An Ode to the Fro!

I was wondering if my old tumblr blog The Lucid Plane still existed, and it sure does! This next post is one of my favorites from way back....

Have I told you how much I love the ‘fro? That’s right- the fro. Amazing how much space the fro can cover– that is, there’s the bigger-is-better-and-badder fro, the I- don’t-take-myself-too-seriously fro, the throwback intellectual fro, the sex god/goddess fro, the serious afro, the I’m-coming-out fro, the big- chop-watch out now-fro, the hipster fro… I could go on…

What’s going on with fro? Culture changes, grows and tumbles back onto itself, so this is not all static, but if I were to state it simply, fros are freedom and discourses of the fro are rife with a sense of rebellion, liberation, angst, celebration, experimentation and humor. Fros take up space, unapologetically. And we have some very specific rules about taking up space in the social world and who gets to do so. Fros also often represent simply more hair- and the energy and power of hair since the tales of Sampson is still deeply resonant. While still part of dominant culture, the fro represents a rejection of key dominant western beliefs- control over the body (though a fro takes maintenance and care, so this is for the misinformed), hierarchy (who gets to take up space), as well as the desirability of straight hair that flows down and not out (which is, if you take a look at current hair care advertising, still obviously dominant- the colonization of the mind is in full force here).

Read more of my take and love letter to the 'fro right here.