What does Google show you when you search for “ugly hair”?

When searching for the keyword “ugly hair”, images of curly hair, especially of black women, appear in the largest search engine in the world, Google. For a long time, curly hair, in its most diverse curvatures, was synonymous with carelessness and carelessness, being constantly called “bad hair”.

Here are some of the results presented by Google:

Meanwhile, straight, wavy hair is seen as beautiful, the “good hair”. However, when thinking about curly hair curvatures, curly hair has greater passability, since larger and more defined curls are more accepted by society.

How does google make this association?

It is common to see cases of black women raising this discussion when they see their image associated with “ugly hair” in the search engine. In 2021, influencer Sah Oliveira came across this situation, as a photo of her appeared in the search. By clicking on the image, the user is taken to an article in which the influencer discusses the myths and stereotypes of curly hair.

In 2020, the young Luana Daltro also came across her image related to the term. The image connection is related to an interview in which she comments on the violence that black people face in a racist society.

This association happens due to the way the search engine algorithm works. The system takes into account the image and the words corresponding to it. When inserting these terms in the titles or body of the text, the algorithm makes the association with the image.

This association has worrying factors, in which it is necessary to understand the social context and the way in which these references can reach users and in the way in which he understands the term with associated image.

Law of respect for natural hair?

Recently, the US House passed legislation against hair discrimination, but the text has yet to be approved by the Senate. The law called CROWN (Creating a respectful and Open Wold for Natural Hair), in free translation, “Creating a respectful and open world for natural hair”, has the support of President Joe Biden, who asked lawmakers to pass it quickly. If the bill becomes law, capillary discrimination must be treated as racial discrimination under federal civil rights law.

In Brazil, a law like this is still not discussed. For similar cases, in which a person suffers prejudice due to their curly hair, a possible protection law would be racial injury, depending on the case.

As in Brazil, black Americans report being treated in a discriminatory way because of their natural hair or the use of braids and other styles that are part of their black identity. By many, their hair is not considered “professional” in the work environment. In addition, in schools, children also often suffer from racist comments.