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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 curly hair which people of indigenous African descent often naturally have. The ancient Egyptians were known at times to wear their wooly hair in this style. Anyone of any ethnic background is capable of acquiring an afro if they have curly hair, or just anyone with naturally very curly hair or naturally kinky hair, the spiralling, 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, which is essentially a narrow comb with long, widely spaced teeth.

History

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. Natural hairstyles, including the afro, also had political connotations with Malcolm X calling conked hair "a step towards self-degradation". The afro style was a repudiation of the use of hair straighteners to mimic the straightness of Caucasian hair. 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 ghettos such as Harlem, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and Watts as early as 1965 and 1966. In the southern US 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.

Jewish afros

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”.

The NY 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." 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."

Heeb Magazine, an ireverent 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 Jewfros are Gabe Kaplan, Dustin Diamond, Brad Delson, Michael Diamond, Neil Diamond, Lou Reed, Larry David, Tom Baker, Art Garfunkel, Michael Einziger, Simon Amstell, Howard Stern, Joe Trohman, Matt Stone, and Gene Wilder. Interestingly, The Encyclopedia of Pop Culture has claimed that the Afro lost favor with African Americans when Jews adopted the style.

Pop culture

Today afros are used in popular culture for comedic effect, especially in comedies from the '90s era due to their unique dimensions. A common joke involves the hiding of objects in the person's hair. In the movie Leprechaun in the Hood, for instance, a character played by Ice-T pulls a baseball bat from his afro; this scene is a satire of a similar scene in the blaxploitation classic Foxy Brown, in which Pam Grier hides a revolver in her afro. Another Grier film, Coffy (1973) depicted a scene where she plants razor blades in her afro before a catfight scene. One character in the late-1970's "Harlem Globetrotters" animated cartoon series retrieved absurdly large objects from his afro, including a proverbial kitchen sink.

Another kind of afro joke is seen in a '70s flashback sequence of the Leslie Nielsen comedy The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, where Nordberg (played by O.J. Simpson) sports an afro so large that he's unable to walk through a door. One of Victoria Principal's films (Earthquake) featured her character in an "afro", and the James Bond film Moonraker depicted a scene with a member of Drax's master race sporting an "afro". The Scarface remake (1983) featured Mary Elizabeth Mastrononio with an Afro. Afros often pop up in anime with characters such as Nabeshin and Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, both of whom seemingly derive mystical powers from their afros. Additionally, Noboru Yamaguchi of the series Cromartie High School sports an afro which seems to change in size and consistency during a scene. This kind of haircut also appears in the anime Sgt. Frog as the main focus of the first ending theme song.

The first series of UK TV programme Trigger Happy TV often featured a sketch in which Dom Joly wore a ridiculously large afro wig and then stood in such a way that the wig would obscure a member of the public's view of something - London landmarks such as the Palace of Westminster were often chosen. The sketch was also performed in a cinema, where Joly entered and sat in front of someone; making them unable to see the screen. The person was then seen to move to a seat in front of Joly, apparently complaining whilst doing so. As soon as the person sat down, Joly removed the wig to cause further annoyance. In the comedy The 40-Year-Old Virgin, a man chastises his young son, as they are at a sexual health clinic and the son insinuates the size of his penis is unusually large (in an attempt to sway a female partner). He comments, "You think you're so cool, with your little Jewfro?"

See also

• Afro textured hair
• Natural hair
• Big hair
• Cornrows
• Dreadlocks
• Jheri curl

References

1. Dan Hafner, "Louisville's 'Flower Child'; Barefooted Punter Arrives in Shoes and Mod Outfit", Los Angeles Times, Dec 17, 1970. Sec III, pg. G1.
2. Murray Chass, "Harvard's Hairy Five Makes Some Foes Bristle", New York Times, Feb 28, 1971, pg. S4.
3. Stephen E Rubin, "Tempo; Judith Rossner's novel success is hard to put down", Chicago Tribune, Sep 17, 1977, pg. 11.
4. Encyclopedia of Pop Culture cited in Diane Carol Bailey, Angelo P. Thrower, Basic Care for Naturally Textured Hair: Cultivating Curly, Coily, and Kinky Hair, Delmar Thomson Learning: 2001, pg. 4.

• African American culture
• Hairstyles
• 1970s fads
• 1970s fashion