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Anyone know any tips or any websites on how to grow a fro? Unfortunately, I'm not black or jewish (not trying to be racist...just that everyone I've ever known with a fro was either black or jewish), but I do have extremely thick hair. I've been trying to grow it out for a little while now, and the top of my hair is actually growing out fairly well, but the sides don't seem to want to puff out (as you can imagine, I'm looking like Seinfeld now with the puffy on top, short on the sides look).
AFRO or ISRO [as in Israel]? I also thought that the ancient Greeks and Romans had those hair-styles. Could that be the Mediterranean look?
Yes, I definitely want it to POOF [or is it PUFF] out on the sides, too!
You aren't being a racist.
Black people can only grow afro type hair. Anyone with hair like a white person is using chemical relaxers.
Jewish people all originated from some sort of desert land. Afros and desert people are practically synonimous. This is why full blooded Jews tend to have afros.
As a Jew and Israeli I can tell u that most of us doesn't have afro like hair....also the middle east is the beginning of the human culture so probably many people in the world had ancestors who originated from the "desert lands" as u call them and u don't say that all of them tend to have afro.
Sup guys. I'm a 20 year old black(if you want to technical, I'm 3 quarters black, 1 quarter white - my mother is half-black, half-white. I'm very light skinned but I have black features and I can't pass as white, so I consider myself african-american. =P) guy living in Brooklyn NY. I have an afro(I keep it box braided though) thats probably around 5-6 inches unbraided(If my hair stood up straight on my scalp it would be more like 8-7 =D). I started growing my hair in August of 2001, I'm trying to grow my hair into one long braid that will at least reach the base of my neck but it's not easy when you're looking for work, older people keep telling you to get a haircut, etc. Everyone always told me when I was smaller that I would have had nice hair if I was a girl and when looking at my family history, on my mother's side the people in her family don't go bald at old age(My great aunt and uncle are like 80+ years old and have thick full heads of hair with only a hint of gray) so I figured I would try it long just in case I don't go bald. My hair reaches just below my ears and I like having it long so far. I'm just hoping I can reach a ponytail soon, even if it's high up.
Anyway, since you're inquiring about growing a fro, I can give you some information since I walked around with my head fro'ed for quite a while:
1. My hair isn't super curly or nappy. It's just like sticks up and curls a bit. If you have straight hair, I don't know how you'll get it into froing material. I know people use perms to straighten their hair, but I don't know about making it curly. I do know that in Japan, fros are worn by some men and people of asian decent in my opinion have the straightest hair in the world so you might trying looking for the process of how Japanese men fro their hair.
2. Having long hair and having a fro are two totally different things. When you have a fro, you'll find yourself in a lot of ackward situations:
- If you drive, your fro can cause some blockage in the rearview mirror. I don't drive myself, but having sat in the driver's seat a few times, this became painfully obvious.
- If your car has a low roof and you're fairly tall combined with a large fro, your fro will scrap against the top of your car's roof and depending in the material of the interior, you'll have lint problems!
- In movie theatres, do not, I repeat, do NOT sit in the front of someone or you'll piss them off blocking the screen with your dome. This would mean that you would most likely be not able to see a movie in it's first week because that's when it would be most crowded. E.g. You buy a ticket and enter to view the movie only to find only a few seats open forcing you to sit in front of someone.
- In the case of extremely large fros, getting through door ways and tight places can pose a problem. Nothing as extreme as O.j. scene in the naked gun movie, but if you get on a crowed train during rush hour, your fro will be in a lot of people's faces and even worse yet, if the train doors close on it, you'll be in trouble. =(
3. Then there's the discrimination.
- It's even harder to find a job with a fro than long hair. Take a guy with hair down to maybe below his shoulders and imagine it froed. It would be past his shoulders and touching everyone around him.
- You'll get a lot of insults when your hair is froed.
Side note: Even though in places such as brooklyn or with a lot of black people in general, there is a really large "natural hair" movement going on right now where hair is worn in such a style that it hasn't been cut. If you've seen a black man on T.V. or in real-life with cornrows(Many people think it's "Corn Rolls" because it sounds like "Corn Rows" but it's not. Look at a piece of corn and think about it.) or a black woman with an afro(or dreads. not every black person with dreads of course), they're part of the movement. It's gotten to the point where you'll find signs in barber shop windows in black neighborhoods that read "Hair braiders wanted!" - If 40% of the people are sparing the clippers and braiding their hair, you can't make money by cutting it right? =P
Anyway, if I were to walk around with an afro, shouted stuff like:
"It's jimmy hendrix!"
"It's don king!"
"Black Power!" - Made popular by the black panthers
"Purplze haze 4 life!"
or my personal favorite "AAAAF-FRO-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO..." letting the o trail off. made famous by a rap group.
4. Fros require a lot of upkeep. You have to constantly pick them depending on your hair type. If you go to sleep and wake up or wear at hat, it'll suffer a dent that you have to pick out.
Well I guess that about it. You can wear a disco costume at holloween with platform shoes, big shades, and bell-bottoms and call yourself "Disco Stu".
Oh year, almost forgot. The coolest thing about having a fro is what I call "the flop". It depends on how stiff your hair is. If it's loose but still holds up like mine, you'll experience "the flop" when you walk. I think this would be the opposite of having longhair. Instead of your hair swishing back and forth when you walk, it bounces up and down! Ok so the visual image you get may look funny but it's pretty cool once you get to experience it. You'll also get the same effect when you nod your head yes. =P
E-mail me if you have any more questions.