AFRICAN HAIRSTYLES

Afro textured hair (also casually referred to as "kinky" hair or "wooly" hair) is the type of hair found among most people of sub-Saharan African descent.

Overview
Many of the populations of North East Africa have looser hair that is not as tightly coiled as that of most other Africans. Although Horn Africans are the only Africans who may have non- tighlty curled hair without Arab or Berber admixture, Black Africans naturally differ in complexion and facial features as well without admixture with non-Blacks.

Afro-textured haired people of African descent 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 South Asia as a result of a lesser known Arab/Eastern African slave trade. In addition to the Atlantic and Arab slave trades that dispersed people of African origin to these parts of the world, the Negrito Pygmies of the Andaman Islands (of whom there are less than 1000) and the Melanesian populations of the Pacific who are of proto-African descent (via South Asia) often have African features and hair texture.

Through African/Caribbean/Latin American migration, there are significant numbers of Black people found in Canada and Europe as well.

Various styles
During the 1960s and 70s, 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 diameters away from their head. This was a rejection of Eurocentric standards of beauty, an embracing of African heritage and roots, and a confirmation of the idea that "Black is Beautiful"

The Afro is sometimes texturized so that it is not in its true African state, but slightly relaxed with a frizzier and more wiry appearance that springs out. 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 looser curly hair.

Other hairstyles often worn by wooly haired people of African descent are cornrows, braids, and dreadlocks. Cornrows and braiding traditions have survived in the African diaspora, and were brought to the Americas by African slaves. Dreadlocking is a tradition among the Rastafari movement of Jamaica. These hairstyles associated with people of African descent have become popular with non-Blacks with the emergence of hip hop culture and Caribbean influences such as reggae music.

While recent years have brought about a movement among Black women to wear their hair naturally, most Black women in the Western world have their hair relaxed or straightened (either by use of a device such as a hot comb, or by the use of chemical relaxers usually containing lye). From the 1930s to the 1960s, conking, where Black men straighten their kinky hair using chemicals, was common in the United States. Some Black people in the Western world were discouraged from wearing natural hair in the workplace and also among other Black people. "Kinky" hair was sometimes seen as something inferior or to be ashamed of, compared to straight or "good hair" (an old southern United States term for looser, curly hair).

There has been a boom in marketing to target hair products at African descended people (ie. "African Pride" for women, "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 referred to as going "napptural".

wooly hair syndrome
Wooly hair syndrome is a rare condition affecting a small percentage of persons of Caucasian and Asian heritage. It is characterized by extremely frizzy and wiry hair that looks almost wooly in appearance.

Not much is known about the disorder because of its rarity, but the trait is likely to run in families. "Wooly" hair is a rare congenital abnormality in structure of scalp hair. This hair is either present at birth, or appears during the first months of life. The curls, with an average diameter of 0.5cm, lie closely together and usually make the hair difficult to comb. In addition, the hair may be more fragile than usual. The syndrome usually lessens in adulthood, when wavy hair often takes the place of wooly hair.

Wooly hair syndrome was first observed in a European family in 1907 by Gossage. The difference between wooly Afro textured hair and the extremely frizzy and wiry hair found in non-Blacks with the syndrome is that African hair lies typically separate and is tightly coiled or spiraled, while the curls of the Wooly hair syndrome tend to merge. This type of hair often only covers portions of the skull.

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