Good Hair Page #3

So the next day,

I got on a plane

and went to meet the Dalai Lama

of hair himself.

Tell me, when was the first time

you had relaxer in your hair?

Late seventies.

James Brown, who was like

the father I've never had,

was in his office one evening

in Augusta, Georgia,

and he said to me

that he was real tight

with the Republicans.

And I said,

''Well, if you so tight,

''why don't you get us

Martin Luther King's birthday

''a federal holiday?''

He said, ''Get the White House

on the phone.''

I said, ''Oh, yeah, right.''

But I told his secretary,

''Get the White House on the phone.''

They left a message.

Three hours later,

to my surprise,

the White House called back.

He got on the phone

and told them he wanted

to come see President Reagan.

So they agreed to meet

on January 15th, '82.

And l'll never forget, he said,

''When you go to the White House,

I want you to look like me,

'''cause when people see you,

I want 'em to see me.

''You're a reflection of me.''

He took me to a lady

in Augusta named Mary.

He said, ''l want you to style

Rev's hair like mine.''

But that's the day we went

to the White House, right there.

When was the first time

you had a relaxer?

I was nine.

I remember the exact day.

And I was, like, ''Mama,

I want to get my hair done.

''l want a relaxer.''

And she was, like,

''What do you know about relaxers?''

And I was, like,

''l want a relaxer.''

At nine years old,

I got my first relaxer

and I remember it just being...

it was like a miracle.

I think you're trying to blend in.

I think you're trying to make

everybody comfortable.

Relaxed.

Relaxed and not, like,

''Oh, my God, what is that?''

you know?

That's what the relaxer does.

It relaxes people.

How old were you

the first time you got a relaxer?

Oh, God.

I was about seventy.

Seventy?

You went your whole life?

Not my whole life.

I'm still alive.

I relaxed my hair

when I was in the tenth grade.

And l'll tell you,

when you was really gangster,

you could show up in homeroom

with rollers in your hair.

And you had rank

by how big the rollers were.

Like, the yellow rollers

were smaller,

and they get bigger

and bigger.

The orange rollers

meant you had more hair,

so it was like,

I actually got a mug shot

some-damn-where

with rollers in my hair.

I have a relaxer.

I am on the creamy crack.

You call it ''creamy crack''?

Because once you're on it,

unfortunately, people tend to have

a difficuIt time getting off of it.

Creamy crack.

So you're saying

your hair's addicted to relaxer?

It was. For a time, I was

the first one at the beauty shop.

I was like, ''l feel roots.

''Hook it up.''

I don't know.

I was taught by

a lot of old hustlers.

They said that the only way

you could have

a upper hand on a woman

is to be flyer than her.

Tell us about the first time

you ever got...

the process.

- The cook-up?

Yeah, the cook-up.

You got to

wash that out immediately.

Soon as it starts to burn,

you got to get

to the sink immediately,

or else you lose your hair.

The burn of a perm is, I think,

the most excruciating burn.

I think it's hotter than fire.

Especially the first time.

I mean, the first time,

you've never feIt like

your whole skull is on fire,

and why are you doing this?

If you have maybe like a pimple

or something in your scalp,

and that stuff gets in,

it'll start to burn.

But usually if you're

really trying to relax your hair,

it's kind of like a torture session.

It's like you want it to get

as straight as possible,

so you feel it burning,

but you be like,

''Just a little longer.

''Just a little longer.

A little bit longer.

''Wash it out!''

Anybody here ever been shot?

So what feIt worse,

the bullet or the relaxer?

Anybody here have a baby?

What's more pain,

a chemical burn or childbirth?

Childbirth.

But what if you had to have

a bad perm for eight hours?

I don't know.

Where were you shot?

In the face.

You got shot in the face?

That's a pretty bad shot.

I was the first 50 Cent.

Somebody just thought

you was ugly?

Could be.

What's it feel like,

the chemical burn?

Can you explain it?

Just like, you know,

you're on fire, literally.

You know,

my head was just burning.

The sensation was just horrible.

lmmediately,

I just began to cry.

It was horrible.

The burning of the skin,

the stripping,

you know,

the oozing, the weeping,

all the things

that go along with stripping

that superficial epidermis

off the skin.

You can get a burn,

like scabs around your head,

in the middle of your head.

It's supposed to take

the knottiness of your hair

down to some thin, laid-back,

Suave Bolla Dominica hair.

But if you leave it in too long,

you just get Negro nappy scab,

left the Concolean too long,

and you just are

walking around twisted

with scabs

on the front of your head.

That's how

my asymmetrical thing came in.

Oh, yeah?

Remember when my sister

did my hair?

And then this whole side

was burnt off.

And then that's how the style

of the asymmetrical look

came in with Salt-n-Pepa.

And I had to shave off

one side of my hair,

and that's how my hair fell out.

I remember that.

That was devastating.

I was really hurt for you.

In the ''Push It'' video.

Right before that.

'Cause in the ''Push it'' video,

it's kind of--

And then you were

coloring it in with...

With pencil.

With brown pencil.

I was coloring

in those spots for you.

I remember that.

Can you imagine that?

And she's coloring my hair

with pencil,

trying to cover the bald spots.

So, I'm here with Professor Berry,

well-renowned.

Now, could you tell us

exactly how dangerous

sodium hydroxide is?

Sodium hydroxide

will burn through your skin.

The chicken is your skin.

Okay. So it'll go from my brown skin

down to the white meat.

- Right.

- Wow.

Now, you realize

this goes on people's heads, right?

Sodium hydroxide?

Yeah, black people,

black women, some men--

You know,

Morris Day, Prince--

put sodium hydroxide in their hair

to straighten it out.

Why would they do that?

To look white.

Probably what

the sodium hydroxide is doing

is actually breaking down

the protein in their hair.

If it gets down into the scalp,

it'll kill it at the root,

and you'll actually have

bald spots there.

If you're

a beautician or something,

and you deal

in sodium hydroxide all day,

- I mean...

- I wouldn't do it.

If you breathe just the fumes

from sodium hydroxide,

those fumes

will ruin your lungs.

They'll damage

your lungs permanently.

Wow.

Now, this is

an aluminum soft drink can,

and it's been in sodium hydroxide

for just over an hour.

Another aluminum soft drink can

that's been

in for about three hours.

And then this one

has been in

for out four hours.

It has disintegrated.

So that can's got a good perm.

That can's got a good perm.

Wow, you're a good girl.

How old are you?

Six.

Six. Getting that perm.

What's the youngest kid

you ever done?

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