Excerpts From Various Online Articles & Discussion Threads About Afros And Afro Picks

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part II of a two part pancocojams series on afro picks.

Part II provides excerpts from various online articles & discussion threads about afros and afro picks (pics).

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/11/erykah-badu-pick-your-afro-daddy-afro.html for Part I of this series. Part I showcases Erykah Badu's song "Pick Yo Afro Daddy". This song is also known as "Pick Yo Afro Daddy" and "Afro (Freestyle Skit)" is track 7 in Badu's the 1997 album Baduizm.

Part I also provides information about the Baduizm album.

The Addendum to that post includes a definition of "afro picks" and my comments about what afro picks and how afro picks were used and are now used. The Addendum also includes two related videos about Black hairstyles.

The content of this post is provided for cultural and entertainment purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-changing-shape-of-womens-afro-hair.html for a pancocojams post entitled "The Changing Shapes Of Women's Afro Hair Styles (with January 2018 Update)"

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ARTICLE AND DISCUSSION THREAD EXCERPTS
These excerpts are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.

Excerpt #1:
From https://www.quora.com/Why-have-afros-fallen-out-of-style-in-the-African-American-community "Why Have Afros Fallen Out Of Style In The African American Community?

[This comment includes photos of different natural styles including the top photo of a woman with a big ‘fro in the style of the late 1960s and 1970s and the bottom photo of a Black woman with hair whose natural curls are more defined.]

[by] Carlet Langford, black all my life
Answered Jun 1, 2015
"It depends on what you mean by "afro".

Do you mean this:

[photos inserted]

Afros that look like the top picture aren't as popular anymore, that's true-for various reasons. Maintaining the above means really paying attention to your hair-black hair is very fragile, and the longer it is, the more care it needs because it tends to break off. The only way to comb big Afros is with a pick-and picking the hair in order to get it to stand up like you see in the above picture can cause the hair to break off. Plus, black hair is pretty dry naturally-so it can look very dull if not constantly moisterized, and the shorter it is, the easier it is to care for.

But afros that look like the bottom pictures are pretty popular. Shorter, with twists or braids or just a shorter version of the above are pretty popular among blacks. There are now more ways to style natural hair in a healthy manner, and there are more products available to keep the hair healthy then in the past-so women (and men) who want to wear their hair in it's natural state don't have to revert to the 60's "black power" style afro.

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Excerpt #2:
From https://www.quora.com/Why-have-afros-fallen-out-of-style-in-the-African-American-community "Why Have Afros Fallen Out Of Style In The African American Community?
[by] Brianna Ruffin, African-American and Afro-Caribbean
Answered Jun 1, 2015
"I would argue that the Afro hasn't disappeared. It, along with other natural hair styles, may have simply changed forms. For example, there's Lupita Nyong'o's teeny weeny afro (TWA), which is shorter and easier to care for. There are also medium-sized afros. In addition to these hair styles, there are other natural hair styles such as twist outs, flat twists, and braid outs that have become much more popular. Some of these hair styles look kind of like the Big Ass Afro (BAA) and have the added benefit of being more socially acceptable."

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Excerpt #3:
From ttps://www.quora.com/Why-do-some-black-people-wear-combs-in-their-hair Why do some black people wear combs in their hair?
[comment by Aaron Ellis, Black on Both Sides
Answered Jan 26 [no year given. However, according to Google search, this question was published in 2015]
"Back when I was fourteen years-old, I stopped cutting my hair. For the first few months, I didn’t notice that my hair was getting long, partly because I played football and helmets hide long hair well. But after six months, I looked in the mirror and realized that my hair had grown like a plant in all directions. I had to face facts: I had an afro.

Personally, I was content to just let my fro grow without paying it any attention. However, my father didn’t like that plan. My dad came of age in the ’60s and ‘70s, when afros were more than just a hairdo: they were symbols of race, culture, and uniformity. He had high standards for the natural hairstyle. If I was going to have an afro, I had to follow his rules, which included regular shape-ups (barbershop visits to keep the hair tidy and shapely) and I had to comb it regularly to keep it presentable. Basically, my afro would have to look like how he styled his natural back in the day.

