Aevin Duglas lives in Louisisana, USA, and has just set a world record for the third time in the last ten years. Aevin has the record for the largest afro, with a circumference of 5ft, 5 inches and a height of 9 inches.
Aevin says she continues to break the record to, personally vouch for the beauty of natural hair; "I didn't decide to grow an afro as much as I decided to go natural. It's about pride in textured hair which leads to self-love."
Aevin remembers growing up and wanting to go for the world record because some cultures have historically associated straight hair with beauty, but by the time she was in her 20s, Aevin admired the natural hairstyles that many black women wore as an expression of beauty and pride. After an unsuccessful trip to a hairstylist, Aevin decided the best person to style her hair was herself.
"From that day on, I knew: 'you know what? If you want to do your hair, do it yourself - learn it yourself."
Aevin says she gets a range of reactions from people when she lets her afro loose in public; some people yell words of admiration, some just stare or ask questions. Unfortunately some people think it's ok to approach her and touch or tug on her hair without asking permission. When that happens, Aevin says, "I've learned to just give them a little pop on the hand with a few words of choice I won't repeat."
Aevin says she likes how her afro helps her, "become this figure in a room full of people that everyone will notice," but she also wears her hair in other styles too.
- What is afro-textured hair? Afro hair is associated with people of African and / or Caribbean descent. It can be curly, coiled and bouncy, it can sometimes be dry and needs to be looked after in a different way to straight hair. Here is a great article from Newsround about afro-textured hair with a video of black children talking about pride for their hair
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/45146691There are different types of hair. Everybody's hair is different, unique and beautiful. Your hair could be wavy, straight, curly, kinky.
- "I didn't decide to grow an afro as much as I decided to go natural. It's about pride in textured hair which leads to self-love." what does Aevin mean by this?
- what is identity? How is your hair connected to your identity?
- "some cultures have historically associated straight hair with beauty," what does this mean? How does this happen? How do we challenge that? (should we challenge it?)
- What can we do in our school to make sure everyone know their hair is unique and beautiful and they do not have to change it?
- why do some people touch Aevin's hair without asking? Why isn't that ok?
- Does Aevin always wear her hair in an afro style? Who gets to choose how Aevin waves her hair?
- There have been some examples of children in the UK being sent home from school because they wore their hair naturally in afro style. Why do you think this happened, what do we say in our school about hair and identity.
- What can we learn from Aevin?
- Why is this about No Outsiders?
- Which British value is this about?
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