This is not the neatly cropped, well-behaved “natural” gracing the pates of the model Roshumba, Grace Jones and Shari Belafonte.
Far from it.
We’re talking about the breathtakingly expansive, kinky-haired wonder immortalized by the rebellious Angela Davis.
Last seen haunting the ’70s, the Afro was born again in the ’90s, defiantly worn by the members of the hip-hop set who barely remember the ’70s, let alone its black-is-beautiful origins.
And then, last season, the fashion mainstream suddenly discovered the ‘fro. Or shall we say, they discovered the French Chrystele (pictured here), whose frizzed-out locks made everybody stand at attention.
This season, at the Ghost fashion show in New York, droopy-tressed models were also sporting artificially-enhanced naturals as they strutted down the runway. And in more fashionable circles, hip African-Americans are starting to give up labor-intensive dreadlocks for the kinky bubble.
So get out your pick and your Afro Sheen. And say it loud. You’re Afro’ed and Proud. Again.