Questlove of The Roots in 2008 with an afro

Afro, sometimes shortened to 'fro and also known as a "natural", is a hairstyle worn naturally by people with lengthy kinky hair texture or specifically styled in such a fashion by individuals with naturally curly or straight hair. The hairstyle is created by combing the hair away from the scalp, allowing the hair to extend out from the head in a large, rounded shape, much like a halo, cloud or ball.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

In persons with naturally curly or straight hair, the hairstyle is typically created with the help of creams, gels or other solidifying liquids to hold the hair in place. Particularly popular in the African-American community of the late 1960s,^[3][5] the hairstyle is often shaped and maintained with the assistance of a wide-toothed comb colloquially known as an afro pick.^[2][3][4]

Etymology[link]

Afro is derived from the term "Afro-American".^[2] The hairstyle is also referred to by some as the "natural" — particularly the shorter, less elaborate versions of the Afro — since in most cases the hair is left untreated by relaxers or straightening chemicals and is instead allowed to express its natural curl or kinkiness.^[3][5]

History in the United States[link]

One of P.T. Barnum's Circassian beauties sporting "moss hair"

In the 1860s, a style similar to the Afro was worn by the Circassian beauties, sometimes known as "Moss-haired girls", a group of women exhibited in sideshow attractions in the United States by P.T. Barnum and others. These women were claimed to be from the Circassian people in the Northern Caucasus region, and were marketed to white audiences captivated by the "exotic East" as pure examples of the Caucasian white race who were kept as sexual slaves in Turkish harems.^[6][7] It has been argued that this portrayal of a white woman as a rescued slave during the American Civil War played on the racial connotations of slavery at the time so that the distinctive hairstyle affiliates the side-show white Circassian with African American identity, and thus:^[6]

resonates oddly yet resoundingly with the rest of her identifying significations: her racial purity, her sexual enslavement, her position as colonial subject; her beauty. The Circassian blended elements of white Victorian True Womanhood with traits of the enslaved African American woman in one curiosity.

African-American hairstyles prior to the 1960s[link]

During the history of slavery in the United States, most African Americans styled their hair in an attempt to mimic the styles of the predominantly white society in which they lived.^[2][8] Afro-textured hair, characterized by its tight curls, waves or kinks, has been described (sometimes pejoratively) as being kinky, coarse, cottony, nappy or woolly.^[8][9] These characteristics represented the antithesis of the Euro-American standard of beauty and led to a negative view of tightly curled and kinky hair; as a result, the practice of hair braiding and straightening gained popularity among African Americans.^[8]

The process of straightening the hair often involved applying caustic substances, such as relaxers containing lye, which needed to be applied by an experienced hairstylist so as to avoid burning the scalp and ears.^[3] In the late 1890s/early 1900s, Madam C. J. Walker also popularized the use of the hot comb in the United States.^[8][9] Those who chose not to artificially treat their hair would often opt to style it into tight braids or cornrows.^[8] With all of these hairstyling methods, if done improperly, one ran the risk of damaging the hair shaft, sometimes resulting in hair loss.^[10]

1960s and '70s[link]

The effect of the African-American Civil Rights Movement brought a renewed sense of identity to the African American community which also resulted in a redefinition of personal style that included an appreciation of African beauty and aesthetics, as embodied by the Black is beautiful movement.^[9][11] This cultural movement marked a return to more natural, untreated hairstyles. The Afro became a powerful political symbol which reflected black pride and a rejection of notions of assimilation and integration — not unlike the long and untreated hair sported by the mainly Caucasian hippies.^[2][8][9] To some, the Afro also represented a reconstitutive link to Africa,^[3] however some critics have suggested that the Afro hairstyle is not particularly African:^[3][12] In his book Welcome to the Jungle: New Positions in Black Cultural Studies, cultural critic Kobena Mercer argued that the contemporary African society of the mid-20th century did not consider either hairstyle to denote any particular "Africanness"; conversely, some Africans felt that these styles signified "First-worldness".^[3] Similarly, Brackette F. Williams stated in her book Stains on My Name, War in My Veins: Guyana and the politics of cultural struggle that African nationalists were irritated by the Afro's adoption by African Americans as a symbol of their African heritage; they saw this trend as an example of Western arrogance.^[13]

