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Here's What 100 Years Of Black Men's Hair Trends Look Like

Hair and politics are always intertwined.

WatchCut Video just released the latest episode in their 100 Years of Beauty series, this time tackling black men's trends in the U.S.

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Chris Chan, visual anthropologist at WatchCut, explains the research behind the looks in a separate video, which you can watch here.

"One thing we wanted to be really clear about in this video is that hair and politics are always intertwined," Chan explains in the video.

In the 1910s, most people wouldn't be caught dead leaving the house without a hat on.

The '20s look was modeled after William J. Powell Jr., a pioneer in aviation and a civil rights activist.

The look from the 1930s was a strong part, inspired by Donald Sheffield Ferguson, the first black medical student at Kansas University.

The look from the '40s recognizes how many black men served in World War II.

Little Richard's conk hair was the inspiration for the '50s look.

The inspiration for the black beret look in the '60s was Huey Newton, one of the founders of the Black Panther Party.

"It's pretty amazing what we see in just half a century. Black men are disciplined into not having any hair at all. In fact even covering it, or chemically processing it," Chan says.

In the '70s, the picked-out Afro became prominent.

For the '80s style, Jean-Michel Basquiat, an artist from New York and a black nationalist, was the inspiration.

The flat top — specifically, Will Smith's flat top — was the look for the '90s.

Big beautiful braids and facial hair typical of R&B celebrities were big in the 2000s.

In the present day, the look is a throwback reference to the flat top, but it's really about the fade and the verticality of the hair.

For more on the looks, you can watch the video about the research behind the video below.

View this video on YouTube

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