Eva Walker is a long-time KEXP DJ and one half of The Black Tones. In 2024, she had her child lady, Hendrix. Each month, she bundles the knowledge from her experiences (and errors) right into a writes a letter to Hendrix.
Pricey Hendrix,
You could be shocked to seek out out (and don’t learn this till you’re 18) however there have been shampoo commercials within the ’90s and 2000s the place ladies orgasmed whereas lathering their scalps. It was a giant advertising and marketing level—and labored for apparent causes—nevertheless it isn’t what made me purchase the shampoo. In between the moans, what I noticed in these commercials and all of the others like them was the factor that I needed: lengthy, straight, silky hair.
These commercials all began the identical. The mannequin had “mattress head”—oh no!—and he or she would start rubbing the shampoo all through her hair, smoothing her scalp after which letting the water wash all of it out. Increase! Her hair was good—straight, silky and glossy. Was this shampoo the ninth marvel of the freaking world? So, I did what most individuals bored with their tangled, dry, and non-reflective hair would do: I went and purchased the shampoo.
After I went house, I dipped my head below the sink, drenched it in water, added the stuff, scrubbing and scrubbing considering, Wow, it’s working! Eagerly, like a child on Christmas morning, I rinsed it out, awaiting the apparent outcomes. However once I took the towel away… it was nonetheless my hair. Hair that, so far as I knew, was nappy, stringy, dry… and simply unsuitable.
In fact, the error should have been mine. And there was just one factor to do: attempt once more! After I rinsed out the shampoo once more, I stared within the mirror satisfied I used to be commercial-ready. However shortly I noticed my stringy, dry, brittle locs. What the precise fuck? Ought to I name the BBB, write a letter to congress? This was bullshit!
Effectively, Hendrix, little did I think about that the product and advert was strictly marketed for individuals with that sort of hair and that hair solely: straight, shiny and lengthy. Or, within the phrases of Thomas Jefferson, “flowing” and “elegant.” The entrepreneurs have been solely involved with range in hair colour, not hair grower. Their hair, I’d later discover out, was known as type-1 hair, based mostly on the at times-controversial chart created by Andre Walker, a hair stylist for the celebrities, most notably Oprah Winfrey. Mine? Mine in that second was simply tangled. Nappy (I’m not speaking sleep). Unsuitable.
From childhood to courting age, I regarded to straighten my hair. Individuals even thought it was naturally that method (LOL). To get that texture, I didn’t chemically alter it—that means, I didn’t use relaxers. At the moment, I’m grateful I used to be all the time informed to keep away from these. My weapon of alternative was a sizzling comb and later an iron straightener.
For some time, I used to get very tight braids from a small West African hair store in Seattle, however for some cause, that exact stylist additionally felt the necessity to not simply braid the hair, however so as to add my scalp and mind to the model. It was executed so tight and so frequently, that I skilled traction alopecia. (That’s when your hair falls out resulting from styling strategies.) Traction alopecia is sadly frequent amongst Black ladies due to practices like braids, weaves and something that pulls the hair too tightly (don’t ever let anybody inform you that you’re “tender-headed.” If it hurts, it hurts).
My hair didn’t begin to get wholesome till I noticed a stylist your grandmother introduced me too once I was about 12 years outdated. She helped me with a daily routine each two weeks and taught me the significance of moisturizing and restricted manipulation. Nonetheless, although, I wore my hair straight as a result of in my thoughts, that’s what I regarded like—that was me.
Quick-forward to 2020, although, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout lockdown, attending to a stylist was almost inconceivable (I even needed to lower your Finnish father’s stubbornly-straight hair) so in the end I made a decision to attempt weaves and wigs as a result of it was simpler. I spent hundreds! There went your school fund—simply kidding (sort of).
