« gems from the collection | Main | if they're so smart why does the movie suck? »
March 22, 2007
now that's a fire
Apparently this gent in North Memphis does hair using fire. (Another boing-boing hat-tip production!)
The full photoset is here.
I have to say that it's kind of cute how our dear white friends are all like 'OH SCHNAP" about these images. Although I have never had occasion to get my own hair cut with a flame (I got my hair cut just like a regular man once-upon-a-time, put my pants on one leg at a time like the rest of you before I grew the locks), the relationship between potentially dangerous heat and black hair care is fairly well established.
I was going to make a Madame C.J. Walker joke, except that I keep forgetting she didn't really invent the hot comb:
ESSENCE: People who have heard Madam Walker's name, think, Oh, she invented the hot comb. But that's also a myth.Bundles: Straightening combs were first advertised in the 1880's and 1890's in catalogs for White women. Madam popularized their use among Black women with her Walker Method of hair care. She thought the comb was an improvement over another process promoted by Black hair culturist Annie Pope-Turnbo Malone. The claim that she invented the hot comb probably originated in 1922, three years after Madam Walker's death, when the Walker Company purchased the rights to the patent from the widow of the man who had manufactured hot combs for the Walker agents. [full story]
I guess that leaves the jokes to youtube:
Posted by ebogjonson in race and other identities, on March 22, 2007 12:52 PM
Comments
Thus far I haven't met a single person who didn't say "OH SCHNAP" when I showed them the pictures of me having my hair cut with fire. I thought it was cute too, perhaps in a different way.
Posted by: La C. at March 23, 2007 4:13 AM
You're right - the image of someone getting their hair cut with a flame is definitely SCHNAP worthy. I just want a little more discussion.
My comment wasn't directed at you - brave you! who got your hair burned/cut! - it was more directed at boing boing. I love those guys, and one of the things that I love about them is their knack for honing in on the underlying _interestingness_ of the things they link to. That said, though, I find they often get a case of the lazys when dealing with stories dealing with race - not digging or directing enough. I don't know if it's lack of curiousity or a fear that too much mucking around in race stuff can get a body in trouble, but it disappoints me.
But I'm glad you put the pictures up and got your hair cut, tho!
Posted by: gary/ebog at March 23, 2007 10:07 AM
subscribe to my feed