Greetings, Fashion Bombers!
Danielle here to take you on a trip down Black History Beauty Trend lane.
While finger waves may have seen its origins in the 1920s, we all know it best as it was rocked in the 1990s by ’round-the-way girls and the bourgeoisie alike. For less than the price of two weeks allowance, fly girls (and gents–heyyyy) crammed into beauty shops on Every Corner, U.S.A. to get the gelled up and slicked down wavy ‘do. After the hair was washed, a stylist would then grab a fishtail comb, a gallon of gel, and get to work perfecting every little intricate wave.
Then you sat under the dryer until your waves hardened to a crisp and you had a ready-made style for a whole week (two if like Miss Jackson, you were nasty). Now if your stylist was really dope, she could hook you up with glitter and/or colors in your waves and O-M-G remember the “scrunch” with the finger waves?!?! A scandal.
Nowadays unless your name is Cleetus (ok, or Keyshia Cole), you probably are not rocking finger waves. However the style has taken on several reincarnations in the new millennium: today’s finger waves are much looser and can actually move.
For the funniest pop culture reference to finger waves that I can remember, fast forward to 4:02.
And if you wanted to learn the technique, check out this video:
Hit me with your finger waves memories…!
~Danielle
Pic Source
February 8, 2010 11:48 am
I’ve been seeing people in Philly rock finger waves lately..
February 8, 2010 12:53 pm
Too many memories! Almost every girl in my 8th grade class got ‘fingerwaves with a bun in the back’ for our graduation pictures back in 98. And some of us had the nerve to get colored hair spray and and put it in our hair. Kids do the darndest things.
February 8, 2010 1:09 pm
My best fingerwave memory is from the early nineties when they exploded with popularity. Salt and Pepa started rocking them with pincurls in the front, and everyone went crazy. I was a cosmetologist at the time, and I was the Fingerwave Queen in my salon.
February 8, 2010 3:40 pm
@sun.kissed you and i must be the same age b/c my 8th grade picture was when we all had ‘em too! lol oh and let me elaborate on the “scrunch”….boy oh boy once you came from up under that dryer, your hairstylist would take a rat tooth comb and WARN you to “close your eyes tight because it might hurt a bit” HA…that was an understatement for the two minute headache you obtained once she started scrunching those dryed and (pro-style) gelled up waves!!!
February 8, 2010 4:57 pm
I had the scrunch with fingerwaves in the back for a church event in the fourth grade. You couldn’t tell me I wasn’t grown! lol
February 8, 2010 7:20 pm
I’ve always liked the finger wave style.