfroItalians across the country. “I try
to be as natural as possible [on my blog and in my videos]. I film myself in
situations when most people like me do their hair, such as tired after work at
the end of the day and in front of the bathroom mirror.” Due to the collection
of AfroItalians through online and social media spaces, the movement in Italy
revolves around social influencers such as Angela and her contemporaries
Evelyne of Nappytalia and Belsya Shabani of AfroOn. For individuals or
businesses interested in reaching out to AfroItalians as a target consumer,
Angela suggests to contact influencers in Italy to collaborate.
In addition to founding naturangi.it, Angela Haisha Adamou is the
Secretary of the association Roots Evolution,
co-organizer of the country’s first Afro Beauty &
Fashion Expo, member of the country’s first national body for new
generation Italians CoNNGI,
and social media manager for the online community The Black Side of Beauty. She
is also the author of the first e-book and guide dedicated to natural hair care
in Italian, Love
is in the Hair.
Written By Candice Whitney
Written By Candice Whitney
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