Recoiled (2019) 

Don’t change yourself for others. Love yourself for who you are.

I love how her hair moves and does things

I had almost the exact experience in this film! It’s also a great illustration of what I always tell people who don’t have my kind of hair, “it has a mind of its own. I wanted to style it like xyz but it didn’t want to so I just let it do it wants.” As far as the rest of the short film, it was middle school when I straightened my hair so the kids would leave me alone and stop touching my hair. I recently saw this TikTok of this mom teaching her little black daughter a song about how to establish boundaries and personal space when someone is touching her hair without consent. It made me shed a tear because my parents didn’t teach me that. When a kid wanted to touch my hair (which were many of them, mostly if not all boys, and all of time), the only thing I could think to do was run. But they would chase me. As I got older, they stopped but all they did was change their methods from chasing to sneaking up behind me. I had to go all the way to a school counselor to tell them to stop, and for a painfully shy kid like myself, that was a hard thing to do but I had enough. I had my hair straight until junior year of high school because I really missed my natural hair. I was naive to think that by this point the boys would have matured to understand personal space but I was wrong. They still snuck up on me, in the middle of class no less! It seriously wasn’t until COVID hit (and I’m an adult by this point) that people FINALLY stopped because they had to stay 6 ft away anyway. Despite this, it was all worth it because that painfully shy girl was gone almost instantly when I wore my curls again and let her be as big and wild as she wanted. I wanted to live as free as my hair did. The fact that I still go through this with adults who should understand BASIC empathy and personal space to LEAVE ME ALONE is baffling. But at least I know how to stand up for myself and my hair now. Again, it has a mind of its own 😂 she has her own personality and feelings and I have to protect them!

We absolutely need a Hero movie of a girl with power that comes from her hair.

Unfortunate how ads and salons these days want us curlies to make our hair straight. I went last week to ask about something to make my curls less frizzy and the lady at the salon said yea you do this treatment to make your hair straight. I mean, Did i ask you that? Curly hair is very beautiful, it shouldn't be straightened

This film means a lot, reminds me when I used to wish I was white so much, I would straighten my hair and change myself completely just to appear likable to white people. It really messed me up searching for validation from all the wrong people. I’m still struggling to realize that I’m not a “slave” and they’re not the “master”, and I don’t need their validation, but I’m getting there. It really does suck how society pushes us to believe we arent worthy, so many black girls go through the “I wish I were white phase”, I’m just glad I’m pretty much out of that. I love this film. ❤️🥺💕👏🏾✊🏾

The classroom was so realistic lmao like the teacher was like bullying? I sleep. Hats? Real shit

I felt so seen and literally cried watching it. My hair sometimes can be it’s own monster but it’s part of who I am. I love the manageability of straight hair and how society promotes it as elegant, chic, and easy. But nothing compares to my curls and coils! Nothing! My son feels seen when I rock my crown and I want him To know it’s okay to be who you are naturally. I didn’t have that growing up so this short film means the world. I showed him and he said “good for her”. It’s normal for him To see this now and that makes my heart happy.

I like that her hair is coily we needed more coily representation 🥰🥰 Edit: seen a lot of people confused so I’ll clarify; Coily is a zig zag pattern while Curly is more of a spring pattern in the hair’s natural state (not after you brush or blow dry it) Coily hair can still have some curls but it’s mainly zig zag and a lot of people have multiple hair types on their head (I have 4c and in some spots 4b hair)

The weird part is where the heck is the parents

You guys really nailed the hair behavior and the look/ flow and texture of the straightened hair. Excellent work for students!!!