The one thing you quickly learn when trying to maintain a perfectly globular, velvety-sheened afro is that you have to comb it a lot. No seriously, A LOT.

Combing with a pick keeps your hair at a full length, but it’s temporary. The tendency of the hair to curl closer to the scalp is relentless. So you pick and pat down your hair all the time. Sometimes every hour. Sometimes every fifteen minutes. Sometimes even more frequently than that. If you don’t regularly comb your hair, it will look lumpy and uneven.

Another thing you quickly learn when you grow out a fro is that afro picks are not the most convenient combs to keep around. Even the small ones don’t fit into a front pocket and barely fit in a back pocket, where they are rigid and inflexible. The larger ones don’t fit in pockets at all.

So as a result of frequently needing to use an afro pick that does not easily fit in pockets or elsewhere, eventually it starts to seem like a good idea to just let the pick hang out in your fro. The thick hair is usually sturdy enough to hold it in place, so the pick just stays in place for easy access. As far as I’m aware, afros are the only black hairdos in which it’s possible to keep a comb in it, and afro picks are the only kinds of combs that you’ll find in that hair.

Obviously, some people will keep their afro picks in their hair for other reasons, for example, as a fashion item or hair decoration. However, even people who do this are most likely using their picks on a regular basis to keep their hair combed.

In summary, it’s just practical to leave your pick in your hair."

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Excerpt #3
From ttps://www.quora.com/Why-do-some-black-people-wear-combs-in-their-hair Why do some black people wear combs in their hair?


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Excerpt #4:
From ttps://www.quora.com/Why-do-some-black-people-wear-combs-in-their-hair Why do some black people wear combs in their hair?
[by] Patrick Edwin Moran, former Professor (1968-2010)
Answered Oct 25, 2015
"Decorative artifacts that stick in hair by their several long legs are common in many cultures. They go way back in China.
https://www.pinterest.com/joky717/ancient-chinese-combs/
Ancient Chinese Combs by Joky Lee

Back in the late 60s my African-American friends would stick a "pick" in their Afro hairdos. Those combs looked quite nice that way. Could there be a hold-over from that practice?

The afro comb: not just an accessory but a cultural icon
A new exhibition charts the afro comb from its inception in ancient Egypt through to its ascendency as a political emblem"...
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This commenter cites the article that is given as Excerpt #5
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Excerpt #5
From https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/shortcuts/2013/jul/07/afro-comb-accessory-cultural-icon "Afro Comb: Not Just An Accessory But A Cultural Icon" by Felicity Heywood, 7 Jul 2013
"
The afro comb has long been associated with the 1970s, the accessory of a hairstyle that represented counter culture and civil rights during an important era for both. These days it makes a regular appearance on mainstream TV in America – the Roots drummer Questlove is fond of wearing one while performing as part of the house band on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Forty years ago, the afro comb was worn in the hair not only as an adornment, but also as a political emblem and a signature of a collective identity. It was recognised as a way of saying no to oppression. Wearing the comb led to a kind of comradeship amongst those whose hair grows up and out, not down.

Previously, the Afro comb wasn't very visible. And for this reason it has been assumed that the afro comb was invented in the 1970s. But a new exhibition blows that myth out the water. The afro comb dates back to ancient Egypt. The oldest comb from the collection is 5,500 years old.
The hundreds of combs on display show that over time the style hasn't changed. The comb, sometimes called a pick, is commonly upright with long teeth. Sometimes a motif decorates the top. In ancient times it often referenced cultural belonging, and there are artifacts showing how people wore the comb in the hair. Time marches on and culture is always in transition. But perhaps not at the speed we assume.”...

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Excerpt #6
From https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/02/24/afro-rises/98327072/ "Untangled from politics, the proud Afro hairstyle rises again" by Karyn D. Collins, Special for USA TODAY Published Feb. 24, 2017
"Starla Lewis still remembers her father's reaction almost 50 years ago when she decided to wear her hair natural. She was 18 years old, and she was done using a hot comb to straighten her hair.

