From the Wikipedia article

A finger wave is a method of setting hair into waves (curls) that was popular in the 1920s and early 1930s and again in the late 1990s in North America and Europe. Silver screen actresses such as Josephine Baker and Esther Phillips are credited with the original popularity of finger waves. In their return in the 1990s, the style was popularized by pop stars like Madonna, and hip-hop stars of the time, such as Missy Elliott. The popularity of finger waves in the 1990s was aided by a movement toward shorter, more natural hair in the African-American community. This was also a common hairstyle worn by slaves back in 1802 through generations to 1889 and only began to take effect of popularity when Bette Davis danced on live television.

Finger waves
Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author (Either deceased family member or work for hire in employ of deceased family member.) Please credit "Family of Infrogmation of New Orleans", CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, taken from the style's article on Wikipedia.

Source

  • Source: Wikipedia, 'List of hairstyles' (en.wikipedia.org, CC BY-SA 4.0) + each linked article's lead summary via the Wikimedia REST API; image files from Wikimedia Commons with their own licence per file
  • List row: 96 of 99, from List of hairstyles (list revision 1376698486, fetched 2026-10-02T20:43:21Z).
  • Article: Finger wave
  • Text licence: CC BY-SA 4.0; adapted text stays under the same licence.
  • Photograph: MDafoeBob20s.jpg file page, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Words of quoted Wikipedia text on this page: 139.