3:00 "no hats" how about "NO harassing her and her hair"

Yall the parents in the bed sleep, cooking in the kitchen, at work, something- use your imagination😂

This is amazing and speaks to me deeply I was almost 35 before I realized my hair was naturally curly/coily My mom started perming my hair in kindergarten because my texture was different from hers and she didn’t have time or the know how to manage it .. I’m still learning how to manage it myself after 10+ yrs natural... it has been a journey and sometimes I still find it hard to fully embrace my curls and undo the brainwashing of society and my mom thank you for this 💜💜💜💜🙏🏽

This actually had an emotional effect on me by the time she straightened her hair with the flat iron. I actually missed her natural hair. Giving that natural hair life was a genius idea. 💡

Alright is everyone just gonna ignore the fact that they left the straightening iron on in the bathroom

I think all of us (curly hair people) had a dark time in which we wanted our hair to be straight or to be blonde etc. Etc. And then we realized our curls were beautiful

I can't believe there was no talking throughout the movie yet the message was clearly passed across. Beautiful 😍❣️

You just gave me a new perspective of looking at my hair and I love it.😊❤

When I was in school, people would make fun of my curly hair. I was always being told to try straightening it or to “do more feminine” things with it. The majority of my dad’s family has curly (not wavy like in the advertisements that dare say curly) but I always felt ugly and didn’t know how to care for it. I would brush it (a big no no as I learned) keep it up in a tight ponytail, but I always refused to straighten it more than twice a year. I hated being called “poodle girl” by the other kids but I still liked my curls. Watching tv I always hated how superheroes almost never had curly hair. As I got older I went against my mom’s wishes and cut my hair very short (my hair at the time was around waist length but super damaged due to “curly hair” products) I wanted it to heal. I changed my shampoo, no hair products, used tiny amounts of beeswax for curl definition, a bland of natural oils tailored to my hair and that was all. I let my hair be itself and I get compliments on it left and right from how bouncy, frizzless and shiny it is. Curly haired humans, love your hair, treat it right and it will treat you right.

My hair has always been “poker stick straight” but I’ve always wished I had curly hair since I was a kid because it’s so beautiful. Funny how people always seem to want what they don’t have

I have curly hair and I have mixed feelings about this film. I often feel like we as African Americans are so starved for representation and for images that look like us, that even if there is a hint of negativity in the content that we can relate to, we embrace it. I've seen animation from animators from Africa and other parts of the world, where the character with thick curly hair is the heroine and her hair is a non-issue. I think part of the many dilemmas within the experience of African-Americans is that we've had to survive in a nation wherein all parts of who we are deemed and propagandized as being inferior, including our hair; but when I look online on Pinterest and see all the beautiful black women of different shades, different hair textures, who have their hair, cut, faded, braided, twisted and otherwise, it's real beauty that's exists outside of the American and Caucasian standard. I myself would rather see a character who rocks her curly hair and is beautiful and knows and embraces that she is beautiful.

Such a beautiful story. Don't change it because some people don't have the knowledge and discriminate you. Love yourself for who you are and not what other people want to see. I got teary eyes from it and love it 😍😍😍😍😍😍🤗 . I know it's still hard until today, but be proud of your culture and happy about it.

This is so unique..... it's basically teaching you to love your hair as it is and don't care about what others think because when u experiment you take the life out of it resulting in you regretting and possibly damaging it...JUST LET IT BE ‼️

She actually looked better with the curly hair than the straight one.🤦

These movie brings me back to when I was a child having these same issues; it was tough, glad those days are long gone!!

black hair is so beautiful, especially type 4 coily hair. so gorgeous and thick and big, all characteristics many women with different hair types would _love_ to have. it’s sad how the world has even the youngest black girls thinking their hair isn’t worthy, when their hair is among the prettiest!! the media should put more effort into their black characters.

More young girls need to see this ! Awesome video. This made me tear up after 27 years I am just now accepting all of me all the way down to my curls and coils 🥰💪🏿

I love this!! we need more natural hair representation. As a child, i got made fun of because of my hair. It was called "Ugly", "Untaimed" (even though it was always styled), a teacher told my family my hair was too distracting. I got made fun of because i didn't straighten my hair, it was a mess. Got called ballheaded even though i've got PLENTY of hair. I began to wish I could straighten my hair or that i was another race that has naturally straight hair. My parents always told me my hair was so beautiful, but after a while i stopped believing it because kids would tell me otherwise. It took up until recently for me to truly love my hair, I had locks that were really long. I'd style them different ways, gots tons of complements. Recently I combed them out because i missed my hair being out, I had my hair locked since 5th grade. I'm now a sophmore in college and I love how versitile my hair is, how i can do so much with it. Can be a real pain in the ass sometimes but i love it!

