During my adolescent years, I started becoming more conscious of my hair and appearance. Gone were the days of flat ironing, the Jheri curl experience, and my favorite, braiding.
Now in high school, I tried to look my best. Especially for the girls. Instead of torturing them with dead bugs on a stick. I now wanted them as friends and companions.
There may have been a good reason my sister continuously wanted to “fix” my hair. She could have noticed the different texture on each side. This gave my head a lopsided appearance.
The left side was easy to comb and maintained place. The right side was coarser, requiring more grease, combing, and patting. It didn’t matter how great the haircuts. My hair created a split personality.
The peer pressure of looking cool gave me legitimate reasons to seek a workable solution for my hair. Now enters the hot pick electric comb. Yes, I succumbed to another mail order hair gadget.
This was an afro pick with a heating coil for every other tooth. Like the iron comb, it heated and relaxed hair as you combed.
It only required a little grease, a mirror, and patience. With the help of the hot pick, I evened my hair’s dual textures.
One big problem, the hot pick wasn’t mobile. There was no outlet in the boys’ bathroom at high school. Nor did I have time between classes to freshen the afro.
To compensate, I would try to always turn to the good side of my hair when talking to girls or anyone for that matter.
After graduating from high school and moving to Texas in the 80’s, I shaved off all my hair. More important things in life took priority over hair issues.
Its funny everyone thought I was mimicking Michael Jordan. In reality, I was nipping the “buds at the root”. No hair, no split personality, no barbers, no problems. A win-win all around.