Page 2 - Volume 2 Black Hair

Chapter 1

Relaxer

Chemistry & Biology:

We have already covered the hair structure in Volume 1 so I will move on

to chemical services. The two main chemical services other than colour

are Relaxer (straightening) and Curly Perm. These were not the reason I

was in Black Hair, I wanted to develop a Weave product that would

protect the client’s own hair while she was wearing it.

In 1984 the Black hair industry in this country was almost non existent

which made it very hard to acquire knowledge; there were only three

hundred Black hairdressing salons in the whole of the UK. It seemed that

every client I spoke to believed that the only Black hairdressers who were

any good; had to be American.

To be fair to the Americans they were very good at producing images,

they already had many Black hair magazines on the market, but every

picture was airbrushed, so the models looked beautiful with their flawless

skin and shiny hair.

In 1985 I launched my weave in America, where I had an opportunity to

spend a lot of time in many Black hair salons which gave me an up front

view of how hair was done in America. Black hairdressers winning

ingredient when dealing with chemicals seemed to be speed. Get it on,

work it and get it off as quickly as possible, blow dry straight using a pick

nozzle attached to the dryer, then load the hair up with oily product and

use tongs at an intense heat from small ovens, tong the head all over to