Here's an excerpt from a post by Erik_Kowal {United Kingdom}, Posted - 12 Apr 2007 on Wordwizard Clubhouse-a coon's age

For some reason I can't copy the URL for that page, but here is the URL to wordwizard clubhouse-http://www.wordwizard.com/ch_forum/default.asp


"The word 'ho', or 'hoe', has gradually achieved widespread currency in the USA as a variant pronunciation of 'whore', in large part, I believe, because of its prevalence in hip-hop lyrics that have introduced it to people who would otherwise rarely or never have encountered it. According to the Cassell Dictionary of Slang it was first noted in the 1950s as a term of US Black origin.

Regarding 'naphead' and 'nappy-head', the same dictionary states the following:

[1930s+] (US Black) 1) someone with kinky hair. 2) an unsophisticated Black person. (Standard English nappy, of hair, tightly curled; 2) is an extension of 1) in an era when fashionable Blacks straightened their hair)

The Merriam-Webster New Universal Unabridged Dictionary (MWNUUD) defines 'nappy' in this context as an adjective meaning [of cloth] "1) covered with nap; downy. 2) (of hair) kinky. [1490-1500]."

The MWNUUD also mentions the adjectival forms 'nappier' and 'nappiest', and the noun 'nappiness'."

-snip-

I've heard the words "nappy", "naps", "nappier", "nappiest" in the context of hair all of my life. I've never heard the term 'nappiness".

After looking up the word "nap" online and elsewhere, I believe that that word in the context of hair came from "nap" as a type of surface of cloth.

See for instance this excerpt from http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/18/messages/536.html

"Re: phrase " nap-of-the-earth" origins

I've not heard of this phrase, but a number of the meanings of the word "nap" would seem to be relevant. Nap can mean the soft or fuzzy surface of a fabric - for example, the "nap of the cloth" is important to professional snooker/pool players when gauging how to pace their shots, dependant upon whether they're playing with or against the nap. To "nap" something also means to cover it with a sauce.

Both derivations of "nap" in this sense seem to come from the French "nappe", meaning a covering or tablecloth."

-snip-
I believe that Black people took the "Nap" as the "fuzzy surface of a fabric" and used it as a descriptor for fuzzy, kinky, frizzy, wooly, tightly curled hair that most-but not all-Black people have. Notice that the word 'soft' was excluded from that appropriated meaning.

I can't say whether this appropriated word was seen as negative from the get go. However, given American cultural views about beauty & ugliness, it's likely that naps, nappy, nappier, nappiest quickly became insulting descriptors since they referred to hair that was "not like White peoples".

However, it should be noted that since at least the late 1960s and probably before there have been Black people who have taken the negative out of "nappy". Many of these people are afrocentric [in this context "afrocentric" means people who are interested in African history and cultures]. Some but not all of these people {myself included] wear their hair in some natural, groomed style-for instance in an afro {'fro; "natural"} or in "dreadlocks" {"'locs"; "dreads"}.

Some afrocentric Black people may consider 'nappy hair' as a positive and look down on those Black people who get their natural hair straightened {"pressed"; "permed"}. I see it as one type of hair texture that is no better and no worse than any other type of hair.

But I admit that the majority of African Americans still consider "nappy hair" to be the worse type of hair anyone can have.