The Afro was adopted by both men and women and was a hairstyle that easier to maintain by oneself, without requiring frequent and sometimes costly visits to the hairstylist as was often experienced by people who chose to braid, straighten or relax their hair. Due to the tight curl pattern prominent in Afro-textured hair, as it grows longer it has a tendency to extend outward from the head, resulting in a domelike hairstyle which is easily molded and sculpted into the desired shape.^[2][9] While the Afro was a much less invasive and time consuming hairstyle choice for many African Americans, some chose to achieve a bushier version of the Afro by backcombing or teasing the hair, a practice which can result in damage to the hair and scalp.^[1][5]

In the mid-1960s, the Afro hairstyle began in a fairly tightly coiffed form — such as the hairstyle that became popular among members of the Black Panther Party. As the 1960s progressed towards the 1970s, popular hairstyles — both within and outside of the African-American community — became longer and longer; this resulted in an expansion in the overall size of Afros.^[1] Such large Afros were famously sported by African American entertainers and sociopolitical figures; political activist Angela Davis, actress Pam Grier, rock musician Jimi Hendrix, and the members of the musical groups The Jackson 5 and The Supremes.^[4]

Singer Lauryn Hill wearing an afro wig during a performance in 2005

In contrast, the Afro's popularity among African Americans had already started to wane by the early 1970s;^[1][5] the introduction of the Afro to the mainstream and its adoption by people of non-African descent caused the Afro to lose its radical, political edge.^[2] The 1970s saw an increase in the popularity of braided hairstyles such as cornrows among both sexes of African American — hairstyles which up until that time had traditionally been worn by only African American women.^[1][14] R&B singer Stevie Wonder adopted a cornrow haircut, and soul singer Isaac Hayes shaved himself bald. Among those who still sported them, Afros were generally worn in smaller, shorter form and did not approach the large versions worn by people such as Angela Davis.

1990s and 2000s[link]

The Afro saw popular resurgences in both the 1990s and 2000s.^[4][11] These Afros would take varied forms — some incorporating elements such as braids, beads or twists — as well as various sizes — from close-cropped natural hairstyles all the way to expansive Afro wigs.^[11]

Some African-Americans who have been known for wearing Afros or Afro wigs during these two decades include NBA basketball players Ben Wallace, Kobe Bryant, and Michael Beasley, as well as musicians Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Macy Gray, Ludacris, Questlove, Cindy Blackman, Webbie, and Lenny Kravitz. Beyoncé Knowles also donned a large Afro wig for her role as Foxxy Cleopatra in the 2002 film Austin Powers in Goldmember.

Similar styles internationally[link]

A young adult male sporting a Jewfro

A Jewfro (portmanteau of the words Jew and afro) or Isro (portmanteau of the words Israel and afro) refers to a curly hairstyle worn by certain people usually of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Similar hair worn by non-Jewish people is usually considered, with humor, to be a Jewfro. Its name is inspired by the afro hairstyle, which it resembles, and also builds on a history of racial discrimination.^[15]

The term has its roots in the 1960s and 1970s when many prominent figures were described as sporting the hairstyle. The Los Angeles Times called college football star Scott Marcus a flower child with "golden brown hair...in ringlets around his head in what he calls a Jewish afro style".^[16]

The New York Times in a 1971 article on Harvard University's "hairy" basketball team, wrote that Captain Brian Newmark, "hasn’t had a haircut since last May and his friends have suggested his hairdo is a first cousin to the Afro...in the case of the Jewish Junior from Brooklyn, though, the bushy dark hair that is piled high on his head has been called an Isro."^[17] Novelist Judith Rossner was described in a Chicago Tribune profile as the "grown-up Wunderkind with an open, oval face framed by a Jewish Afro."^[18]

