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You don't really look
at a toothbrush and say,

2
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I'm great, but we look at a afro pick,

3
00:00:05,764 --> 00:00:07,144
which is a grooming tool,

4
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it can remind you in your
subconscious to, like,

5
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really be proud and, like, all right.

6
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(upbeat music)

7
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An afro pick is a utilitarian tool

8
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used to maintain the afro hairstyle.

9
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I think the afro pick was designed

10
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for the ergonomics of creating something

11
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that felt like you were running
fingers through your hair.

12
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The shape, even the depth that it goes in,

13
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it's like a hand.

14
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You have plastic or nylon teeth,

15
00:00:39,974 --> 00:00:43,124
and then you have the stainless
steel, the nickel teeth.

16
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I always prefer the metal tooth

17
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just 'cause I like the sound,

18
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and the ones I know have
the black power fist

19
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on the handle.

20
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When I think of black hair in America,

21
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I think of something that's been policed.

22
00:00:55,334 --> 00:00:57,964
Back in the days, it was
expected for black people

23
00:00:57,964 --> 00:00:59,554
to chemically treat their hair.

24
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Whether that's healthy for
them is a secondary thing

25
00:01:02,064 --> 00:01:03,774
to blending in.

26
00:01:03,774 --> 00:01:07,284
In the 50s, dancer Ruth Beckford
and a lot of jazz singers

27
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were tired of straightening their hair,

28
00:01:08,774 --> 00:01:09,944
so they said that, all right,

29
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we're gonna just let it grow naturally,

30
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and started rocking
natural, close-cropped hair.

31
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And in the 60s, that style evolved

32
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with the formation of the afro,

33
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which was the cropped
hair, natural, picked out

34
00:01:23,204 --> 00:01:26,014
into a more spherical shape.

35
00:01:26,014 --> 00:01:28,794
You had civil rights leaders, activists,

36
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that adopted the hairstyle
as a means of rebellion

37
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and black pride,

38
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and then you had musicians
like James Brown,

39
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who's infamously known

40
00:01:36,954 --> 00:01:38,884
for chemically straightening his hair

41
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reject that and go natural.

42
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It went hand-in-hand with his music,

43
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so he had songs like

44
00:01:42,981 --> 00:01:45,134
"Say it Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud."

45
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The black is beautiful movement

46
00:01:46,824 --> 00:01:49,824
is just rejecting the
notion now to be black

47
00:01:49,824 --> 00:01:53,404
or to have darker skin, to
have a curlier grade of hair,

48
00:01:53,404 --> 00:01:55,684
was something to be ashamed of.

49
00:01:55,684 --> 00:01:58,114
I have one of my favorite
pictures of my mother

50
00:01:58,114 --> 00:01:59,444
and my grandmother,

51
00:01:59,444 --> 00:02:01,234
and my grandmother had a small 'fro,

52
00:02:01,234 --> 00:02:03,584
and that was in the 60s.

53
00:02:03,584 --> 00:02:07,574
African hair combs date back to 3500 BCE.

54
00:02:07,574 --> 00:02:09,904
The oldest African combs are found

55
00:02:09,904 --> 00:02:12,344
in ancient Egypt and Sudan,

56
00:02:12,344 --> 00:02:15,034
so they were making pyramids and combs.

57
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The way the ancient African
combs were embellished

58
00:02:18,114 --> 00:02:21,634
represented status or tribal affiliation.

59
00:02:21,634 --> 00:02:24,384
It's no coincidence that the fist

60
00:02:24,384 --> 00:02:26,084
on the modern afro pick

61
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also sets the tone for affiliation

62
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and what set you claim.

63
00:02:30,684 --> 00:02:32,954
And then there's the black power movement.

64
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Most movements need their icons, right?

65
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You have the fist, you have the 'fro.

66
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These things coincide with
the Black Panther aesthetic,

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where you could kinda
spot your tribe from afar.

68
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Because you're not just
keeping a pick in, like,

69
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your beauty kit.

70
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It's, like, it's in your back pocket,

71
00:02:47,364 --> 00:02:49,854
purposely with the first
outside of it alls,

72
00:02:49,854 --> 00:02:52,194
and your hair, you'll
rock it in your 'fro.

73
00:02:52,194 --> 00:02:54,064
If I think about iconic afros,

74
00:02:54,064 --> 00:02:56,324
I definitely think about Angela Davis.

75
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Her 'fro personifies elegant style,

76
00:02:59,434 --> 00:03:01,334
freedom, rebellion.

77
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You feel all of these feelings at once

78
00:03:02,774 --> 00:03:05,204
when you see Angela Davis
fighting for her life

79
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in federal court.

80
00:03:06,464 --> 00:03:10,004
By the 80s, the afro
style became less radical.

81
00:03:10,004 --> 00:03:12,474
The afro picks are still
produced to this day

82
00:03:12,474 --> 00:03:13,624
with the clenched fist,

83
00:03:13,624 --> 00:03:15,624
so it's the remnants of the movement

84
00:03:15,624 --> 00:03:17,854
in the everyday object.

85
00:03:17,854 --> 00:03:20,714
When I was young, it was
just, like, another object.

86
00:03:20,714 --> 00:03:21,814
It was a comb.

87
00:03:21,814 --> 00:03:24,074
But as I became more enlightened

88
00:03:24,074 --> 00:03:26,484
to really understand, like,
the roots and the origin

89
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and the intentionality of the design

90
00:03:29,204 --> 00:03:31,957
and why the fist and all of these things,

91
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I woke up.

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(upbeat music)