Love this! Hair was just something that sat on top of my head. From the day I was born, a bowl cut ruled my life. Until, finally, I left home. My first Sensei was shocked when I walked through the dojo. I had gone home and the first item was another trip to the hairdresser…and, another bowl cut. No. Sensei told me to never cut my hair again. I was a free woman. My time in exile was over. Even at 73, the hair and I go places where a bowl cut would never make it! I love the independence this young ladies hair has.

I love how her hair wakes her up.....if I had curly hair i wouldn't be late to school.....😁

I loved this. Having curly-coily-kinky haired representation matters.

I really liked that this showed the good, bad and the bounce back that our hair goes through. This is a perfect example of African American hair.

Melhor animação Eu luto todos os dia para pentear o meu cabelo. Ja sofri bullying na escola por ter o cabelo crespo e volumoso. Ja me submeti desde criança a alisar o meu cabelo , tanto que quase fiquei careca por causa dos produtos químicos usados no alisamento. So depois dos 23 anos que comecei a aceitar o meu cabelo como ele é.

It's tragic that most Black women can relate to this short film. Why must we all go through self-hatred before eventually learning to love ourselves the way we are? That's not fair.

This was so cute. The music in the background is a bit annoying though

I have perfectly straight hair and all my sisters have wavy hair. I used to spend hours with a curling iron and by the time I got to school it would be straight again. I gave up the curling iron in eighth grade and learned to appreciate my hair for what it is. We all want to be something we are not until we accept ourselves as we are. Everyone is beautiful in their own way and styles come in and go out.

Este video deja un gran mensaje para las hermanas mayores... Lo que tu hagas como hermana mayor tu hermanita menor lo Imitara. Y también deja un gran mensaje para todos... Debes amarte tal cual como eres, porque si cambias algo de tu cuerpo después te arrepentirás porque extrañaras lo que tenías antes.

Curls are beautiful! We feel such pressure from society to fit into an approved specific box. We are all beautiful and it is our differences that make us even more beautiful! Keep those curls and rock them!! They are supremely beautiful!

Thank you so so much for representing REAL black coily hair. We don't all have neat perfect afros or loose curls like most people think

This video also shows what an important role older siblings play in the lives of their younger brothers and sisters! My mother had a miscarriage before she got pregnant with me. I always dreamed of a brother or a brother or sister. What would life have been like?

Where are the parents tho?

I came to tell you that God loves you even if you don’t believe in him but he still thinks your beautifully made 🥰

I love this so much! I remember when I was younger I always wanted to have straight hair like my Asian mom and in 2018 I got a perm...I regretted it weeks later and got bored with straight hair....I chopped off all my hair that same year... I realized that my curly hair is beautiful and it brought me lots of attention all the time. I got many compliments which always makes me smile... I love my curly hair so much

When i was little i wanted to be like the white girl’s at school and I didn’t want beed’s in my head bc i was embarrassed but now i love my hair

This was the most adorable animation I've seen. Amazing job on it!!💕

Este es un increíble video y a la vez creativo eh inspirador además hay personas que somos como ella pero lo increíble es que aprendemos de esta chica 💗

Black girls matter! This is an awesome short. Often times in the media, they only show the very loose curls or straight hair, especially straight hair, which is a big sign of texturism. It’s really cool that this short shows young girls with 4C natural hair. Natural hair is beautiful!!! 👩🏽‍🦱👩🏾‍🦱👩🏿‍🦱

are there more videos I am teaching my granddaughter who is mixed to appreciate the Goddess she is mainly on the outside!!!!

We have been uneducated on how to care for our hair! I love working with hair from it's natural state! All you need is a spray bottle of water, grease, and a wide tooth comb. Separated the hair in small sections and Detangle from the ends to the roots. Thank me later🕵🏽

I feel this girl, I love my curly hair. I have natural gold highlights and when it curls it is beautiful. It’s also very thick, about as thick from my finger tips to wrists, and very frizzy and curly. All over last summer I washed my hair day and night to get it very healthy, no straight. Joined middle school and what do you know? People thought I was more beautiful with straight hair. After a whole summer of love, and treatment I ruined it.