A curly-haired Hadendoa Beja warrior with a fuzzy-wuzzy hairstyle

The Hadendoa Beja of Northeast Africa were called Fuzzy-Wuzzies by British colonial troops during the Mahdist War of the late 19th century due to their oftentimes large and elaborate hairstyles, which they shaped with the assistance of butter. Similarly, young males of nomadic clans in Somalia were known to tease their hair into rather large bushes, which they would also hold in place with butter. As they aged and got married, they would tend to cut their hair.^[1]

Variations of the afro have been worn by one or both sexes in the many disparate cultures of the African continent. Due to the hairstyle's links to members of the African-American Civil Rights and Black Power movements, the Afro was seen by several outside cultures as a dangerous symbol of political unrest, including Tanzania where the Afro was banned in the 1970s because it was seen as a symbol of neocolonialism and as part of an American cultural invasion.^{[1][2][19][20]} In the 1950s and 60s, South African women were also known to wear their hair in an Afro-type style.^[2]

The Afro did not rise to the same level of popularity among the Afro-Caribbean community as it did in the United States, in part because of the popularity of dreadlocks, which played an important role in the Rastafari movement.^[2] Not unlike the Afro's significance among the members of the American Black Power movement, dreadlocks symbolized black pride and empowerment amongst the Rastafari of the Caribbean.^[3][10] The hairstyle was also banned in Cuba during the 1960s.^[21]

Tools[link]

An Ashanti Comb, an example of an Afro pick

The long teeth of the afro pick or afro comb were designed to dig down to the scalp allowing the roots of an Afro to be stretched straight into a desired style or shape using a picking motion.

See also[link]

• Caesar cut
• Conk
• Crew cut
• List of hairstyles
• Jheri curl
• Nubian wig

References[link]

External links[link]

• Media related to Afro at Wikimedia Commons
• The Wiktionary entry for afro

Seth Rogen
Rogen at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	(1982-04-15) April 15, 1982 (age 30) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Medium	Stand up, film, television
Nationality	Canadian
Years active	1996–present
Genres	Black comedy, blue comedy, satire, deadpan
Influences	Judd Apatow, Kevin Smith, Adam Sandler
Spouse	Lauren Miller (m. 2011–present)

Seth Rogen (pronounced /ˈroʊɡɪn/; born April 15, 1982) is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, producer, screenwriter, and voice artist. Rogen began his career doing stand-up comedy during his teen years, winning the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest in 1998. While still living in his native Vancouver, he landed a small part in Freaks and Geeks. Shortly after Rogen moved to Los Angeles for his role, Freaks and Geeks was canceled after one season due to poor ratings. He then got a part on the equally short-lived Undeclared, which also hired him as a staff writer.

After landing a job as a staff writer on the final season of Da Ali G Show, for which Rogen and the other writers received an Emmy nomination, he was guided by film producer Judd Apatow toward a film career. Rogen was cast in a major supporting role and credited as a co-producer in Apatow's directorial debut, The 40-Year-Old Virgin. After Rogen received critical praise for that performance, Universal Pictures agreed to cast him as the lead in Apatow's directorial feature films Knocked Up and Funny People. Rogen and his comedy partner Evan Goldberg co-wrote the films Superbad, Pineapple Express, and The Green Hornet. Rogen has done voice work for the films Horton Hears a Who!, Kung Fu Panda, Monsters vs. Aliens, and Paul. He married fellow screenwriter Lauren Miller in October 2011.^[1]

Early life[link]

Rogen was born in Vancouver, British Columbia on April 15, 1982. His mother, Sandy (née Belogus), is a social worker, and his father, Mark Rogen, worked for non-profit organizations and as an assistant director of a Workmen's Circle.^[2][3][4][5] He has described his parents, who met at an Israeli kibbutz, as "radical Jewish socialists."^[3] He has one older sister, Danya.^[2] Rogen attended Vancouver Talmud Torah Elementary School and Point Grey Secondary School (although he never graduated), incorporating many of his classmates into his writing. He was also known for the stand-up comedy he performed at Camp Miriam, a Habonim Dror camp.^[2]

