The afro is a hair style created by combing out natural growth of afro-textured hair, or specifically styled with chemical curling products by individuals with naturally curly or straight hair.[Garland, Phyl, "Is The Afro On Its Way Out?", Ebony, February 1973. Retrieved February 20, 2010.][ Sherrow, Victoria, Encyclopedia of hair: a cultural history, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006, pp. 21–23. Retrieved February 20, 2010.] The hairstyle can be created by combing the hair away from the scalp, dispersing a distinctive curl pattern, and forming the hair into a rounded shape, much like a cloud or puff ball.[Mercer, Kobena, Welcome to the Jungle: New Positions in Black Cultural Studies, Routledge, 1994, pp. 104–113. Retrieved February 20, 2010.][ Hair Designing - A Complete Course, by Various, Global Media, 2007, section 2. Retrieved February 20, 2010.][ "Modern Living: Beyond the Afro", Time, October 25, 1971. Retrieved February 20, 2010.]
For people with wavy or straight hair, the hair style is created with the help of permanent hair structure-changing creams or gels and/or other solidifying liquids to temporarily hold the hair in place. Particularly popular in the African American community of the late 1960s and early 1970s,[ the hairstyle is often shaped and maintained with the assistance of a wide-toothed comb colloquially known as an Afro pick.][
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Etymology
"Afro" is derived from the term "Afro American".[
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History in the United States
African-American hairstyles prior to the 1960s
During the history of slavery in the United States, most African Americans styled their hair in an attempt to mimic the styles of the predominantly White Americans society in which they lived.[Moore Campbell, Bebe, "What happened to the Afro?", Ebony, June 1982. Retrieved February 20, 2010.] Afro-textured hair, characterized by its tight kinks, has been described as being kinky, coarse, cottony, nappy, or woolly.[Boyce Davies, Carole, Encyclopedia of the African diaspora: origins, experiences, and culture, Volume 1, ABC-CLIO, 2008, pp. 493-495. Retrieved February 20, 2010.] These characteristics represented the antithesis of the European American standard of beauty, and led to a negative view of kinky hair. As a result, the practice of straightening gained popularity among African Americans.
The process of straightening the hair often involved applying caustic substances, such as containing lye, which needed to be applied by an experienced hairstylist so as to avoid burning the scalp and ears.[Gittens, Sandra, African-Caribbean Hairdressing, Cengage Learning EMEA, 2002, p. 256. Retrieved February 20, 2010.]
1960s and 1970s
The effect of the Civil Rights Movement brought a renewed sense of identity to the African–American community, which also resulted in a redefinition of personal style that included an appreciation of black beauty and aesthetics, as embodied by the "Black is beautiful" movement.
To some African Americans, the afro also represented a reconstitutive link to West Africa and Central Africa.[Rielly, Edward J., The 1960s, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003, p. 86. Retrieved February 20, 2010.] In his book Welcome to the Jungle: New Positions in Black Cultural Studies, cultural critic Kobena Mercer argued that the contemporary African society of the mid-20th century did not consider either hairstyle to denote any particular "Africanness"; conversely, some Africans felt that these styles signified "First World".
Similarly, Brackette F. Williams stated in her book Stains on My Name, War in My Veins: Guyana and the Politics of Cultural Struggle that African nationalists were irritated by the afro's adoption by African Americans as a symbol of their African heritage; they saw this trend as an example of Western world arrogance.[Williams, Brackette F., Stains on My Name, War in My Veins: Guyana and the Politics of Cultural Struggle, Duke University Press, 1991, p. 260. Retrieved February 20, 2010.] Sly Stone is wearing his long hair in the Afro style in May 1971
The afro was adopted by both men and women and was a hairstyle that was easier to maintain by oneself, without requiring frequent and sometimes costly visits to the hairstylist as was often experienced by people who chose to braid, straighten or relax their hair. Due to the kinky pattern prominent in Afro-textured hair, as it grows longer it has a tendency to extend outward from the head, resulting in a hairstyle which is easily molded and sculpted into the desired shape.
In the mid-1960s, the afro hairstyle began in a fairly tightly coiffed form, such as the hairstyle that became popular among members of the Black Panther Party. As the 1960s progressed towards the 1970s, popular hairstyles, both within and outside of the African-American community, became longer and longer.