I love natural hair!

Yes finally 4b/4c hair texture! 😍

As a Natural, this animation makes me BLISSFUL.😍😍😍😍➿➿➿➿➿➿🤗🤗🤗

Este filme me fez entender um pouco melhor os motivos da brincadeira inocente do Rodolffo ter magoado tanto o João Luiz no programa Big Brother Brasil 2021. Notavelmente o Rodolffo aceita João como é. Talvez a falta de conhecer diferentes histórias não forneceu subsídios para que Rodolffo pudesse imaginar a história de sofrimento de João. A brincadeira do Rodolffo teve até uma dose de carinho, com base na vivência com o seu pai que tem o mesmo tipo de cabelo. Mas a falta de imaginação causou a falta de empatia. A falta de empatia causa a falta de bom senso. A falta de bom senso tem causado muitas feridas em toda a sociedade. Agora que Rodolffo pode imaginar o sofrimento que a sua brincadeira causou, talvez nunca mais a faça. Assim como também não pretendo mais fazer. Quero acreditar que quem assista a este filme também não queira fazer piadas com o cabelo de mais ninguém. Vivendo e aprendendo!

This animation is so cute and we need more animations like this❤️

I’m here for the representation as a 4b/4c (super kinky and coily )girl myself. But the whole time I was worried their house was gonna burn down because the flat iron was still plugged in 😅😖

What a beautiful message! Reminded me of being teased at school for my unruly afro and never being happy with it. Saved for my 6 yr old.😍

Embrace your flaws...you are created as you are..dont change anything about your looks rather keep your self esteem on board and be confident just like the others who does ..at the end of each day..you will learn to love yourself more..which is the greatest thing you can do for yourself.. be who you are!

I felt this same frustration with my hair. It was matted, dry and didn't look how I wanted it to. I was impatient with it and how it wanted to do its own thing. I'd put it up in a bun and let it rot for weeks on end, thinking my hair was against me. When really, after my mom helped me comb through those knots, I felt free and calm. My hair started to feel more alive. Now these days, I learned to accept my hair and be gentle with it. And that's when I noticed it became a lot easier to manage. Our hair just wants love by us mostly, not just society (even though others opinions on our hair dont matter). But with us? Definitely. I learned to understand and nurture it. Now, it doesn't feel neglected.

This video should be on Netflix

this film needs more attention

some times what we think about as our imperfections, actually they are our perfection, and made us who we tuly are❤️🌻

I love this so much it makes me feel 100 times better about my hair being different, everyone in my class either has straget hair or have box braids d=or stuff like that but I always where my hair natrual, this really helped my self asteem

Don’t change ur self for others be YOUR SELF

The moral is that we’re beautiful just the way we are we don’t need to change a thing

Na minha infância não tinha esse tipo de desenho, uma pena. Gostaria muito de crescer com esse tipo de conteúdo que já molda a criança, mostrem para seus filhos

So lovely and warm 😍 🥰🥰🥰🥰

as a brown person (i look white though lol) i honestly adore coily/afro/curly hair. i don’t get why people hate y’all for having more melanin and better hairstyles, fan behavior? 🤨

Love the video. I didn’t see the importance of adding parents. The message was still conveyed.

This rlly means a lot bc my hair is rlly rlly curly, it’s poufy, thick, frizzy dry Can never wear it down. Im always jealous of other ppls hair how tamed it is and good it looks while me it only looks good right after the shower. So.. this touched home.

