Good Hair -- The Movie

Addendum

I got off the "creamy crack" back in the mid 1990s when I was in my 30s. Since then other than a brief time when I was under extreme stress my health has been healthy, thick and growing. I'm now 50 and I have no problems with my hair. Wash and go Afro.

Crazy comments from white people, specifically white women on my job when I came in with my hair cornrowed this past summer.
Does it hurt?
Where did your hair go? Meaning my Afro.
The assumption that I wash my hair every day just like them.

BTW my co-workers from Eastern European nations and from the Middle East just think I have curly hair. Since many of them were born in the 1970s, they don't know what an Afro is. Only one Arab supervisor who is 62 has any concept of Black Culture or Black hairstyles. My girlfriend from Iran feels my hair is Curly just like hers only smaller curls.
My boyfriend is from Bulgaria and since he was born in 1957 he knows what an Afro is but never actually had an opportunity to touch one. Ivan has not said so and we have not progressed to me allowing him to touch my hair, even though I touch his but I'm sure he can't wait to get his hands on my head. I finally got him to admit he liked my Afro over my cornrows or boxbraids. Actually these terminlogies escape him. The first time he saw me with cornrows he thought they were locs but since there are no Black people in Bulgaria he would not know the difference. I'm educating him.

You know what really fascinates white people more than my hair is that at age 50 I have no lines or wrinkles in my face. Many of my co-workers white and Arab don't believe me when I tell them my age. Pretty much I look the same as I did when I was in my 30s. Obviously some is Melanin, DNA, genetics, etc... but I also lead a healthy lifestyle. No drinking, smoking, drugs, partying. I try to eat healthy and I walk for exercise.

..." White people are just amazed at the versatility of Black Hair"...

I find this to be true. Although I wear my own hair, but relaxed I still get questions at work because many of the women wear different hair styles/weaves/wigs which is cool. I just prefer to wear my own hair since the time my son when he was 2 pulled my wig off in a crowded park full of people.

On another note, I'm happy that you are educating others about Black hair even your boyfriend, Ivan. ((smiles)) I had a stylist who told me that hair was made to be brushed and combed when he would dipolomatically decline my requests for some of those fancy hairstyles that required gels and hair spray. ((Lol))

I too enjoy when my man runs his hands through my hair during those intimate times we share together! It's the most amazing thing... the power of touch ... I hope you and Ivan will have a really amazing experience when the time comes. Thanks for sharing Sister DeBorah.

You have to understand that Chris Rock did not grow up back in the day. I do remember the Cinderella curls, my cousins (older) used to do my hair when I was 6. I remember having hair so thick I would start crying when my mother started getting the towels ready to wash my hair. Women now days like the curly mess of hair on their heads, I do not think it is stylish because you can barely get a comb through it. I remember visiting my grandmother, and my mother used to take me to the only woman that would do m hair with tenderness.....Ms. Craft was her name, dark skinned woman, with the reddest of red Revlon lipstick and black Cadillac glasses. She knew how to do my hair, without pain.....I can hear her say, "don't get that comb too hot, her hair ain't gonna take the heat.
Now I wash and pull it back, tie it up to straighten it, sleep well to dry, and flat iron.
I do remember more, I just don't want to give up the age just yet.

Cheryl
I remember the straigtening comb. My Mom used to press and curl my hair on Saturday nights so I could look good for church the next day. When my Dad saw her making the preparations he would say y'all getting ready to burn hair, I'm leaving this house and out he would go. I hated getting my hair washed, and straightened. My mother would be yelling at me to bend my head so she could get to my kitchen. I had the nappiest, kinkest hair in the world. My hair was so thick and woolly it would break the teeth in combs. Finally my Dad could not take it anymore and when the Afro really became popular lets say around 1971, off he took me to the barber to get one. My father said that he was tired of waiting for my mother to do my hair before he could take me out. Really he was probably tired of hearing all the yelling, screaming and crying from both me and my Mom.
I had to give up the "Creamy Crack" when I was in my 30s because I developed allergies and reactions to chemicals. My hair actually broke off and came out due to processing. It is a scary thing to comb your hair and find it in the sink! Pretty much I've been Natural for nearly 20 years.
That photo you see is my High School graduation picture from 1977. My Fro looked great. My Dad made sure I maintained my Afro. I have very fond memories of us going to the barbershop to get our Afros shaped. Today my Afro looks similiar except it is slightly smaller and of course its salt and pepper. Barbers today no longer know how to shape Afros like they did in the 70s so I just do my own hair. However the gray hair is not the same texture as the black hair. Also menopause has changed my hair. My hair is now actually more curly than nappy. That may also be because now there are better products for Natural Hair.
God Bless Sister and Thanks for your comments. I enjoyed your post.