In contrast, the afro's popularity among African Americans had already started to wane by the early 1970s;
1990s–present
The afro saw some resurgence in both the 1990s and the 2000s.[Irvine, Martha, "The Afro Strikes Back", Associated Press, March 8, 2002. Retrieved February 20, 2010.] These afros would take varied forms, some incorporating elements such as braids, beads or twists, as well as various sizes, from close-cropped natural hairstyles all the way to expansive afro .
Some African Americans who have been known for wearing afros or afro wigs during these two decades include NBA basketball players Ben Wallace, Kobe Bryant, and Michael Beasley, as well as musicians Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Macy Gray, Ludacris, Questlove, Cindy Blackman, Wiz Khalifa, and Lenny Kravitz. Beyoncé also donned a large afro wig for her role as Foxxy Cleopatra in the 2002 film Austin Powers in Goldmember.
On July 3, 2019, California became the first U.S. state to prohibit discrimination over natural hair. Governor Gavin Newsom signed the CROWN Act into law, banning employers and schools from discriminating against hairstyles such as afros, braids, twists, and dreadlocks.
Aevin Dugas from Gonzales, Louisiana, USA, set a new Guinness World Record on 11 September 2022, for the largest female afro, which measures 165 cm (5.41 ft) in circumference, 25 cm (9.84 in) in height, and 26 cm (10.24 in) in width. She has broken the Guinness World Record for the largest afro three times, including in 2010 and 2021. Dugas says she began growing her afro in 1999 and learned how to style and cut it herself after an unsuccessful trip to a professional hairstylist. She states that she broke the record to personally advocate for the beauty of natural hair and to encourage self-love.
Similar styles internationally
A "Jewfro" (portmanteau of the words Jews and afro) or (rarely) "Isro" (portmanteau of the words Israel and afro) refers to an afro when worn by Jews.[Dan Hafner, "Louisville's 'Flower Child'; Barefooted Punter Arrives in Shoes and Mod Outfit", Los Angeles Times, December 17, 1970. Sec III, p. G1.] The New York Times, in a 1971 article on Harvard University's "hairy" basketball team, wrote that Captain Brian Newmark "hasn't had a haircut since last May, and his friends have suggested his hairdo is a first cousin to the Afro, the style that is popular with blacks. In the case of the Jewish junior from Brooklyn, though, the bushy dark hair that is piled high on his head has been called an "Isro"."[Murray Chass, "Harvard's Hairy Five Makes Some Foes Bristle", The New York Times, February 28, 1971, p. S4.] Novelist Judith Rossner was described in a Chicago Tribune profile as the "grown-up Wunderkind with an open, oval face framed by a Jewish Afro."[Stephen E. Rubin, "Tempo; Judith Rossner's novel success is hard to put down", Chicago Tribune, September 17, 1977, p. 11.]
The Hadendoa Beja people of northeastern Africa were nicknamed "Fuzzy-Wuzzy" by British troops during the Mahdist War due to their large and mop-like hairstyles, which they shaped by applying butter or mutton fat.
Variations of the afro have been worn by one or both sexes in the many disparate cultures of the Africa. Due to the hairstyle's links to members of the civil rights and Black Power movements, the afro was seen by several outside cultures as a dangerous symbol of political unrest, including Tanzania where the Afro was banned in the 1970s because it was seen as a symbol of neocolonialism and as part of a "cultural invasion" from the United States.[Meisler, Stanley, "Afro Hairdo Riles Africa's Blacks", The Milwaukee Journal, September 22, 1970. Retrieved February 20, 2010.][ "Afro Hairdo Banned by Nation in Africa", The Milwaukee Journal, August 27, 1971. Retrieved February 20, 2010.] In the 1950s and 1960s, South African women were also known to wear their hair in an afro-type style.
The afro did not rise to the same level of popularity among the Afro-Caribbean community as it did in the United States, in part because of the popularity of dreadlocks, which played an important role in the Rastafari movement.
Tools
The long, wide teeth of the "afro pick" or afro comb were designed to dig down to the scalp, allowing the hair to be stretched out from the roots into a desired style or shape using a picking motion.[
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See also
External links
