Afro textured hair

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Afro textured hair (also referred to as "nappy" hair, or "kinky" hair in North America) is the texture of hair found among most people of sub-saharan African descent as well as Black Melanesians and Negritos of the Pacific and Andaman Islands/South East Asia respectively.

[edit] Overview

It is extremely tightly coiled hair that gives it a thick and compact appearance and feel. Its texture is similar to that of thick wool or cotton. It is usually black in color, but can be brown, blonde, or bright red. The streotype of a clown with a bright red afro and very white skin (such as Ronald McDonald, or Bozo the Clown) is in fact Russian origin, because Eastern Europeans (Ashkenazic Jews) have this kind of hair, and are sometimes also redheads. Racially Black people usually have this hair texture. Afro textured hair is also casually referred to as 'nappy' hair, 'kinky' hair or 'wooly' hair because, again, of its wool or cotton like texture or appearance, although these names also hold other meaning as well.

Examples of Afro textured hair:

Not all people of African descent have Afro-textured hair, however. Many members of some North East African groups as well as some Melanesian groups and some non-Andamanese Negritos have loosely curled or even straight/wavy hair as opposed to the tightly curled hair found among most African descended and racially Black people.

Black people with Afro-textured/tightly curled hair are found in large numbers throughout the United States of America, the Caribbean, and Latin America as a result of the Atlantic slave trade and in smaller numbers throughout parts of the Middle East and India as a result of a lesser known Islamic/East African slave trade. In addition to the Atlantic and Islamic slave trades that dispersed people of African origin to these parts of the world there are the Negrito Pygmies of the Andamanese Islands ( of whom there are less than 1000) and the Melanesian populations of the Pacific who often have tightly curled/Afro textured hair. Melanesians generally have kinky hair and the Andamanese Negritos (who share some similarities with the African Khoi-San as well as Melanesians, scientists use them as a model as to what the early human settlers of Asia might have been like ) do as well.Outside of sub-saharan Africa the countries with the largest Black populations include the U.S.A, Haiti, Brazil and Papua New Guinea.Through African/Afro-Caribbean immigration ( as well as other parts of the world like Latin America), there are significant numbers of Black people found in Canada, Europe and Australia as well.

[edit] Various styles

During the late 1960s and 1970s, Black Power and pride movements in the United States brought about the emergence of the 'Afro' hairstyle. Black men and women would grow their African textured hair out to several inchs in diameters away from their head, upwards of a foot or more. This was a rejection of Eurocentric standards of beauty, an embrace of African heritage and roots and a confirmation of the idea that 'Black is Beautiful' (Afro sheen advertisement in Swahili).

The Afro was/is sometimes texturized so it isn't in its true African state, but straightened with a more 'frizzish'/wiry appearance that springs out (Rapper Ludacris with a texturized Afro).

Eventually, this hair style grew away from its political and cultural connotation and was embraced by the mainstream. 'Afros' became popular even among non-Blacks with loosely curled hair. Other hairstyles often worn by wooly haired people of African descent are cornrowns, braids and dreadlocks. Cornrows and braiding traditions have survived in the Black diaspora where they were brought to from African slaves. Dreadlocks is a tradition among the Rastafari movement of Jamaica, who were inspired by the Mau Mau freedom fighters of Kenya. Dreadlocks also has a long history in India. These hairstyles associated with people of African descent have become popular with non-Blacks with the emergence of hip hop culture and Caribbean influences like reggae music.

There has been a movement among African descended women to wear their hair naturally, most in the West continue to relax/straighten their hair. During the 1930s, 'conking' ( where Black men straighten their kinky hair) as depicted in the Autobiography of Malcolm X, was common in the United States. Some people of African descent in the Western world are discouraged from wearing natural hair in the workplace and among some African descended people themselves, kinky hair is sometimes seen as something inferior or to be ashamed of compared to straight or 'good hair' ( old southern American term for loosely curled hair ). Afro textured hair is handled and combed in a variety of ways. One of which is an 'Afro pick' which comes from the traditional African grooming instrument that has long separated 'teeth' to part out tightly curled hair.

There has been a boom in marketing to target hair products at African descended people ( ie. African Pride for women, or Out of Africa shampoo etc. ) Slogans that promote a pan-African appreciation of Afro textured hair include "Happy to be nappy" , "Don't worry, be nappy" as well as "Love, peace and nappiness". When African descended people wear natural hair this is sometimes humorously referred to as going 'napptural'.

[edit] See Also

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