RELAX ON THE RELAXERS!

Written by Danica Hobbs-Reed

Ladies! Relax! I mean stop relaxing…………your hair, that is.


My husband and I were settling down after a hard days work when I suddenly had an epiphany!


While randomly surfing the channels he stopped at a movie called “X”. For those of you not familiar with “X”, it was an autobiographical account of the life of Malcolm X, a non-traditional civil rights activist. The part of the movie playing at that time was concerning Malcolm X receiving a relaxer in his hair from a friend. Back then the term was called “conking” your hair. This time period at most, was no earlier than 1950 something! Anyway, Malcolm X informed his friend who was “conking” Malcolm’s hair to “get it (it-meaning his hair) really straight”.


The procedure of relaxing ethnic hair to this day has not changed at all . It is still truly a disaster. The practice of straightening hair is called relaxing; however, there is nothing relaxing about the whole entire process. First your hair is oiled with some type of highly lubricated base product comparable to Crisco, Valvoline, or something to that effect. Shortly thereafter, the relaxer itself is added. Supposedly not to your scalp, but that point is always argumentative because your scalp starts to burn immediately. This excruciating pain so often endured by women of ethnic backgrounds is only comparable to one thing I believe. That would be having a baby with no medications rendered to you at all! After sitting for awhile and receiving second and third degree burns on your scalp, it is now time to wash one of the most dangerous chemicals ever known to man out of your head. As you start your high speed run from the chair to a sink, a million thoughts race through your head. One most common thought to me during this awful process is................. WHY!

Why would we put ourselves through such a horrible process? Could it be just for the sake of beauty? More often, I believe we do it for the sake of acceptance. Our culture has long dangled between opinions of what is acceptable hair in the eyes of the public. Culture has dictated to us that there is a line between “good hair” and “bad hair”. Seemingly “good hair” is straightened, processed hair. While “bad hair” is portrayed as “kinky” or “nappy” hair.


My problem with this procedure is that we have put people on the moon in the last 50 years. We have built the most gorgeous structures known to man. We have developed inconceivable technology for our world today. Yet we cannot find a more efficient way to process ethnic hair! To me this is completely unacceptable.


So therefore ladies, I am running on the platform of “Relax on the Relaxers!” I am taking a stand. I have put the very last relaxer in my hair. I will yell this slogan from every rooftop. I will proclaim this slogan from city to city and state to state……. (well at least here in Youngstown, OH and we will see how the rest goes!-Smile.)


Things did not turn out so well with Malcolm X relaxer procedure either. This scene of Malcolm X concluded with his head starting to burn from the relaxer. However, the police department shut off the water to his house due to his criminal activity. Therefore his last resort when it came to rinsing out his relaxer was to stick his head in the only water source available to him at that time……. the commode.


To me, that sums up the whole entire process of relaxing our hair. The whole method can nowadays be flushed down the toilet!!