0:00:00.794,0:00:03.254
You don't really look[br]at a toothbrush and say,

0:00:03.254,0:00:05.764
I'm great, but we look at a afro pick,

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which is a grooming tool,

0:00:07.144,0:00:09.554
it can remind you in your[br]subconscious to, like,

0:00:09.554,0:00:12.543
really be proud and, like, all right.

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(upbeat music)

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An afro pick is a utilitarian tool

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used to maintain the afro hairstyle.

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I think the afro pick was designed

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for the ergonomics of creating something

0:00:30.504,0:00:33.014
that felt like you were running[br]fingers through your hair.

0:00:33.014,0:00:35.534
The shape, even the depth that it goes in,

0:00:35.534,0:00:36.514
it's like a hand.

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You have plastic or nylon teeth,

0:00:39.974,0:00:43.124
and then you have the stainless[br]steel, the nickel teeth.

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I always prefer the metal tooth

0:00:45.324,0:00:47.104
just 'cause I like the sound,

0:00:47.104,0:00:49.504
and the ones I know have[br]the black power fist

0:00:49.504,0:00:50.684
on the handle.

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When I think of black hair in America,

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I think of something that's been policed.

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Back in the days, it was[br]expected for black people

0:00:57.964,0:00:59.554
to chemically treat their hair.

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Whether that's healthy for[br]them is a secondary thing

0:01:02.064,0:01:03.774
to blending in.

0:01:03.774,0:01:07.284
In the 50s, dancer Ruth Beckford[br]and a lot of jazz singers

0:01:07.284,0:01:08.774
were tired of straightening their hair,

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so they said that, all right,

0:01:09.944,0:01:11.544
we're gonna just let it grow naturally,

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and started rocking[br]natural, close-cropped hair.

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And in the 60s, that style evolved

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with the formation of the afro,

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which was the cropped[br]hair, natural, picked out

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into a more spherical shape.

0:01:26.014,0:01:28.794
You had civil rights leaders, activists,

0:01:28.794,0:01:32.444
that adopted the hairstyle[br]as a means of rebellion

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and black pride,

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and then you had musicians[br]like James Brown,

0:01:35.504,0:01:36.954
who's infamously known

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for chemically straightening his hair

0:01:38.884,0:01:40.514
reject that and go natural.

0:01:40.514,0:01:42.054
It went hand-in-hand with his music,

0:01:42.054,0:01:42.981
so he had songs like

0:01:42.981,0:01:45.134
"Say it Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud."

0:01:45.134,0:01:46.824
The black is beautiful movement

0:01:46.824,0:01:49.824
is just rejecting the[br]notion now to be black

0:01:49.824,0:01:53.404
or to have darker skin, to[br]have a curlier grade of hair,

0:01:53.404,0:01:55.684
was something to be ashamed of.

0:01:55.684,0:01:58.114
I have one of my favorite[br]pictures of my mother

0:01:58.114,0:01:59.444
and my grandmother,

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and my grandmother had a small 'fro,

0:02:01.234,0:02:03.584
and that was in the 60s.

0:02:03.584,0:02:07.574
African hair combs date back to 3500 BCE.

0:02:07.574,0:02:09.904
The oldest African combs are found

0:02:09.904,0:02:12.344
in ancient Egypt and Sudan,

0:02:12.344,0:02:15.034
so they were making pyramids and combs.

0:02:15.034,0:02:18.114
The way the ancient African[br]combs were embellished

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represented status or tribal affiliation.

0:02:21.634,0:02:24.384
It's no coincidence that the fist

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on the modern afro pick

0:02:26.084,0:02:28.634
also sets the tone for affiliation

0:02:28.634,0:02:30.684
and what set you claim.

0:02:30.684,0:02:32.954
And then there's the black power movement.

0:02:32.954,0:02:35.054
Most movements need their icons, right?

0:02:35.054,0:02:37.494
You have the fist, you have the 'fro.

0:02:37.494,0:02:40.094
These things coincide with[br]the Black Panther aesthetic,

0:02:40.094,0:02:42.754
where you could kinda[br]spot your tribe from afar.

0:02:42.754,0:02:44.754
Because you're not just[br]keeping a pick in, like,

0:02:44.754,0:02:45.634
your beauty kit.

0:02:45.634,0:02:47.364
It's, like, it's in your back pocket,

0:02:47.364,0:02:49.854
purposely with the first[br]outside of it alls,

0:02:49.854,0:02:52.194
and your hair, you'll[br]rock it in your 'fro.

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If I think about iconic afros,

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I definitely think about Angela Davis.

0:02:56.324,0:02:59.434
Her 'fro personifies elegant style,

0:02:59.434,0:03:01.334
freedom, rebellion.

0:03:01.334,0:03:02.774
You feel all of these feelings at once

0:03:02.774,0:03:05.204
when you see Angela Davis[br]fighting for her life

0:03:05.204,0:03:06.464
in federal court.

0:03:06.464,0:03:10.004
By the 80s, the afro[br]style became less radical.

0:03:10.004,0:03:12.474
The afro picks are still[br]produced to this day

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with the clenched fist,

0:03:13.624,0:03:15.624
so it's the remnants of the movement

0:03:15.624,0:03:17.854
in the everyday object.

0:03:17.854,0:03:20.714
When I was young, it was[br]just, like, another object.

0:03:20.714,0:03:21.814
It was a comb.

0:03:21.814,0:03:24.074
But as I became more enlightened

0:03:24.074,0:03:26.484
to really understand, like,[br]the roots and the origin

0:03:26.484,0:03:29.204
and the intentionality of the design

0:03:29.204,0:03:31.957
and why the fist and all of these things,

0:03:33.414,0:03:34.948
I woke up.

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(upbeat music)