As a child, Rogen had no intention of pursuing any career other than comedy: "As soon as I realized you could be funny as a job, that was the job I wanted".^[4] He got his start in show business at age 12, after signing up for a comedy workshop class taught by Mark Pooley.^[2] His early comedy routines involved jokes about his bar mitzvah, his grandparents, and his camp counselors.^[2] During his teenage years he would perform stand-up comedy routines at places like bar mitzvahs and small parties before upgrading to bars.^[6][7] He was even paid to write jokes by a mohel.^[8] At the age of 13, he co-wrote a rough draft of Superbad with childhood friend Evan Goldberg, who he had met at bar mitzvah classes.^[4][8] Based on their teenage experiences,^[3] Rogen and Goldberg spent the rest of their time in high school polishing the script. They initially worried that the 1999 film American Pie had beaten them to the idea for the movie, but felt that it lacked "all honest interaction between characters, which is what [they]'re going for."^[3]

His mother was supportive of his comic endeavors and would often drive him to stand-up gigs at the comedy club Yuk Yuks.^[8] With his deadpan humor, he won the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest at 16 years old.^[6] Also at age 16, Rogen's father lost his job and his mother quit hers, forcing them to put their house up for sale and relocate to a significantly smaller apartment. Around this time, he landed a role on Judd Apatow's television show Freaks and Geeks after attending a local casting call.^[4][8] After dropping out of high school, he began working for Apatow^[9][10] and relocated with his family to Los Angeles. Rogen paid the bills and had become the main wage earner at just 16.^[4]

Acting, writing and producing career[link]

Early work and friendship with Judd Apatow[link]

Rogen's acting debut was in Apatow's 1980s-set cult hit series Freaks and Geeks as Ken Miller, a cynical, acerbic "freak".^[4] Revolving around a group of teenagers' lives, Freaks and Geeks first aired in 1999. Although well-reviewed, the show was NBC's lowest-viewed program and was canceled after one season due to poor rating.^[9][11] Very impressed with Rogen's improvisational skills,^[8] Apatow then chose him as the lead in another of his shows, Undeclared. Rogen was originally set to play a fairly popular but nerdy college freshman, but the network did not think he was leading male material. Apatow opted not to go along with the show but, after facing the risk of getting sued, he hired him for a small role.^[8] Rogen also served as a staff writer to the short-lived production.^[12][13] Following the show's 2002 cancellation, Rogen did not get many auditions, which was not upsetting to him as he always thought he would achieve better success as a writer.^[14] He would soon be a part of Apatow's "frat pack", a close knit group that includes Steve Carell and Paul Rudd.^[6] Of the awkwardness of a grown man spending so much time with a teenaged Rogen, Apatow said: "I'm such a comedy fan that even though he's 16, I know I'm hanging out with one of the guys who's going to be one of the great comics."^[8] Around this time Apatow would come up with odd requests for Rogen and Goldberg to pass, such as: turn an idea of his into a movie in 10 days and come up with 100 one-page-long ideas for films.^[14] Regarding Apatow's professional effect on Rogen, the actor said in 2009, "Obviously, I can't stress how important Judd's been to my career".^[6]

