Tools of Attraction: Afros

Five New Yorkers discuss their buoyant, bohemian beehives.

By Carly Pifer

Saquan, 25, musician

Do you always rock an Afro?
Not all the time, but when I’m in the city. For some reason, I find that tourists and people from the city get more intrigued by the Afro.

Why do you think that is?
I think it’s the new thing, a return to the Afro-centric.

There’s something about an Afro. Is it your favorite hairstyle on a woman?
Right now? Yeah. I won’t even lie to you — there’s something about it. It’s natural and sexy.

Do you get hit on more when you have your hair out?
Yeah. I find that the women I’m really attracted to stop and talk to me when my hair is out more than when it’s braided. I think that females are kind of into it also.

What does it say about how you live your life?
It says you’re more of a cultural person, more free-spirited, more a person of the arts. I find a lot of artistic people rock that type of hair.

How big will it get?
It gets a whole lot larger than this. It’s like this because I washed it and I didn’t comb it out so it shrunk. But normally, when I take it right out of the braids — you remember how Luda’s hair was? It gets like that.

What does it say to you about a girl when she’s rocking an Afro?
It just shows that funk. I find that a lot of the females that rock it have a real funky little style to them. Not everybody can do it though.

Boots: J.Colt, jeans: American Eagle, shirt: Kenneth Cole