However you realize me now as somebody who has pure, curly hair. What was the turning level? It started with Seattle’s greatest import: the rain. I’d all the time felt like a prisoner of my hair. I needed to have the ability to simply stand within the rain and let my hair get moist and never fear in regards to the texture change or ruining a mode. So, I did what I do greatest. I went down a YouTube wormhole of pure hair movies to see what different ladies have been doing with theirs. The primary large discover was one by Breanna Rutter, known as, “Pure Hair Sorts Defined.” She taught me that Black hair is various in texture and thickness and density. So, thus started my quest of video after video of pure hair influencers. (My favourite was the self proclaimed “resident weirdo” Starpuppy.)
I realized loads about hair that yr. There are variations in individuals’s coarseness, thickness, density and what’s known as porosity, or how receptive your hair is to absorbing moisture. All of these items make our hair totally different even inside the identical racial neighborhood. I had a realization. My hair is my hair. It’s not simply Black hair. It’s Eva’s hair and I must determine what Eva’s hair wants. This data modified my life! It was the primary time in my life I noticed my hair as curly and coily and never nappy. At that second, I might have orgasmed.
YouTube, my hair savior, was invented on Valentine’s Day 2005, however 138 years earlier than that, a Black lady named Madam C. J. Walker (no relation) was born. She would develop into the primary feminine self-made millionaire in America from her cosmetics and hair care merchandise designed particularly for Black hair. She constructed a robust basis for understanding every strand’s distinctive wants. However her success was adopted by generations of repression, pushing pure Black hair into the shadows. Which suggests within the 60s and 70s, individuals like your great-grandparents have been informed they’d “unprofessional” textures. And lots of like me by no means had the prospect to learn to maintain our hair in its pure state. However Black individuals know find out how to insurgent. And that led to gloriously-picked afros! And ultimately, hundreds of YouTube movies celebrating every particular person texture! Energy to the individuals!
Now it was time for me to execute every thing I’d researched. To take action, I most likely doled out one thing near the GDP of Tacoma on moisturizing shampoos, deep conditioners, leave-in conditioners, curl lotions, oils (coconut, almond, jojoba), gels and mousses. For the primary time in my life, I didn’t see my hair as nappy, stringy, dry or unsuitable. I noticed bouncing, shiny, lovable curls and coils that felt like freedom. My hair was by no means unsuitable.
After I started rocking my first pure look as a grown-ass grownup, I went to West Seattle, to the Skylark Café. I imagined Roger Klotz (from the Doug cartoon) pointing and laughing at me. This was not one thing I used to be used to. This was a brand new look, a brand new actuality, a brand new me. That’s fucking terrifying. My band was about to play a live-stream present (nonetheless COVID occasions) and the membership proprietor’s spouse was there. She was a white lady and he or she began to go with my look—I do know what you’re considering, cringe alert, proper? However fairly the other. I informed her, “I made a decision to embrace this model. Little black women must see extra ladies sporting pure afro textured hair.” She then replied, “Little white women must see it too!” That knocked me on my shapely ass. She was proper. I’d seen a lot white hair—in commercials and movies and workplace buildings—and now individuals ought to see mine. If there was a director readily available, I might have shot my very own shampoo business proper there.
At the moment, I’ve by no means felt freer and like myself greater than I do now simply due to how I put on my hair. I really like each curl and coil that springs from my scalp. And I can stroll within the rain! Extra not too long ago, darling, as I bought used to my hair, I additionally needed to get used to being pregnant. As a result of the universe herself blessed me and your dad with you. As you grew in my stomach, my data of hair grew. Simply as an expectant mom learns to eat and sleep for 2, I used to be learning find out how to do hair for 2. Everytime I did my very own hair, I imagined myself getting ready yours, from the primary few blowouts and braids to wash-n-go curls. I used to be excited to show you every thing I realized. To make it regular for you in a method that it wasn’t for me. I needed you to stroll within the rain proud. After which, once you have been born, as this little child with a loopy head filled with hair got here out of me, I noticed… you had hair like your Scandinavian dad’s. Fuck. Now I’ve extra learning to do.