"My dad came home and looked at me and said, 'OK, joke's over. Go fix your hair.' And I said, 'Dad, this is the real me,'" Lewis recalls. "He said, 'Do me a favor: If you see me walking down the street, please don't speak.'"

Harsh words.

But in 1968, many black people considered "going natural" to be a radical move, whether that meant styling it in braids, cornrows, or one big puff — the look that became known as the Afro.

"Going natural was a resistance against what had been years of us trying to fit into European-American culture by straightening our hair," says Lewis, professor emerita of black studies at San Diego Mesa College in California. "Going natural was about embracing yourself, loving yourself."

And Lewis loved herself and her "new" hair.

[...]

Lewis has worn her hair natural almost continuously since that day in 1968; these days she sports a short Afro. Her daughter and granddaughter also wear natural hairstyles.

“"Going natural was about embracing yourself, loving yourself."”

She says it took a while for her father to come around, but he eventually did. "I think he realized I wasn't rejecting him. It was about embracing myself."

Today's natural hair is not your father's 'fro. A new generation has joined the natural hair movement and embraced the iconic Afro. Now, the style is relatively free of the political and social implications of the past.

“Back then, a lot of people saw our wearing our hair natural as a rejection of what was deemed socially acceptable. Originally, it was not a style as much as it was an 'unstyle'," says Lori Tharps, co-author of Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America. Tharps is an associate professor in journalism at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Social historians trace the start of the trend to students in the civil rights movement, particularly those in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee working and protesting in the South.

Then, the style was borne out of practical concerns.

"Activists found it was hard to maintain a press and curl after being covered in food during sit-ins, sprayed with high-powered water hoses during protest marches, and housed in cramped, humid Southern jails. Many SNCC women started cutting their hair short and wearing it natural," says Tanisha C. Ford, author of Liberated Threads: Black Women, Style and the Global Politics of Soul and an associate professor in black American studies and history at the University of Delaware. Young men in the movement began growing out their hair as well.

Afros became a political symbol, one that spread worldwide. But ironically, that popularity became its undoing.

"By the '70s, it was all about the Afro. And it wasn't a political statement, it was a style. It was a fashion trend, a hairstyle," Tharps says. "You had white people wearing Afros. You had the Jackson 5 and all of these superstars wearing Afros."

Lewis adds, "When it became the Afro, it became more of a hairstyle. It became about this perfectly shaped creation. You had all these products coming out to keep it perfect. Like any fashion trend, it eventually died, and people moved on to the next trend."

In praise of the pick

The pick, or sometimes pik, and the related wide-toothed Afro comb dates back 5,500 years to ancient Egypt.

But who's responsible for the modern versions some remember from childhood or a recent trip to the beauty supply store?

Willie Morrow was a popular barber in San Diego in the 1960s when he noticed an increasing number of his college-age customers growing their hair longer. Then one of his young customers brought in a comb he had purchased in Nigeria while studying there.

"I took a look at this comb. It didn't look like anything else I'd seen. That was the first time I saw a pick," Morrow said.

Morrow started making his own picks out of wood, eventually adding plastic and metal versions. Those creations, along with other hair implements he has collected, were the basis of an exhibit last year, "The History and the Hair Story: 400 Years Without A Comb," at the Museum at California Center for the Arts in Escondido, Calif.

S. Henry Bundles, Jr., whose wife was the granddaughter of black hair-care pioneer Madam C.J. Walker, held one of the first patents for an Afro pick, along with his business partner Henry Childrey.

A'Lelia Bundles said the pick her father and Childrey developed in 1969 for Summit Laboratories came after they saw a comb in San Francisco in the late '60s.

"Everyone was pivoting to take advantage of the Afro and come up with products for that, various sprays and moisturizers and the combs and picks," said A'Lelia Bundles, a journalist.

Today, Antonio's Manufacturing of Cresson, Pa., appears to be king of the pick market. If you have a pick with a fist and peace sign on the handle, it's probably an Antonio's model based on an original design first patented in the early '70s.

