The Rebirth of the Comb

In the 20th century, some years after the abolition of slavery, the market would see a birth of many hair products designed specifically for African Americans, starting with "Madam C.J. Walker's Wonderful Hair Grower". However, African Americans would not see the creation, patent, and mass production of the Afro Comb/Pik until the 1960-1970's.

Original Madam CJ Walker's hair product of the early 1900's.

The market for black hair products would see a slue of relaxers and products throughout the course of the 1900's. It would see different styles, too. However, the Civil Rights movement and the subsequent Black Power movement of the 1960's greatly influenced what style would come next:  the Afro.

The Afro Comb Patent

Many scholars admit that it is difficult to trace back to the beginning the introduction of Afro-Comb to the U.S. However, many attribute the mass introduction to Willie Morrow, black entrepreneur of the 1960's and 70's, and man who holds hundreds of patents on black hair products. In 1977, the U.S. patent office granted Morrow his patent on the Afro Comb. Before that, in 1966, he engineered the first plastic-injection molded combs which would later become the most popular, most sought after Afro Combs in the U.S. 

Standard Afro Comb patented by Willie Morrow

The Afro & the Black Power Movement: 

The two are inextricably bound. From what we have learned through this course, and through Painter's text, we know that the Black Power movement in the US emerged from the need for African Americans to define themselves, "positively, regardless of what white people thought. Black Power turned African Americans away from American values, even away from American identity," (Painter 292).

American culture had long been defining beauty as any and all things white: straight, silky hair, a slender body, and fair skin. The definition of what was attractive in America essentially ignored all things African American. Google "hair of the 1960's" and you will find a plethora of images of white women with blonde and brunette, silky shining hair. You have to search diligently and click to page 9 before  you find a single black women's hair. 

The above images are 3 of the first results when one searches Google for "hair of the 1960's"

The above image is the first and one of the only images that Google returns upon the same search of "hair of the 1960's'"

Carol Tulloch, African-American author and scholar of black style in the African Diaspora, agrees that Western culture has and continues to glorify white predominately white characteristics, particularly in females. She writes, "And in order to erase that message, black people attempted to set their own standards of what is beautiful. Within the black power movement, and long before individuals black individuals began sporting the afro-comb or afro-pick."

Black individuals adopted the powerful mantra "Black is beautiful," as a way to create and own their personalized definition of beauty, as a means of definition and determination of the self. Within the Black Power Movement and the Black is Beautiful movement, African-American's created an identity that harbored a sense of pride in who they were. Their natural culry black hair and their dark skin had been the source of much ridicule and degradation by the white population.They never fit the mold of what Western Culture defined as beautiful, but they did not have to. A sense of pride replaced centuries of white-inflicted shame.

Black is Beautiful

One of the most sought-after, popular artifacts of the Black Power movement is the Black Power Comb:

The clenched fist was a powerful symbol of the time. It represented a unique solidarity in the resounding ideologies of the Black Power Movement. It was adopted by members of the Black Panther Party, students who rose in protests at their universities, and perhaps most recognizably in the 1968 Olympics where African American runners Tommie Smith and John Carlos rose their fists during the American national anthem. The symbolic gesture was synonymous with the black power movement and it found its' way onto the Afro Comb.