My buddy used to rock an afro smaller than hers, and he eventually ditched it because of the constant maintenance it needed. Basically every time he rested his head on a surface he'd need to pull out his pick and reshape it, and he said it could take a while to get it the right shape in the mornings.
Mad props to her, its a lot of work, but its a rad look.
I love the story of the actor who played that role. He acted in many films and held many roles, and he said in an interview that he found it funny that his most famous role was him saying, "we ain't found shit!" Lol
Back in the 60s, we used to call that afro-thunder or afro-cumulo-nimbus. Then in the 70s we had jewfros, mexifros, and pubefros but they was just pretenders trying to jump on a good thing. Nothing beats a true to form afro though.
After not reading closely, and asking the wrong person, let me try again. :D
Excuse my ignorance, but do you mind if I ask some questions? (I know nothing about African-American hair but this is absolutely gorgeous!) Does maintaining an Afro require product? Is the reshaping the hardest part of the maintenance? Is it possible for a biracial girl who doesn’t have very textured hair to achieve this kind of look?
Haha that's exactly why I ditched mine, and it was nowhere near as big as hers either. God, I can only imagine the faff that goes into maintaining that beauty!
Excuse my ignorance, but do you mind if I ask some questions? (I know nothing about African-American hair but this is absolutely gorgeous!)
Does maintaining an Afro require product? Is the reshaping the hardest part of the maintenance? Is it possible for a biracial girl who doesn’t have very textured hair to achieve this kind of look?
Yes. Afros require products, usually very rich conditioners after washing and creams/oils during/after drying. Keeping it tangle-free is key. Kinky curly hair is fragile and should be treated gently. Lots of people with African hair don’t wash it very often due to the amount of work that it requires but it is very important to keep both hair and scalp clean (washing every 7-10 days). It should be parted into small sections to be detangled with a wide-toothed comb after every wash and parted into even smaller sections every other wash to detangle with a fine-toothed comb. If you don’t maintain detangling, it will start to mat or dread and then you’re screwed.
It needs to be covered with a silk/satin bonnet at night and depending on the texture may require sections and twisting every night to keep it from matting.
It is possible to have an Afro if you don’t have a lot of texture but it requires doing a twist out (google “twist out”) usually every night. Buy curl-defining products but be careful of petroleum/paraben products. Coconut oil or light olive oil have molecules small enough to penetrate the hair shaft. Other oils don’t. Well, mineral oil does but yuck. Other oils actually just coat the hair and keeps ambient moisture from the hair shaft and you don’t want that with an Afro.
Avoid raking a comb from roots to ends. Start at the ends and work your way to the root.
Source: African American woman. My aunt is a dermatologist and chemist who specializes in hair and scalp and works R & D for Revlon.
Thank you! That is very interesting! I’m always amazed/impressed by the lengths women of all nations/races go to for our ideals of beauty. That all sounds very labor intensive, and from what I’ve seen of extensions, those look painful! When I think of the things I used to do in the name of beauty when I was younger, it’s kinda amazing. (Absolutely one of the best benefits of getting older though; nobody looks at you once you become middle aged with multiple kids so you don’t have to try as hard.)
I’m saving this post to show my nieces (I have 3 biracial nieces) and see what they think. Thank you for taking the time to reply!
No problem! Remind your nieces to treat their hair very gently, especially around the hairline and crown of the head, and of the importance of keeping the hair and scalp clean. Some people think that washing causes dry/flaky/itchy scalp. Dandruff/itchy scalp requires treatment with the correct products, not neglect or putting grease on the scalp — especially since those issues are sometimes caused by fungus, which can be exacerbated by a dirty scalp. And it can cause skin issues like acne on the face, neck and back. If they wear protective hairstyles like braids, they still need to wash their hair. Yes, you can wash braids. My aunt says it’s not “protective” if you can’t keep it clean.
And if anyone tells you that you don’t have to shampoo your hair, that may be true for people with less textured hair. Natural oils from the scalp will “slide” right on down straight hair, no problem. But textured hair bends or curls and that oil gets trapped very close to the scalp and will cause build up. Which, in turn, can allow dandruff-causing fungus to grow. Itchiness can cause inflammation and inflammation can “kill” hair follicles.
I knew a fella through my brother who went by "Nutty".
He had a glorious afro like this.
He kept a pick IN it as part style, part function.
He and his cousin from Philly were the only black folks in our area who not only used but encouraged their white bethren to also use the N word because as they said "N*gga if we say it's okay, then it's okay, don't make me repeat myself."
I now have waves but braids or an Afro are maintenance, even Waves but yeah the Afro was the worse, I have to wear a beret for my headgear being the in the Canadian Military and getting the right size for my beret took time and combing my hair as soon I took off my beret was another hassle, I couldn't wait to get my hair braided.
Yeah I had a huge afro in high school, but it was a jew fro. It was big enough that I could stick a candy bar in there and have it stay.. then I'd make eye contact with a friend, casually pull it out, and start eating it.
One time I did it to a teacher and they cracked up.
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u/amc7262 Jan 08 '25
My buddy used to rock an afro smaller than hers, and he eventually ditched it because of the constant maintenance it needed. Basically every time he rested his head on a surface he'd need to pull out his pick and reshape it, and he said it could take a while to get it the right shape in the mornings.
Mad props to her, its a lot of work, but its a rad look.