“Why do you have that afro hair?”
“So when I was growing up, I always had short hair and I never knew that I could grow an afro because my father was always short-haired, or bald.
When I was 17, I found an old family picture of him where he had an afro.
When I saw it, I thought if my father can have one, I should be able to have one too!
So I didn’t cut my hair for one entire year, so the afro became bigger, and ever since then it’s been a part of my identity.
I’m 24, so I’ve had an afro for about 7 years. I don’t identify with Bob Marley or anyone, but just my dad.
In Malaysia, when people see my hair, they start singing Alleycats (singer) songs, like “Sampaikanlah Salam” and they like saying Terima Kasih to me. From that, I feel very well connected in Malaysia.
I feel like everyone is connected to my hair.
Everybody treats me very well because they all know of the nostalgic Alleycats.
I feel like my afro breaks down every communications barrier – everybody likes an afro, nobody hates an afro.”
– Humans of Kuala Lumpur
(For those who don’t know Alleycats the singer, do Google them!)
Photostory by Mushamir Mustafa. Story was first taken on August 2017.
