From Voice of America

It’s the first Afro Dakar meeting of the year, and a couple of dozen women have gathered next door to a hair salon in Senegal’s capital, reports Ricci Shryock.

These business entrepreneurs, Internet bloggers and feminists are members of a club called N’happy Galsen, a group of women who encourage and celebrate natural hair styles, especially the Afro.

One of the meeting’s organizers, Agnus Diof, said their group name is a play on the traditional word ‘nappy’ – a word that means tightly curled and can sometimes be racially offensive – and gives it a positive meaning.

“It’s natural and happy,”  said Diouf. “It’s the mix of the two. It’s to say that natural hair‘s not a disaster.”

Natural hair is not a disaster

Teclaire Wilson runs an online vintage clothing store and is a ‘N’happy’ member.  She said the movement is growing in Dakar, but it is still hard to find salons in the city that can style natural hair.

Read more at Voice of America.