Afro

An afro, sometimes called a "natural" or shortened to "fro", is a hairstyle in which the hair extends out from the head like a halo, cloud or ball. This may or may not include wearing such afros long, to several times the diameter of the head. An afro requires very curly hair. For many people of African descent, an afro is the way the hair grows naturally. Anyone of any ethnic background is capable of growing an afro if they have very curly hair. For people of African descent, the spiraling, tightly coiled curls can be straightened out somewhat, giving the hair added volume and length, by first braiding the hair, then separating the coils using an "afro pick". The afro pick is an adaptation of a traditional African grooming instrument,[1] which is essentially a narrow comb with long, widely spaced teeth. Similarly, added volume can be achieved using an afro pick in combination with the heat from a hand-held hair dryer. The effect is called a blowout afro.

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History

A woman with an afro at the Tribeca Film Festival

The ancient Egyptians were known at times to wear so-called Nubian wigs, sometimes called enveloping wigs, which resembled this style (see Maiherpri). The term "Fuzzy Wuzzy" was applied by British soldiers to the Sudanese because of this hairstyle.

In the late nineteenth century a style similar to the Afro was worn by the Circassian beauties, sometimes known as "Moss-haired girls", exhibited by P.T. Barnum, and promoted as “the purest example of the white race” in order to attract white audiences captivated by the "exotic East" and preoccupied with issues of race.[2]

The modern style dates to the 1960s. In 1963, actress Cicely Tyson sported cornrows or a "TWA" (a "teeny, weeny afro") in the popular network television series East Side, West Side. Jimi Hendrix became one of the first popular entertainers to have a large afro. The afro gained popularity during the late 1960s and 1970s, in connection with the growth of the Black Pride and Black Power political movements, and the emergence of blaxploitation films and disco music.

Among Blacks, afros were considered a proclamation of "Black is Beautiful!", a popular slogan of the time. They became symbols of race pride; progressive, often leftist political leanings; and militancy. In northern and western states Afros were seen popularly worn in poor neighborhoods such as Harlem, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and Watts as early as 1965 and 1966. In the southern United States however, it was not a popular hairstyle until 1969 and 1970.

However, during the later half of the 1970s, the style passed into the cultural mainstream and for many people became simply a fashion that sometimes even Caucasian men (and women) with looser, less curly hair adopted. The frizzier, messier, browner of these are sometimes called "wafros" by people with blonde hair who have brushed hair. Wafro can be traced to the words and meaning "white afro".

Jewfro/Isro

A Jewish-American youth sports a Jewfro at his high school.

The term has its roots in the 1960s and 1970s when many prominent figures were described as sporting the hairstyle. The Los Angeles Times called college football star Scott Marcus a flower child with “golden brown hair... in ringlets around his head in what he calls a Jewish afro style”.[3]

The New York Times in a 1971 article on Harvard’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...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." [4] 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."[5]

Heeb Magazine, an irreverent Jewish review, published a photo-spread on the "Jewfro" in its first issue and cited Albert Einstein and Bob Dylan as precursors of the style. Other examples of people who have had Jewfro style hair are Art Garfunkel, Brad Delson, Andy Samberg, Adam Brody, Adam Lamberg and Alex Jacob.

The use of Afros in popular culture can be seen here with Lauryn Hill, wearing an Afro wig during a performance in Central Park. Hill used this wig in several performances in 2005.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Example of a traditional African comb
  2. ↑ The Circassian beauty archive A collection of historic Images - Circassian Beauties
  3. ↑ Dan Hafner, "Louisville's 'Flower Child'; Barefooted Punter Arrives in Shoes and Mod Outfit", Los Angeles Times, Dec 17, 1970. Sec III, pg. G1.
  4. ↑ Murray Chass, "Harvard's Hairy Five Makes Some Foes Bristle", The New York Times, February 28, 1971, pg. S4.
  5. ↑ Stephen E Rubin, "Tempo; Judith Rossner's novel success is hard to put down" , Chicago Tribune, September 17, 1977, pg. 11.
  6. ↑ The Fugees, Hammersmith Apollo, December 15, 2005. Retrieved on May 28, 2007.