Doggystyle82: I'm unaware of any particular West African cultures in which men wore braids, but I wouldn't rule it out, simply because I don't know about it. As evidenced by our people's use of chemical/heat means to straighten our hair, we don't HAVE to have a historic or cultural tie to a hairstyle, but since it is well documented that women in cultures all over Africa wore braids, I would hazard to guess that perhaps men may have worn them in some form or fashion as well, outside of the Masai culture you mentioned (thanks for that info, btw).
If I recall correctly, the prominent men in academia, politics, music and such who wore afros in the early 60s were considered radical. You didn't see MLK and company rockin' the 'fro. But by the 70s, the hairstyle gained more mainstream acceptance and was considered a fashion statement. Even whites were using blowout kits and low- to mid-size 'fros were not uncommon for brothers in corporate America (such as there were brothers in Corp. Am.). There was a gradual cultural shift from what was once considered radical to its acceptance as "normal."
I say that to say that if it was considered radical to simply wear your hair in its natural state and allow it to grow in the 60s, I'm thinking that braids or locks wouldn't have even been on the radar screen of most brothers, radical or not. Now, these styles are almost mainstream and may wind up being as common in corporate life as the low 'fro was. Just because we didn't do it before doesn't mean it can't or won't be done.
After all that, I will say that my personal opinion is that we all have to decide how much we're willing to conform and judge that against how much we think we're being asked/forced to conform in order to be in certain fields. If we want to be investment bankers and wear our hair in locks, then we're going to either have to conform until we get in a powerful enough position to do so or find an investment bank/firm that's edgy enough to be okay with that. On the flip, like Doggystyle82 stated, the more creative/individual the field, the more creative the dress, hair and other grooming.
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