Afro

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Lauryn Hill wearing an Afro wig during a performance in Central Park. (2005)

An afro, sometimes shortened to "fro", is a hairstyle in which the hair extends out from the head like a halo, cloud or ball.

[edit] History

A woman with an afro at the Tribeca Film Festival. (2007)

In the 1860s a style similar to the afro was worn by the Circassian beauties, sometimes known as "Moss-haired girls", 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."[1][2]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Linda Frost, Never one nation: freaks, savages, and whiteness in U.S. popular culture, 1850-1877, University of Minnesota Press, 2005, p.68-88
  2. ^ The Circassian beauty archive A collection of historic Images - Circassian Beauties