What some of you may not know, is that although there was a huge natural hair movement going on in the 70′s, some of the afros you may have seen in 1972 and beyond weren’t really “natural.” A great deal of afros have been enhanced by blow-out kits (also known as texturizers) during those times. In this article, I’ll talk about the most popular blow-out kit used during those times.

With a $250 loan from the bank and another $250 from a friend, George E. Johnson started the Johnson Products company at the age of twenty-seven. The first product he sold was Ultra Wave, a hair relaxer for men. He then introduced Ultra Sheen, a hair straightener for women.

When black people began rocking their afros more in the 1960′s as a political statement, the Johnson Products Company decided to keep up with the times, releasing Afro Sheen in 1968. Afro Sheen was one of their best known products to date. In 1972, the Johnson Products company added a new product to their Afro Sheen product line, the Afro Sheen Blowout Kit.

Johnson Products became the first African-owned company to be listed on the American Stock Exchange in 1971. It was also the first black-owned business to sponsor a nationally syndicated television program, Soul Train. The annual sales of the Johnson Products Company grew from around $4 million in 1967 to $40 million in 1976. When the company reached its peak, it was snatched from under when Avon and Revlon began targeting African American consumers. Afro Sheen eventually died out.

If left in too long, texturizers can straighten the hair and lets not forget to mention that this is still a chemical that permanently alters the natural texture. This makes me think of the countless number of threads where women complain about how they don’t have “good hair,” so they resort to texturizers to make their texture more “desirable” and we all know what the whole “good hair mentality” caused. There’s also the misconception that as long as the hair is still kinky or curly, or as long as it looks natural, that it’s still natural. That’s far from the case.

I ain’t gonna lie though; the afros in this post look pretty darn fly.

So a great deal of photos that you may see from the 1970′s can be of those who used texturizers. Are today’s texturizers a bit stronger though because they seem to make looser curls, and even some of the texturized afros of the 70′s looked kinky. Check out this video below.