JP

Age: 80+ years

Occupation: Retired Teacher

JP, who recently celebrated her 90th birthday, reflects on how perceptions of Black women’s hair and her relationship with her own hair have changed over time. When she was growing up, Black women’s hair was considered “nappy hair, unless you do something with it.”

“Something” typically meant straightening — she remembers Royal Crown Hair Dressing, to slick down and shine hair; then Madam Belva’s Prepared Hair-Rep, a pressing oil for straightening hair with a hot comb; and later the perm (the relaxer), a hair treatment that permanently straightens curly and coily hair.

“When the perm came out, everyone wanted straight hair because that’s what you would see on the Caucasians,” JP said. “We thought their hair was beautiful and we wanted to make ours beautiful.”

JP had a perm, because most Black people were doing it and she wanted to join in. It was appealing, since people with perms did not seem to have to worry about the weather, it was easier to care for, and it lasted for two or even three months. However, over time, the perm started causing her hair to fall out, so she stopped using it. Today, she gets it pressed. Even still, she makes sure not to dye it, in order to avoid damaging it further.

JP said that if she could send a message to her former self, she would say, “my hair is beautiful — I should appreciate it, not try to change it.”

She likes her hair as it is (pressed) and receives many compliments, but she also considers “super curly hair” beautiful. She believes that more Black people should lean toward wearing their natural hair, rather than changing it. Since most of her peers and influences during her life wanted to change their hair in order to emulate white people’s hair, she thinks “we should lean more into more of us becoming natural and appreciate what we have rather than trying to change it to impress others.”

To JP, embracing natural hair is a way of appreciating Blackness.

“I think we should lean more toward our culture instead of wanting to be somebody else,” she said.