Anthony Romani Jr., the son and successor of company founder Anthony Romani, doesn't know why his father came up with that design.
"I do remember a lady called once and asked him why he put the fist and peace sign together," Romani Jr. said. "And he said, 'Well, you have to fight for peace, I reckon.' "...

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Excerpt #7
From https://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/afro/the-pros-and-cons-of-using-an-afro-pick "The Pros and Cons of Using an Afro Pick"
by Victoria Davis, 12.15.17
"The Afro pick has been a staple in the Black community for years -- did you know it was used in Egypt over 6,000 years ago?

And today, this hair tool has made its way into the hands of curly girls of all shades. If you've never used a pick (here is how to), or you want to dust off your comb from years past, there are some pros and cons of using an afro pick.

Pros
You achieve big curls. If you want to stand out amongst the crowd, big hair is surely the way to go. Afro picks can be used once your wash n go, twistout or braid out has fully dried. Don't even think about putting that pick near your head any time before then -- you will cause major frizz. Prevent this by combing from the roots up to an inch downward.

Inexpensive you say? With so many tools made for hair care, they can get pretty expensive, but the afro pick is one you can count on that won't make you empty your wallet. Picks can cost just a few dollars unless you're on the hunt for a handcrafted comb.

There are tons to choose from. Speaking of that handcrafted comb, there are many styles of picks - including your options of plastic or metal. Many stores sell a variety of colors, but what it's made of will matter. Those with looser, finer curl patterns may want to opt for the plastic pick as they are gentler. If you have a kinkier texture - metal picks will work just as well.

Cons
You may break some curls. The thought of causing breakage while using your pick may seem like a nightmare, but it's only a reality if you use the tool incorrectly. I know us curly girls focus a lot on protecting the ends of our hair, but your roots are the real star of the show when you use a pick. Never use the pick by starting from the roots and combing all the way through to the ends. You will cause severe damage and start the day with a massive headache.

Don't get too friendly. You may feel your newfound pick was sent from God, but over-manipulating your hair using any tool can cause breakage. Long story short: find ways to fluff your hair once without restyling with your pick daily.”...

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Excerpt #8
From https://blackhairinformation.com/general-articles/tips/5-dos-donts-using-afro-pick/ "5 Dos And Don’ts When Using An Afro Pick" by Victoria, January 18, 2016
[...]

"Do's

Do it on dry hair

First things first, when you use your afro pick you’re probably going to want to use it on dry hair. One of the biggest things naturals know is that if you take down a style while it’s wet, you’re going to get nothing but frizz. To make sure that your curls are able to form and be defined in their own way, let your hair dry fully first. Then you can start using the pick.

Do it on day 1 hair

Most people use their afro pick to truly define their day one curls. When you first take a style down, that’s when it’s the most flat. If you don’t want to wait until day 2 or 3 (after you’ve finally slept on it more and you curls had a chance to drop), then use your afro pick on day one. It will help you get the big curly fro look that you were looking for.

Don’t overdo it

With that being said, don’t overdo the picking! If you want to make your style last a few days or even a little over a week, you don’t want to get it so big on the first day that it looks like a nest on day 4. If you like frizz, or if it’s for a one time occasion, on the other hand, then feel free to use the pick to get that maximum full look.

Do gently lift the roots

Now comes the test of using the pick – when you actually run it through. To get the most voluminous look, place the pick at the root of your hair and gently pull up.

Lift at the roots and repeat all over your head. This way your curls won’t be disturbed and you can see more volume. You can also shape your style in the way you want it to lay on your head.

Don’t tug all the way through

Even though you are lifting your curls, do not run the pick all the way through. Trust me, this is a mistake I had to learn through extensive trial and error. Pulling the pick all the way through is similar to just combing out the curls. Instead, lift at the roots and stop. You’ll still have definition and volume – the best of both worlds!”...
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Comment from Tayna [no date given]
"Good info! I just learned how to use an afro pick to create volume for my fine, low dense hair. Now my wash n gos, roller sets, and twist outs have the illusion of looking thick!"

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This concludes Part II of this two part series on afros and afro picks.

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