Young Londoners are pushing for the world’s first Afro hair emojis

By Catarina Demony and Marissa Davison

LONDON (Reuters) – Aiming to break down beauty stereotypes and make the digital world more inclusive, a group of young students and professionals from London have designed the first emojis with black and mixed-race hairstyles.

The project, a partnership between youth-led organization RISE.365 and PR agency Good Relations, aims to combat texturism, a form of discrimination that often sees Afro hair as “unprofessional,” “unattractive,” or be perceived as “unclean,” they said.

There are nearly 4,000 emojis – symbols that represent human emotions or objects – on the internet – but none feature black or interracial hairstyles. RISE.365 and Good Relations have taken matters into their own hands to change that.

A group of young people designed what the emojis should look like, and then designers developed the final product.

“(The emojis) would break the societal standard that straight hair must be considered desirable,” said Jayzik Duckoo, a 17-year-old who worked on the project. “I hope people wear their hair proudly.”

Four emojis were created with afros, braids, cornrows and locs. They will be submitted for review to Unicode, the California-based group responsible for emojis, in April 2025.

Googling “Afro hair” could improve acceptance of the emojis because Unicode takes into account how frequently the term associated with the symbol is used, RISE.365 said.

Unicode did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Olivia Mushigo, lead creative behind the project, said she hoped the emojis would make people “feel empowered and…actually seen.”

The 28-year-old has never experienced discrimination because of her hair, but her little brother has, she said.

“My little brother will have an emoji that looks like him to hopefully boost his confidence and show him that his hair is beautiful,” she said. “On a more personal note, I finally have an emoji that looks like me and that I can relate to.”

A survey of RISE.365 members – 104 respondents in total – found that 61% had experienced discrimination or bullying because of their hair. A 2023 study by CROWN Research Studies showed that 66% of Black women change their hair for a job interview.

Vanita Brown, who designed the emojis, said one reason such emojis are still not available is because Eurocentric beauty standards are seen as the norm.

Lack of representation in stock images is also a problem, Brown said, and Mushigo pointed to the diversity gap at tech companies where Black people are underrepresented.

“Hopefully, with greater diversity and inclusivity among tech teams, we will see more emojis that actually represent the diversity of the world we live in,” she said.

(Reporting by Catarina Demony and Marissa Davison; Editing by Paul Sandle and Alexandra Hudson)