*warning: some images in the post may be disturbing. Proceed with caution!
I've always felt like Oprah and I share one thing in common: our hair. Obviously, her hair is a different
color than mine, but I've had about as many different hairstyles, and I thought my hair had about the same texture and required the same amount of work. But seeing the movie
Good Hair a couple of weeks ago changed my mind. I was amazed at what black women (and men) go through to have good hair. The chemicals they use to straighten their hair are so strong that they can burn your scalp. (I'm sure any straightener CAN burn your scalp, but these chemicals are much stronger.) The process of getting a "weave" is not only time consuming, but costly. Like $1,000. And these were not wealthy people. These were school teachers and day care providers. Anyway, it started me thinking about my "troublesome" hair and I decided I wasn't so bad off after all.
I started out life with hair that was thick, manageable, and with just enough body to hold a curl.
My mother did such a great job with my hair, that there were many pictures of me from the back.
But somewhere about the time I finished 7th grade, my hair turned on me. I entered puberty and my hair changed to being coarse, wiry, and frizzy. I tried to pull off the popular "flip" hairstyle. Check out those bangs and cat-eye glasses! This is a reminder of how awkward junior high was.
By the end of high school I had tried various things to make my hair straight. I tried ironing it. I tried a relaxer called "Curl Free" that was supposed to make my hair straight. It didn't. I toyed with trying the relaxer with the black girl on the box... I was sure my hair had more in common with hers. I settled for setting my hair on 3" diameter rollers while my hair was wet so that I could wind it tightly making it would as smooth as possible. This, however, required me to have my soft-bonnet hair dryer on for 3 hours so that it would dry. Twelve hours in rollers was not enough--it would still be wet in the morning, so I usually ended up going to bed with the hair dryer on and waking up in the night and turning it off. I'm sure that wasn't a fire hazard or anything. (Note: blow-dryers hadn't come on the scene yet, neither had straighteners.)
Even though I lived in Ventura, close to the ocean, I disliked going to the beach because of what it would do to my hair. Hours of work could be undone just by going to school on a foggy day! Oh how I longed for swingy hair that would dry straight.
When I got married, I decided I had to wear it short. The blow dryer had been invented, so that was a help.....
but big hair can sometimes overpower the face!
I've spent a greater part of my life fighting with my hair. Sometimes I've embraced the waviness and put gel on it, but I've never really liked it that way for a couple of reasons:
1. once you gel it you can't touch it
2. you have to gel it while it's still wet and since my hair takes forever to dry, it's usually wet all day. I hate having wet hair.
3. once you sleep on it, you have to wet it again to get it to look good, see #2
Various appliances have been invented over the years to assist people with hair like mine, but it still takes time. A lot of time. A full 15 minutes to dry the hair until it looks like this:
And then another 20-30 minutes to use the large barrel curling iron so that you look normal.
When my children were young, I didn't have that much time to spend on my hair, so I usually wore it short.
Or somewhat short.
I occasionally tried wearing it long, sometimes with disastrous results! What was I thinking??
I don't think you people with naturally straight hair know how good you have it. My mother-in-law used to tell me that I was so lucky to have curly hair. Uh, no, you mean frizzy hair? Lucky? So, you people with straight hair? Doesn't this make you happy for the hair you have? If it doesn't, go see the movie.
My mother did such a great job with my hair, that there were many pictures of me from the back.
But somewhere about the time I finished 7th grade, my hair turned on me. I entered puberty and my hair changed to being coarse, wiry, and frizzy. I tried to pull off the popular "flip" hairstyle. Check out those bangs and cat-eye glasses! This is a reminder of how awkward junior high was.
By the end of high school I had tried various things to make my hair straight. I tried ironing it. I tried a relaxer called "Curl Free" that was supposed to make my hair straight. It didn't. I toyed with trying the relaxer with the black girl on the box... I was sure my hair had more in common with hers. I settled for setting my hair on 3" diameter rollers while my hair was wet so that I could wind it tightly making it would as smooth as possible. This, however, required me to have my soft-bonnet hair dryer on for 3 hours so that it would dry. Twelve hours in rollers was not enough--it would still be wet in the morning, so I usually ended up going to bed with the hair dryer on and waking up in the night and turning it off. I'm sure that wasn't a fire hazard or anything. (Note: blow-dryers hadn't come on the scene yet, neither had straighteners.)
Even though I lived in Ventura, close to the ocean, I disliked going to the beach because of what it would do to my hair. Hours of work could be undone just by going to school on a foggy day! Oh how I longed for swingy hair that would dry straight.
When I got married, I decided I had to wear it short. The blow dryer had been invented, so that was a help.....
but big hair can sometimes overpower the face!
I've spent a greater part of my life fighting with my hair. Sometimes I've embraced the waviness and put gel on it, but I've never really liked it that way for a couple of reasons:
1. once you gel it you can't touch it
2. you have to gel it while it's still wet and since my hair takes forever to dry, it's usually wet all day. I hate having wet hair.
3. once you sleep on it, you have to wet it again to get it to look good, see #2
Various appliances have been invented over the years to assist people with hair like mine, but it still takes time. A lot of time. A full 15 minutes to dry the hair until it looks like this: 
And then another 20-30 minutes to use the large barrel curling iron so that you look normal.
When my children were young, I didn't have that much time to spend on my hair, so I usually wore it short. 
Or somewhat short.
I occasionally tried wearing it long, sometimes with disastrous results! What was I thinking??
I don't think you people with naturally straight hair know how good you have it. My mother-in-law used to tell me that I was so lucky to have curly hair. Uh, no, you mean frizzy hair? Lucky? So, you people with straight hair? Doesn't this make you happy for the hair you have? If it doesn't, go see the movie.
5 comments:
I ALWAYS wished I had curly hair when I was growing up. And then I lived with Laura. I have this amazing picture of her from when we were in London and she had just blown her hair dry, but they don't even compare to some of the bad boys in this post!
I love this post Wanda. I haven't heard of that movie. I'll have to check it out. My best friend growing up had the curliest hair EVER. It was insane. I always wanted curly hair. After I had Mallory, my hair got a bit of a wave to it and now I have to straighten it every day to make it do what I want. It NOTHING in comparison to your hair, so I can't imagine what you've been through all these years. I've gotta say though that I LOVE all these pictures of you. Some of those hair styles made me laugh out loud. (sorry) =o) Love it!
Until now I've always wanted curly hair. I think I'll be happy with my straight hair. I had no idea you had to got to so much trouble with your hair. I've always thought you had great hair- thick, wavy (curly?), and stylish.
I had that kind of hair for a few years so I know what it's like...luckily my hair got disciplined and then chemically straightening it has made it loads better. I would still highly recommend it if you come to Utah because it would be a fun experience and decrease the straightening time.
Hi Wanda, I'm about 6 years too late, but the exact same thing happened to my hair, it was thick and straightish and beautiful till puberty, then it turned into a nightmare, at 56 its still a nightmare, i swear ive worn it in a bun for the last 14 years because I can't deal with it. I used to put it up in humidity or even wear a scarf around it, I have the same small face as you and it always overpowered my face. 80s was spent in perms, it was so easy. Ive had thyroid problems for the last 10 years so who knows why this has happened to my hair.
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