LET IT ’FRO
Nets rook getting looks for his big locks
Afro-rocking rookie Jarrett Allen doesn’t just have the best hair on the Nets — he might have the best hair in New York sports.
Allen quipped he’s 7-foot-5 with his hair, and it’s easy to see how his epic ’fro could make him feel outsized — it’s at least 3 inches deep.
“I feel like I’m 7-1. I’m definitely above 7-foot with the hair,” Allen said. “At the combine I was 6-9 without shoes, 6-10 with shoes. It’s a lot of hair.”
Allen is just 19 years old, but he’s added a mustache to the ’fro that would’ve fit right into the ABA and NBA two decades before he was born. And while his fast-improving play has endeared him to Nets fans who haven’t had much to smile about the past few years, his coiffure has sent his popularity next-level.
His thread on the Real GM message boards is titled “Soul Glo, the Afro Samurai,” and — much as Mets pitchers Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom have been — he’s besieged with talk about his hair.
“All the time. I can’t look on Twitter or Reddit without people saying its Afro Thunder, or Black Dynamite,” Allen told The Post. “It’s like my identity now. It’s like James Harden’s beard; you can’t cut the beard.”
Don’t get it twisted; Allen isn’t superstitious about cutting his hair like Sampson, and he hasn’t avoided haircuts for attention or in homage to celebs like Don Cornelius, or activists like Angela Davis or players like Dr. J. It’s just him being him. “It’s something he’s done since grade school. It was twice as big,” Allen’s mother, Cheryl, said. “Jarrett’s not one trying to be like anybody else: That was just him. ... He’s not emulating anyone, it’s just how he wears it: Always has.”
Allen — who is averaging 7.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game this season, up to 12.7 points and 6.8 boards in the past 10 games — is young but is admirably comfortable in his own skin.
“People think with the Afro I’m trying to throw it back; but it’s just how I wear it. It’s not a tribute,” Allen said. “It’s nice that people compare it. Older people say I like your hair, I like how you don’t do anything to it. I make their day. But that’s just how I go about my day wearing it.”
Allen flew home to Round Rock, Texas over the All-Star break and got a shape-up from the only person who cuts his hair — his father, Leonard.
“He was proud of it. He said ‘Dad, this is one of your best ones,’ ” Leonard said.
“My dad has been the one to cut it. Every now and then I went to a barber in Austin. But that was only twice in my whole life,” Allen said. “In college I had my dad cut it the whole time.”
It’s father-son bonding time Allen has come to cherish — something that moved Leonard.
“It’s not like I’m a good barber, but I have patience with his hair. I don’t cut-and-go. I used to be able to use the 7 blade; but when he got to the Afro, it got harder. You have to know his hair,” Leonard sai d. “I thought it wa s just fatherly duty. But if he thought it was about bonding, that’s a Christmas gift.”
There is irony that Allen’s first charity event upon arriving to the Nets was to pay for 50 local kids ages 6-18 to get fresh cuts at Levels Barbershop in Brooklyn. He got only the slightest shape-up himself, not letting those or any other barbers give him a full haircut since.
“I could, but it’s been my whole life and it’s hard to trust somebody with my hair. For me, it’s a time for me and my dad we’ve always had,” said Allen.
“It’s just a time they spent together,” said Cheryl, who estimated Jarrett had been to the barber only twice since third grade. “Even if his dad gets little uneven on the left side, it’s not that big a deal to him. He says that’s time he gets to spend with is dad.”
As much as Allen and his father enjoy their bonding time, Leonard said Allen inherited his hair from Cheryl. And it was Cheryl who actually cornrowed it when it was twice its current size and unmanageable back in grade school.
“Back in like fifth grade it was almost twice as long as this. It was long; it was a lot bigger than this. It was getting out of control so my mom [cornrowed] it,” Allen said. “Every now and then I pull it back to see what it’d be like in a ponytail and [I say] this is not me.”
Neither is hair product, saying all he’ll use is Herbal Essences shampoo. No Soul Glo look for him. Agent Derrick Powell said he’d talked to a few hair care product lines, and bemoaned the demise of the popular Afro Sheen.
“That,” Powell said, “would’ve been perfect.”
Asked who had the most perfect hair in New York sports, he couldn’t pick a favorite like Odell Beckham Jr. or Syndergaard or deGrom (pour one out for the latter’s sheared locks: May they rest in peace). But on the world hair scene he went opposite his own personal style.
“[Cristiano] Ronaldo keeps his hair pretty fresh. There’s not a day where he doesn’t keep a clean line,” said Allen, who dug into the past for an NBA sleeper. “Dennis Rodman is one. I wouldn’t say it was cool to me, but it was interesting. He wasn’t afraid to do whatever he wanted to do.”
Much like Allen. As far as teammates, he’s a fan of DeMarre Carroll’s dreads and would emulate them except for one issue.
“If I didn’t have to cut my hair all the way off once I did it, I’d be thinking about getting dreads,” said Allen, who isn’t cutting it as long as he has it.
“[My dad] tries to grow his hair out, but he’s getting older so he can’t grow it out as much. That’s why I’m enjoying it while it’s here.”