YEEEEEEEEEES!!!! Thank you for creating this and posting! Totally excellent!!

hats off to the attempt of making a film on the hair and there are tons and of the problem we face while working on hair, I can't even think of doing such film with complex hair work hair, even Disney wrote 250 + scripts to make the hair of main char

It’s the movement fa me STIFF WHERE😭❗️

omg i remember straightening my hair with a flat iron and once water touched it.... it would just puff right up back...made me happy to see my old hair texture again

I enjoyed this animation. Self-love💚 This video touched on so many different things that girls go through having curly hair. When I was younger I use to get perms so it wasn't until I was older that I realized that curly hair have a mind of its own😄

Never change anything for others, they'll find something else to do but judging you, just don't let them see that they get to you ❤️

Okay this did not have to be so touching 😭😭 also well done to the animation team 👁️👄👁️ this must've taken a while. It reminds me a little bit of Green Beauty's work 🙈 P.S I hope the straightner had sensors and automatically switched off after they went outside to play in the rain 🙈

If you wanna straighten your hair, do it. If you wanna be natural, do it. If you want to curl your hair, crimp it, braid it, etc. DO IT. But ONLY do it if you want to. My hair was always curly and wavy. When everyone else was flat ironing their hair I was so jealous because I didn't have one until I was 17. And by then even when I did straighten my hair I would miss some part because my hair was too thick for me to handle alone, or it would just bounce back into a wave. I felt so ugly. And sometimes I still do feel ugly. But not because of my hair. I haven't brushed my hair in a month and thats okay with me

Just love you so much ❤

What’s worst about me in school is that I have really really soft hair so everyone wants to touch and say nice comments and touch it and style it

O meu cabelo é afro e às vezes parece quem até vida própria como mostra o desenho! Mas ainda assim, aprendi a me amar e amar o meu cabelo! Minhas características me tornam única!💖😊💞

I have straight hair and back then I use to have long hair and I don’t like when everyone touches it but I’m glad I got it cut short

No one: Not even the creators: Me: So is somebody gonna unplug the flat iron?

I had straight hair before, then puberty hit and I noticed my hair getting waves, my mom called it messy and told me to brush it-which made it more worse. She said I wasn't brushing properly so I kept brushing and started hating my hair. I wished to have it straightened because I thought that pretty girls had straight hair and wanted to be like them. Months later I saw videos of girls not realizing that they were curly/wavy haired, and saw their before pictures. I started to realize I had wavy-curly and started to take care of it. I grew to love my hair now, and I'm disappointed in myself that it took me about 3 years to realize that

Not me getting emotional 🙄🥺

Awww. That was very well done. Almost reminds me of Hair Love.

I felt the same way about my hair and it wasnt until my hair were almost completely damaged did I realise that maybe I should love and embrace the hair god gave me : curly hair Since then they have improved (although I still indulge in straightening them for a function sometimes )

Your hair and you are beautiful, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!! Don’t ever change yourself to fit someone or somethings image cause that’ll never help you, self love can be along hard journey but it’s all worth the struggle in the end 💙

That was amazing!! Awesome job Claire!!!

I got a curly hair since I was born, my classmates and some of the people told me I looked like a witch if I didn't tied my hair and since that day I always tied up my hair like what others want to see it but, when I got a job almost all of my colleagues love my curly and even I only passed by in the street a lot of people will compliment it and I love it coz my hair deserves it, to be love and appreciate for how it looks.

Me *Watching them leave the bathroom together to go play in the rain* : UNPLUG the hair straightener and pick it up off the floor before you start a fire.

Very cute little film, but where are their parents 😂

Welp, this got me crying tears of joy and pride. Oh how I use to wish to have straight hair ( like white people hair) all the time when I was little. But as I got older I loved my natural hair more and more. Still love how my hair defies gravity still to this day. 😊😊😊😊

I love her hair it’s so long and curly my hair is so short and l don’t think anyone noticed that her hair is alive

So cuteeeee, here from a tik tok comment of yours 😂

this video i found to be very very powerful it has ALOT of Lessons neatly put in this film ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is already super great! Still I'd love to see those professionals getting financial support from some big name in the industry and be able to recreate this exact same beautiful movie with a big budget! Being able to get better technology and make the animation into another level. Also, great artist should get great PAID! Now I'm not saying they are not well paid idk anything about nobody finances, all I'm saying is: making a movie, specially a 3D animated one, it ain't cheap! And I know such great professionals would love to increase their investments in production and getting bigger in recognition! So I'm rooting for all af them!! Good luck yall!. Thanks for the amazing film!

Loved this ❤❤❤

I'm loving this! I came from Tik Tok. 😍♥️ You're amazing! This is beautiful and you have so much talent!