Under Construction

(continued from "Good Hair" blog entry)

A perm is made up of a very strong chemical called sodium hydroxide a.k.a. creamy crack. And this mess is no joke! It is sometimes called creamy crack because once we get a relaxer, we are pretty much addicted for life. Getting off is nearly impossible so it seems that continuing the process is the only choice. Month after month; year after year. Held hostage by what we perceive to be a need. A mark of beauty. A symbol of social acceptance.

What I wanna know is why we (black women) are not satisfied with the hair the God gave us? I guess the same question can be posed for people who have naturally straight hair and do everything within their power to make it curly. Why? Why? Why?

Taking all of this into consideration- and marking another change that I have made in my life- I am not perming my hair EVER again or for at least 2 years or more- and then after that, I guess there won’t be real reason for me to start back on the “creamy crack.” My husband likes curly hair (although I am not sure he knows what he is asking for as far as I’m concerned) and so I am going to grow out my relaxer and see if underneath all- well, my hair is short by any standard but you know what I mean- of this chemically treated hair I still have it: good hair.

But, for now, I am under construction.

For more info: check out the movie “Good Hair” by Chris Rock. It’s kinda like Morgan Spurlock’s movie “Super Size Me” but for black hair. You can rent it at Blockbuster.

Good Hair

Growing up, I often heard the term “good hair” when I was down in Louisiana visiting my mom’s family- I also heard things like “uppity” and “ high yellow” but those are stories for another day. When my aunt’s talked at me (yes, I do mean: at) they would comment on my hair and how “good” it was. I know that you don’t understand what that means, but I am about to drop a little knowledge on you.

Good hair is hair that is soft to the touch and manageable. Black women, especially, want to have good hair because it ‘blows in the wind.’ By ‘blows in the wind’ I mean that when the wind blows, your hair flows with it instead of sticking straight up and making you look like a crack head. So when a black person tells another black person that they have “good hair,” it’s a compliment.

Black hair in its natural state is not “good”- which is why it is really surprising that my aunties said that I had “good hair.” In its natural state black hair is kinky a.k.a. nappy, dry and seemingly impossible to control (unless you are walking around with a black power hair pic in your hair or you happen to be mixed- one parent is black and the other parent is of another race/ethnicity). Since, we feel that our hair is unmanageable, we “perm” it. Not the kind of perm that makes straight hair curly but the kind that makes curly hair straight.

Stay tuned for more on relaxers and where I stand on the issue...