A Cuban woman living in England surprised her followers by revealing a quirky habit she has held onto despite her new life in the UK: styling her hair with a toilet paper roll instead of purchasing the same hair accessories British women use.
The creator, known on TikTok as @mare_rycroft, shared a 25-second video last Wednesday, humorously contrasting her Cuban habit with that of British women. "British women spending money on hair accessories, while I, as a Cuban, make do with what I have," she begins in the video.
She directly asks her audience: "Who else, like me, used to style their hair in Cuba with a toilet paper roll?" She proudly defends the practice: "It's quick and cheap, yes!"
This seemingly simple anecdote reveals a deeper truth. In Cuba, even toilet paper was a scarce commodity, making its use for hair styling, as she admits, "a luxury." Cuban women would often improvise curlers from disposable materials like cardboard, plastic tubing, or paper due to persistent shortages of beauty products.
The Culture of Reuse and Adaptation
This practice is part of what many Cubans refer to as "cacharra"—a culture of reuse and adaptation born from decades of deprivation. Cuban customs such as flipping oil bottles upside down, saving plastic bags, or squeezing the last bit of toothpaste have been carried by the diaspora to Europe and America.
@mare_rycroft's video is part of a well-established trend on TikTok since at least 2025, where Cubans share these vestiges of underdevelopment on social media as a form of humor, nostalgia, and collective identity. These posts generate empathy among Latinos from various countries.
Other Cuban TikTok accounts showcase similar practices, like using toilet paper rolls as curlers or cutting shampoo bottles to add water and make the product last longer. Such habits, indicative of a Cuban upbringing, have become viral content resonating with both Cubans and other Latinos in Europe.
Life in the UK: Cuban Resilience and Adaptation
The Cuban community in the UK is particularly active on social media. For instance, a former Cuban gymnast in England started out working in a recycling plant before saving enough to earn a truck driving license. Fellow Cubans frequently share their experiences of adapting to British life, blending Cuban culture with local reality.
The ingenuity born from scarcity, which has become a hallmark of identity, accompanies each Cuban who emigrates. As one member of the diaspora sums up: "Emigrating is working while missing home," growing without witnesses, and achieving things those left behind may never see.
Understanding Cuban Traditions and Adaptations in the UK
Why do some Cubans use toilet paper rolls for hair styling?
In Cuba, due to the scarcity of beauty products, people often improvise with available materials for grooming. Using toilet paper rolls as hair curlers is a cost-effective solution that emerged from necessity.
How does the Cuban community in the UK maintain its cultural identity?
The Cuban community in the UK actively shares their unique cultural practices and stories on social media, blending their traditions with new experiences in their host country, which helps maintain their cultural identity.