MEMORIES:
What could follow up the Afro and the Jheri curl? African-American boys found the answer in the fade, which allowed tightly curled hair to stay in a natural condition while still sporting a distinctive look that encouraged creativity.
The fade’s popularity among hit musicmakers – from Bobby Brown’s lightning strike, to Kid ‘n’ Play’s slanted “gumby” and huge hi-top, and even Vanilla Ice’s white-boy version, complete with razor-shaped eyebrows, ensured the do’s staying power through the late 80s and early 90s.
A bushy fade of compact African-American curls could be shaped into almost any sort of creative design a young man (or his buzz-cut hair artist) could think of. It was a tougher sell with Caucasian hair, but white kids caught some of the wave by having sometimes quite intricate designs cut into their crew cuts.
Outlandish fades faded from fashion, but the more restrained flattop has kept its place in the African-American male style lexicon.
