Black Men’s Natural hair movement: The Drop-fade

You may have seen some of your favorite black athletes sporting the drop-fade with the nappy top. It’s also called a tape-up. It’s a hair style that consists of having the sides of your head slightly faded as well as the back while you maintain your natural growing hair at the top. The way Black Men are showcasing this style is that they leave the hair on the top “nappy” and uncombed. It is similar to the Afros of the 70’s which was utilized to show an individual’s cultural pride. The tape-up is the new afro except this generation has taken it further by leaving their hair “nappy”. It’s definitely a style our mothers would not be a fan of. All of us most likely grew up with our mothers shouting “did you remember to comb your hair?” Despite the past cultural norms in regards to “black hair” this new generation is sporting the natural hair look with pride. This style can be seen in the streets, as well as in the sports and entertainment world. The question is what sparked this trend? and Is it really a cultural statement? I believe the trend started in 2014. Prior to this style many individuals were deciding to grow dreads. Of course in the process of getting dreads, you have to let your hair reach a substantial height. My theory is that a part of this trend arose from people figuring out how to keep their hair growth stylish until it’s ready to be twisted and turned into locs. That’s only 20-25% of my theory.

The other 75-80% of my theory lies in the current natural hair and social conscious movement that is gaining steam amongst black millennials. There’s been a rise in the social consciousness of the black community within the last 5 years or so and that’s mostly attributed to the blatant injustices that has faced the black community as of recent. From the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown to the publicization of the corrupt justice system that is skewed towards imprisoning black men. Basically African-Americans are paying attention and unifying as a result. One of the main concepts that conscious African-Americans focus on is self-love. Throughout history Black features were thought to be distasteful. We were always programmed psychologically to think that having lighter skin and fairer hair makes you more attractive. For the Caribbean, it was and still is even worst; they’re still holding up certain flawed colonist ideologies. Blacks were psychologically programmed through every form of entertainment you could think of and despite the increase in diversity in entertainment throughout the years, they still carry the unhealed scars of self-hatred. We hear this in our parents’ voice when they tell us to not stay in the sun to long for fear of getting darker. We hear it when our peers and our elders call our hair nappy as an insult.

The current conscious movement tells us to love ourselves, our hair, and our flaws. I believe this is the majority reason why the drop-fade with the nappy top is popularized amongst black men. The trend caught fire to the point that individuals that are not “woke” are sporting this hairstyle and view their nappy hair as something tasteful. The feedback hasn’t all been positive though, recently NBA legend Charles Barkley made a negative comment about NBA player Derrick Rose‘s hair during a live televised game. He stated ” I don’t like nappy hair, it’s not a style.” Comedian Kevin Hart also made a few statements when he recorded a comedic video discussing the drop-fade style which was prevalent amongst black athletes in the NBA playoffs. In his defense he is a comedian, and I could take his statements as a joke, but the best jokes are based on people’s real thoughts, so I know there’s some truth to this video in terms of how people feel about the style.

Regardless, the drop-fade with the nappy top seems to be going strong. It’s a real positive thing for the youth to see. Our youth can have more confidence in their hair, both boys and girls. For women the hatred of black hair is even more of a pressing issue. I believe in this case the men are even inspiring the women to start going natural as well. This trend is all positive and it’s increasing the self-love of the physical features of black people after centuries of the opposite.

We should support that!

Peace!

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