Welcome to The Hood!

reecurlhood
Aug 8, 2022
2 min read

Hi! My name is Reema Bakri and I am the founder of CurlHood.

CurlHood is our space. It’s a place where we can fall in love with ourselves and embrace the natural beauty, we all have, it’s the Hood that you have all been needing. The same way we stand together as Arab women in our communities is the same way we will stand side by side, arms in the air and fight for our lives in this Hood – okay, not literally.

Most importantly, CurlHood is a safe place for everyone. Regardless of your hair type, body type or if you’re short like me! Insecurities will not be taboo here. CurlHood is for you.

Based in Jordan, the Arab beauty standard is inevitable to come by. Being short, curvy and owning a huge curly crown I certainly was not deemed beautiful.

In 1st grade of school, my hair was curly and HUGE. Yep, take that image you have in your head and times it by two. Okay, maybe a little over exaggeration – but you get my point! My hair gave my classmates an excuse to tease and bully me. I was the anomaly in the classroom. My curls were compared to the fine silk that my sister had on her head, and that is what society told me was beautiful. I believed that my gorgeous curly hair was, ugly.

I could only dream of a community like CurlHood.

So, the organiser I am, I grabbed my pen and notepad and created the community that I never had – and became the bad ass business woman that I am today. Don’t be fooled, it was not easy. I was a student, juggling my studies and work together, trying to build my ideas as a young woman with no prior experience. In order to advocate for natural beauty and natural curls, and bring together a hood of curls supporting curls.

Oh, the hood? That’s you. Don’t look around. You’re reading this aren’t you?