the young people's professor

Frank is growing a Natural (capital N please). What's a Natural? Previously known as the FRO, a "Natural" is that gloriously bushy, indignantly nappy, sweet and sexy, notoriously Good-Smelling, head-rocker joint that black men and women have been sporting for ages. In this age of post-black neo-bohemia, the Natural is coming back in style.

I'm only in the earliest baby growth stages of my Natural, but already it's a spiritual experience. I love the look on peoples faces as my hair grows out in all directions, laced with the carrot-joboba oil i caress on it every-Other day. I love to see people get uncomfortable when I roll up into the room with my shit all Nappy with no intention of getting a haircut anytime soon.

From comments such as "yo, when are you going to the Barber Shop bro?" (what black folks say) to "hey, how does your hair do THAT" (what white folks say) black hair (especially in growth) always incites questions. Now before all my sharp black cultural critics check me for engaging in some type of problematic, essentialist, neo-nationalist, "natural=authentic=race pride" politics, let me be the first to acknowledge that my decision to grow my hair out has nothing to do with me attempting to ascend towards some mythical space of black authenticity. Trust: I feel just as black with a Fro as I do with an S-CURL.

In his important essay "Black Hair/Style Politics", black british cultural critic Kobena Mercer argues that hair and hairstyles have traditionally been spaces of radical self-expression and critical self-fashioning for people of African descent. For me, the Fro is a space/place on my black body which I can watch grow, develop, and change almost like a muscle. I can build it; work it out. At the same time it has a personality of its own: it yells at me, goes in its own directions, refuses to obey rules, moves when it wants to. My Fro is my sidekick; my best friend. And I have to admit that yes the Fro, at least the kind that I'm growing, definitely has a little erotic cultural capital; a little black-bohemian flava. Perhaps its in the naughtiness of its uni-direction, or the defiance of its unwilling to be tamed. But in a moment when there's so many subcultural AND commericalized versions to model off of, a brother is wondering: Which Fro is for me?

It is the Maxwell fro?this Natural stands in a category of its own because of the explosive erotic capital associated with it: it's bigger, more robust, WIDE. It's accompanied by "buzzy" facial hair instead of a full fledged goatee. Lets call this Natural, the descendant of the Huey Newton Fro.

Is it The Toure/Ben Harper fro? the "bohemian blow out"--its texture is straight then knotty at the ends. Its either accompanied by the well-groomed goatee (in the case of Toure) or not (in the case of Maxwell).

Is it The Mos Def fro? Bohemian grudge all the way. Tighter, thicker, uni-directional.

Is it The John Legend/Allen Payne fro? We might call this the corporate fro--its at once messy, but somehow very "done"; juicier, looser, a little more oily.

Is it The Lenny Kravitz Fro? "Baby Locks"--this is the Fro-in-Progress. Its the master Liminal Fro: in between the Blow Out and Locks.

Is it The Q-Tip/Hill Harper fro? My personal favorite. All of the elements of the Toure Fro but with more unshaven facial hair as well as knottier, crunchier tips. I think this is the Fro Frank's moving towards.