Curly hair is an emoji component character (U+1F9B1) used to indicate a curly hairstyle in person emojis. While it can display as a standalone pictograph (often a tuft or curl of hair) on many platforms, its primary purpose is to participate in emoji ZWJ sequences. In these sequences, it combines with a base person emoji—such as person (U+1F9D1), woman (U+1F469), or man (U+1F468)—to produce a single curly‑haired person glyph. When used in a sequence, the curly hair component itself does not appear separately; the renderer fuses the characters into one emoji.
The typical construction order is: base person/man/woman + optional skin tone modifier (U+1F3FB–U+1F3FF) + Zero Width Joiner (U+200D) + curly hair (U+1F9B1). For example, U+1F469 U+200D U+1F9B1 yields “woman: curly hair,” and U+1F9D1 U+1F3FD U+200D U+1F9B1 yields “person: medium skin tone, curly hair.” Skin tone modifiers apply to the person base, not the hair component. This hair component is primarily supported with person/man/woman bases and is not generally used with profession or family sequences. On Apple/iOS, U+1F9B1 appears as a visible hair glyph when sent alone and disappears into the combined person emoji when used in a supported ZWJ sequence; if a platform lacks full support, users may see the components separately or a missing‑glyph box. The character resides in the Supplemental Symbols and Pictographs range and was added to enable more diverse hair representations in emoji without creating separate code points for each gendered person.
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