One time for your Aunt Tonya in 1996. She went to Freaknik and came back with her updo intact. A moment for Miss Lisa, your mom’s hairstylist who wore her hair only one way: bob-length box braids, curled up at the ends. It’s time to give your old next door neighbor Juanita some props: She perfected the technique for finger waves at her bathroom sink.
The ‘90s was a generation-defining era for hair artistry and Black women were the primary canvas for it. Whether it was on a billboard for the B*A*P*S* movie or in line at the grocery store, the creativity and dynamic skill of Black hairstylists was on display. “I want to highlight what an amazing time this was for Black hair,” says hairstylist Nikki Nelms, who did all the looks you see here for Allure. She re-created a few of the common styles of that time with her own modern touches for 2023. “To most of the world, these styles look like they’re supposed to be super fancy for a special occasion. But they were just being worn for a regular workweek,” she says. “That’s what made this era so amazing — it was normal for your hair to be extra.”
The level of extra was your choosing. On the more accessible end, there were finger waves, a take on a hairstyle that first became popular in the 1920s. For the last decade of the 20th century, the waves were deeper, more defined, and practically shellacked into place, thanks to the advent of firm-hold gels. In 1999, Halle Berry styled her honey-brown cropped hair in loose finger waves. Missy Elliott wore hers extra small on the cover of her 1997 single, “Hit ‘Em With The Hee,” her hairline cut straight across like Caesar (fitting, as she was the empress of hip-hop at the time).
For all of these styles, the more intricate, the better. And the hours spent in the salon being showered in spritz, sweating under hooded dryers, and wincing preemptively as the marcel iron came a little too close to the back of your neck were well worth the mileage you’d get from the look. “Those hairstyles would last at least a week or two,” Nelms says, crediting two things: the advancements in hair product formulations that happened in the ‘90s and the fact that most Black women at the time had their hair chemically straightened or relaxed. “The products you would normally use for styles like this make natural hair revert [back to its curl pattern].”
To really stay true to the theme, Nelms armed herself with some of those throwback products to create her modern-day take on the looks. To her kit, she added wefts of yaki hair and bottles of Pump It Up Gold Styling Spritz and Fantasia Liquid Mousse Spritz to perfect the shape. Kemi Oyl and some classic Oil Sheen give the styles their shine. When they’re all combined on a canvas of relaxed strands, you get that super-stiff, frozen-texture signature of the period, says Nelms. And the best way to show off the capabilities of this concoction was with an elaborate updo.
Whether the world knew it or not, these updos were a testament to the incredible skill of Black hairstylists. It allowed them to show off a number of techniques on one head — wearable monuments to their virtuosity. “They were wearing three hairstyles in one,” says Nelms of women balancing these works of art. “They’d want two crimps in the front, a French roll in the back, and a waterfall on top. It was like making a sandwich.” An extremely well-engineered sandwich. Every curl, bump, crimp, and wave was neatly placed, each with the crispness of a starched dress shirt.
These were more hair sculptures than styles. If they weren’t anchored by some kind of crimp or curl, the base was bone-straight, preferably with a deep side part that swooped across the forehead to create curved bangs. Extra-fly girls asked their stylists to add curls to the top and let them cascade down like a fountain. “You always wanted height and volume,” Nelms says, though her updated version is softer — stiff, but not fully petrified. The hair has more of a sheen than a plasticky, reflective shine.
The artistry of these everyday hair looks from the ‘90s also harkens to a larger tradition in the Black American community: hairstyling competitions like the Bronner Brothers Hair Show. To capture a small taste of the artfully absurdist and fantastical styles, Nelms dreamed up a double French roll hairstyle, separated by a working zipper. (One more time, everyone: The zipper works.) “It was like the Met Gala of Black hair; they took everything to the extreme,” Nelms says of the show. “This is the kind of look I’ve never done and I’ve always wanted to.”
If sleeping in strange positions to preserve your style wasn’t on your agenda, box braids were always there to hold you down. They were (and still are) easy to maintain and easy to style. Janet Jackson wore hers long and straight in 1993’s Poetic Justice. If you were down to committing to more hours at the salon, you could try Brandy’s micro version of the style. Jada Pinkett-Smith’s appeared in 1996’s Set It Off, with hers cut into a bob that gently bent inward to frame her face. The ends of each braid were burned or wrapped in rollers dipped in boiling water to secure them in place. Nelms’s 2023 version of the style has the same vibe with blunt, crispy ends that help preserve its shape. “That little bend was very specific,” Nelms says. It had a certain curve to it that was polished, but not too perfect. It reflected the stylish ease of box braids.
Whether you went with an easy protective style or something more obviously elaborate, Black women’s hairstyles in the ‘90s made space for everyday celebration. “What I love about these looks is that they were so… normal to us,” Nelms explains. “When we wanted to give it, it didn’t need to be for a special occasion. We are the special occasion.”
Read more about the beauty of Black hair:
- These Silk Press & Blowout Bars Are Redefining Black Hair Salon Culture
- Boho Braids Are TikTok's Favorite Protective Hairstyle
- 4C Naturals on TikTok Are Fully Embracing Their Shrinkage
Watch Janet Jackson break down her most memorable music video looks:
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