Next, he had brief parts in the Drew Barrymore-produced Donnie Darko (2001) and Apatow's Will Ferrell-starring 2004 film Anchorman.^[15] A big career point for him was becoming a staff writer for Sacha Baron Cohen's last season of Da Ali G Show in 2004.^[10] Along with the show's other writers, Rogen received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.^[16] He became familiar to audiences as one of the main character's witty co-workers in Apatow's well-reviewed buddy comedy directorial debut feature The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005).^[17][18] Rogen also co-produced it and improvised all his dialogue.^[10][19] "[Rogen] hadn’t done any screen work that indicated he could carry as memorable and convincing a performance as he does with the character Cal," MTV's John Constantine wrote.^[15] Boston Globe reviewer Wesley Morris wrote that Rogen, along with co-stars Rudd and Romany Malco, were each hilarious in their own right^[20] and Orlando Sentinel's Roger Moore believed that Rogen had his moments in the film^[21] whereas Moira Macdonald of the Seattle Times said the actor was a "droopily deadpan."^[22] He followed this with a small role in You, Me and Dupree, a critically panned 2006 comedy also featuring Michael Douglas.^[23]

Breakthrough[link]

Rogen (far right) at San Diego Comic-Con in 2010

His breakthrough came when Universal Studios greenlit him for the lead in yet another Apatow production: Knocked Up (2007), a dramedy that follows the repercussions of a drunken one-night stand between his slacker character and Katherine Heigl's just-promoted media personality that results in an unintended pregnancy. Upon completing The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Apatow had approached Rogen about potential starring roles, but the actor suggested many high-concept science fiction ideas. After Apatow insisted that he would work better in real life situations, the two agreed on the accidental pregnancy concept of this production.^[24] Rogen called shooting sex scenes with Heigl "nerve racking" and found comfort with the supporting cast since, even though he played the lead, the focus was not all on him.^[25][26] Made on a $30 million budget and released on June 1, Knocked Up was a critical and commercial box office hit, garnering an approval rating of 90 percent on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and grossing $219 million.^[27][28] Rogen also received favorable reviews.^[29][30] Later that year he played a supporting part as an irresponsible police officer in Superbad, which he had written with his writing partner and was co-produced by Apatow. Michael Cera and Jonah Hill originate the main roles, two teenage best friends whose party plans go wrong, based on them.^[3] The film and their writing was praised, with critics finding it to be very authentic.^[31] It topped the US box office for two weeks in a row.^[32] Rogen hosted Saturday Night Live on October 6, 2007 and again on April 4, 2009.^[33][34]

2008 was a busy year for the actor. Among his projects were Jimmy Hayward's Horton Hears a Who!, an animated film based on the Dr. Seuss book, that Rogen voiced a character in.^[35] Rogen additionally co-wrote Drillbit Taylor, a starring Owen Wilson as the homeless titular character that is also produced by Apatow.^[36] He based the screenplay on a 70-page scriptment done by John Hughes.^[37] The movie was panned by critics who thought its plot – a grown man becoming three kids' bodyguard and beating up their bullies – had no focus and was drawn out. "If Superbad were remade as a gimmicky Nickelodeon movie, it would probably look something like Drillbit Taylor" Josh Bell wrote in the Las Vegas Weekly.^[38] He again lent his voice to another animated movie, this time Kung Fu Panda, with Jack Black and Angelina Jolie.^[39] It did exceptionally well in theaters, making more than $630 million.^[40] Rogen, Goldberg and Apatow were behind the stoner action comedy Pineapple Express directed by David Gordon Green at Columbia Pictures. Apatow produced it while Rogen and Goldberg wrote the script.^[41] The actor chose to play the film's protagonist, a 25-year-old who accidentally witnesses a murder while delivering a subpoena. James Franco was cast as his hippie pot dealer that he goes on the run with. When asked about its inspiration, Rogen said he wrote what he knew.^[42] Pineapple Express was released to theaters on August 6 and made $101 million in ticket sales against its $27 million production budget.^[43] Movie critics lauded it, appreciating their performances and its humor.^[41][44]

Rogen in 2007.

