I found a new kid's hair relaxer called "Pretty and Silky" at my local black hair beauty supply store - which can be found among the Giant Wall of Beads, the Glittery, Rhinestone belt and shoe collection, aisles and aisles of fake hair in every color, and jars of pomades and creams like beeswax, hair cholesterol, and hair honey (of which I own all three).
Hair relaxer is a potent chemical that takes nappy hair from "can't get through it with a bulldozer" to soft and manageable...but it takes me an hour of processing time and lots of "scalp bonding" (code word for smearing petroleum jelly around the perimeter of the hairline and on the ears and on the hair parts to protect them from burning) to get through. Once the scalp is bonded, I have twenty minutes to part and smear on relaxer, while trying not to get the "creamy crack" as it's called (because of the black woman's addiction to it) on the scalp skin itself. Then you comb, comb, comb it through, wash it out, add in a sheen product for 10 minutes, wash that out, shampoo twice with a shampoo that changes color to let you know whether or not you got all the chemical out, then on to conditioner.
After that, we blow dry and straighten by small rows at a time. The result? Beautiful! My nostrils? Burned by chemical smells! My back? Permanently bent from delicate work! My hands? Arthritic! Time saved by doing it myself versus going to the local hair school? Three hours per kid. Money saved? $30 per child.
All in the pursuit of "Good Hair" (see movie trailer from Chris Rock's documentary, lest you think I exaggerate).
1 comment:
They look so grown up!! See you Sat.
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