Attention curly-haired collegiettes! The moment we’ve all been waiting for has FINALLY arrived! And we’re not talking about the invention of a miracle hair straightener or the sudden comeback of big, ‘80s style hair. We’re talking about the introduction of the curly-haired emoji!
Thanks to our friends at Dove, we FINALLY have an accurate way of depicting ourselves with emojis. And might we say, it’s ABOUT TIME! Not only has Dove given us the gift of a curly-haired emoji, but they have also equipped us with an entire keyboard of curly-haired characters. So yes, it’s safe to say that Christmas came early for us curly girls. Thanks, Dove!
Unilever’s Dove launched the keyboard as a part of its Love Your Curls campaign. Dove noticed a huge fault in the current emoji keyboard: every single emoji has straight hair! According to Ad Age, “one in three women in the US have naturally curly hair, [but] can’t find emojis on keyboards that look like themselves.” And we couldn’t agree more! We can simply locate an emoji of the moon at every phase, but can’t locate a lock of curled hair in the thousands of emoji options we have. See our frustrations?!
Fortunately, Dove did see our frustrations. To promote Dove Quench, a line of hair care products for naturally curly hair, they gave us this keyboard – complete with 27 curly hair emojis with selectable skin tone and hair color. It even comes with seven GIFs. This gives you plenty of options to express your feelings – from the joy you feel on a fabulous hair day to the grief you feel when your curls won’t cooperate. Dove even sympathizes with us on rainy days – there’s an emoji defending her locks with an umbrella. Been there.
In Dove’s research, they found that only 10% of women and 40% of girls actually like their curls. And as fun as the Dove Love Your Curls Keyboard is, Dove says it’s no joke. Rob Candelino, VP of Haircare Marketing at Unilever, believes that the keyboard can address a social problem: the marginalization of girls with curls.
“Having curls makes [girls] feel anxious as young as 5 years-old,” said Candelino. “We hope to help women see beauty as a source of confidence, not anxiety.”
In addition to the keyboard, Dove is currently partnering with Twitter for the Love Your Curls campaign. Every time a user tweets with #LoveYourCurls, a custom curly emoji will generate for the tweet.
This isn’t the first time Dove has worked on getting girls to love their curls! Just last year, Dove launched a heartwarming Love Your Curls video and Love Your Curls e-book of poetry to empower curly girls and women to see their beauty!
So, if you ROCK your natural curls, think girls with curls are beautiful, or are still bitter about Taylor Swift and Lorde straightening their hair, download the keyboard and join the campaign by tweeting #LoveYourCurls!
The Love Your Curls Keyboard can be downloaded through an app called Dove Curls on the Apple and Google Play stores. Simply follow the app’s instructions to download the keyboard and make these emojis part of your everyday conversations.