African American Hairstyles: The Afro

An Afro is a hairstyle that occurs when a person of African Heritage (like African Americans) allows their hair to grow long in its natural state. Also called a “natural” or “fro”, for short, the modern afro became en vogue in the 1960’s. In the 1970’s the afro became a statement against artificial straightening of naturally kinky hair, but this movement lost its steam as straighter hair styles came into fashion in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Since the year 2000, however, natural hair has become in fashion once again and the afro is one of many hairstyle choices.

Afro hair styles come in several different versions.

Teeny Weenie Afro (also called TWA): This afro is characterized by the shortness of the hair. A teeny weenie afro is simply natural hair strands that are anywhere from 1 inch to 3 inches long. To accomplish this style a person only has to cut off straightened hair, or let very short natural hair grow out a bit. The teeny weenie afro is the transition point where a person decides to start growing out their hair into an afro.

A typical Afro is the result of growing black hair to six inches or longer. Due to the nature of black people’s hair, an afro will look much shorter than the hair really is. One would find it interesting that hair that stands 4 inches from the head when in an afro is almost a foot long when straightened. To maintain a longer afro, hair is washed and conditioned, then braided and oiled while wet and allowed to dry naturally. When the hair is dry, the braids are let out and the hair is picked out with an afro comb. Some women also add roller to their wet hair to add a curly texture to their afro.

A blowout is the result of using a blow dryer and a pick to straighten the hair slightly. The result is a crown of hair that encircles the head. Each hair may be 6-12 inches long and resemble a large hairy ball from the back. This is a fun hairstyle to wear, and many people forgo the work and purchase a large afro wig to wear when they want this look.

The modern afro, which I sometimes wear, could be described as a curly afro. It is achieved by washing the hair (and sometimes blow-drying, or straightening it with a flat iron or hot comb). The hair is ten separated in small sections and twisted or corn rolled. It can be worn this way for a couple of days. When the hair is let out of the braids, the result is very wavy hair that resembles an afro, but has a distinct curly texture to it. The way the hair is processed before twisting or braiding, and the size of the twists or braids will determine the texture of the afro. This is often worn with a headband for fullness in the back while keeping the front out of the face.

Therefore, if you possess hair that lends well to an afro, you can see that you have several options when it comes to wearing an afro in addition to the ability to control the texture and look of your afro.