In April 2008, Empire reported that the actor and Goldberg would write an episode for the animated television series The Simpsons.^[45] He also voiced a character in the episode,^[46] entitled "Homer the Whopper", which opened the twenty-first season.^[47] Kevin Smith's romantic comedy Zack and Miri Make a Porno rounded out 2008 for the actor. He and Elizabeth Banks portrayed the title roles: Pennsylvania roommates who try to make some extra cash by making an adult film together. After having difficulty trying to secure an R rating, Rogen commented to MTV, "It's a really filthy movie" but complained "It's really crazy to me that Hostel is fine, with people gouging their eyes out and shit like that... But you can't show two people having sex — that's too much".^[48] The picture was distributed on Halloween by The Weinstein Company and disappointed at the box office.^[49] Along with Reese Witherspoon, he voiced a character in the animated science fiction Monsters vs Aliens (2009), did well commercially, with a total of $381.5 million.^[50] He then starred in the Jody Hill-directed mall cop comedy Observe and Report,^[51] in which he portrayed bipolar mall security guard Ronnie Barnhart. The film opened in theaters on April 10. Critics noted a departure in Rogen's acting style from playing laid-back roles to playing a more sadistic character; Wesley Morris from the Boston Globe opined that "Often with Rogen, his vulnerability makes his coarseness safe...Ronnie is something altogether new for Rogen. Vulnerability never arrives. He's shameless."^[52] Later in 2009, Rogen starred in Apatow's third directorial feature, Funny People, with Adam Sandler. Rogen played a young, inexperienced comic while Sandler played a mentor of sorts to his character; the film had more dramatic elements in it than Apatow's previous efforts.^[53] Funny People was a commercial failure, coming short of its $75 million budget, but has a "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.^[54][55]

Recent work[link]

After years of development, a feature film adaptation of The Green Hornet was handled by Rogen and Goldberg, with a theatrical release in January 2011. Rogen chose to do a re-imagining of the titular character.^[6] Besides executively producing the movie, he also cast himself as the main part. Rogen later admitted to having been overwhelmed by handling its $120 million budget. "It's insane. But it's not so much the specific amount of money that's stressful, it's all the things that go along with making a movie of that size."^[56] The actor also went on a strict weight-loss diet to play the slim crime fighter.^[6] The Green Hornet was a critical disappointment; Adam Graham of the Detroit News called it "a big, sloppy, loud, grating mess of a movie"^[57] and the Arizona Republic's Bill Goodykoontz found its story to have fallen apart.^[58] Nonetheless it still opened at number one at the box office, making $33 million in its opening weekend before going on to gross more than $225 million.^[59]

He reprised his voice role in Kung Fu Panda 2,^[60] as well as produced and took a supporting role in 50/50, from Mandate Pictures. The dramedy about cancer was based on an autobiographical script by screenwriter Will Reiser,^[61] and was released in September 2011. In mid-2010, Rogen shot scenes for another upcoming film, Take This Waltz, with Michelle Williams.^[62] Another of his movies, Paramount Pictures's road movie The Guilt Trip, also starring Barbra Streisand, is due out in cinemas in 2012. The film is about an inventor (Rogen) who invites his mother (Streisand) on a road trip as he attempts to sell his new product while also reuniting her with a lost love.^[63]

Personal life[link]

Rogen began dating writer Lauren Miller in 2004. The two met while he was working on Da Ali G Show.^[10] The couple became engaged in September 2010,^[64] and married on October 2, 2011 in Sonoma, California.^[1] Miller has had minor on-screen roles in a few of Rogen's films.^[65]

His favorite music artists are Led Zeppelin and the Wu-Tang Clan.^[66]

Rogen has spoken out about awareness of Alzheimer's disease. No one in his biological family has it but it runs in his wife's side, and has affected her mother for several years. "I think until you see it firsthand, it's kind of hard to conceive of how brutal it is," Rogen said to CNN. "Until I saw it, you just don't get kind of how heartbreaking it can be."^[67] During the interview, Rogen talked about how he tries to be emotionally supportive and around as much as he can for Miller's mother. Both he and Miller spoke to Larry King for A Larry King Special, Unthinkable: The Alzheimer's Epidemic, which aired in April 2011.^[67]

Filmography[link]

Films[link]

Rogen at the premiere of Observe and Report at the 2009 South by Southwest Festival

Television[link]