The effect of the Civil Rights Movement brought a renewed sense of identity to the African-American community, which also resulted in a redefinition of personal style that included an appreciation of black beauty and aesthetics, as embodied by the "Black is beautiful" movement. This cultural movement marked a return to more natural, untreated hairstyles. The Afro became a powerful political symbol which reflected black pride and a rejection of notions of assimilation and integration—not unlike the long and untreated hair sported by the mainly White hippies.
To some African Americans, the Afro also represented a reconstitutive link to West Africa and Central Africa. However, some critics have suggested that the Afro hairstyle is not particularly African: In his book Welcome to the Jungle: New Positions in Black Cultural Studies, cultural critic Kobena Mercer argued that the contemporary African society of the mid-20th century did not consider either hairstyle to denote any particular "Africanness"; conversely, some Africans felt that these styles signified "First-worldness".
Similarly, Brackette F. Williams stated in her book Stains on My Name, War in My Veins: Guyana and the Politics of Cultural Struggle that African nationalists were irritated by the Afro's adoption by African Americans as a symbol of their African heritage; they saw this trend as an example of Western arrogance.
The Afro was adopted by both men and women and was a hairstyle that was easier to maintain by oneself, without requiring frequent and sometimes costly visits to the hairstylist as was often experienced by people who chose to braid, straighten or relax their hair. Due to the kinky pattern prominent in Afro-textured hair, as it grows longer it has a tendency to extend outward from the head, resulting in a domelike hairstyle which is easily molded and sculpted into the desired shape. While the Afro was a much less invasive and time-consuming hairstyle choice for many African Americans, some chose to achieve a more voluminous version of the Afro by backcombing or teasing the hair, a practice that can result in damage to the hair and scalp.
In the mid-1960s, the Afro hairstyle began in a fairly tightly coiffed form, such as the hairstyle that became popular among members of the Black Panther Party. As the 1960s progressed towards the 1970s, popular hairstyles, both within and outside of the African-American community, became longer and longer. As a result, the late 1960s/early 1970s saw an expansion in the overall size of Afros. Some of the entertainers and sociopolitical figures of the time known for wearing larger Afros include political activist Angela Davis, actress Pam Grier, rock musician Jimi Hendrix, singer Miriam Makeba, and the members of the musical groups The Jackson 5 and The Supremes.
In contrast, the Afro's popularity among African Americans had already started to wane by the early 1970s; the introduction of the Afro to the mainstream and its adoption by people of non-African descent caused the Afro to lose its radical, political edge. The 1970s saw an increase in the popularity of braided hairstyles such as cornrows among both sexes of African Americans.
