A few weeks ago, I was in walmart doing some grocery shopping, and I saw this group of Korean teenagers shopping for what looked like school supplies. When I went to check out, I noticed the Korean guy in front of me was rocking a Afro. So, I was trolling the web and happened upon what is called ‘The Asian Afro Perm’, being instantly intrigued, of course I starting digging for more info or images on this Afroetic presence in Asia.
The Afro perm, dreadloc’s, and conrows are apparently popular in Korea and Japan, especially with the youth that are intrigued and/or admire African American and African Carribean culture/music. The style is also know as the Reggae Perm or Afro Perm.
We know that on Afro hair, a perm/relaxer is used make curly, kinky hair straight, however the perm/relaxer when used on Asian bone straight hair, it has the reverse affect of making it curly, kinky.
Obviously, Afro textured hair is seen as very unique in East Asia, and even considered exotic to a certain extent, and probably because the Black/African presence is very small in some East Asian countries. It shouldn’t be forgotten that there is also a big Asian presence in the Caribbean, and I have seen Afro Asians from the Caribbean with afro-kinky hair types, I’m only surprised to see it in Asia proper and was curious as to how the look was achieved on Asian bone straight hair. The paradox here that i find amusing, is that there are black women who spend hundreds of dollars a year on Asian hair, and in some Asian communities, they are trying to achieve the Afro look, sometimes using Afro hair extensions to get it. Before stumbling across this, I had no idea how big a influence/impact African/African American culture had on the Asian community. There are people that want what they don’t have everywhere I guess, but if it works for you, go for it I say. I think Afro’s and loc’s look pretty good on Asian men and women. I stand in Solidarity!!! Makes me wonder why Chris Rock didn’t include this in his movie “Good Hair“!!!
Here are some images I’ve collected from the web, I don’t take credit for them or claim ownership. Some of these are from Afrohair.net and Bombhead.net which specializes in Afro hair styles in Korea and Japan.
Asian dude with a short cropped afro
[…] post many moons ago, when I went trolling for pictures of what I considered to be the phenomena of Asians sporting afro’s, braids and dreadloc’s. However, it appears this has been a trending style in South Korea for more than a score, and […]
I’m very pleasantly surprised that you think it looks good as I have seen a lot of hate to anyone with these kinds of hair styles who isn’t ‘black’ and it has actually kept me away from getting my whole hair braided into tiny braids/getting micro braids. There should be more people who speak up on this as a good thing instead of a bad thing!
It is a good thing. But us blacks have had our culture taken from us and misused for centuries. So we are pretty protective because of that. Go for what you wanna do. But as part of the black community, take it from me, you will get some hate from other blacks. It’s not culture appropriation if it’s appreciation.
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