It’s not just women who have this issue (although it is worse for them). My brother-in-law, although he’s white, has hair just like mine (I’m black and Mexican) and one day he needed a haircut and randomly went to a black barber and was amazed that the guy was able to cut his hair perfectly. He’s only gone to black shops ever since.
I’m kinda lucky in that, although I have the hair, I just get a high and tight, 0 on the sides, 1 on top every time, so it’s really hard to screw up (although most mess up the fade).
All they’re gonna do is use a blow dryer and a rolly brush.
Oh yeah, I’ve seen a few ultra curly haired white girls at the salon before. In college I once recommended my salon to a white girl with a Jew fro. She was skeptical at first, but then I told her if they could make this, while pointing to my hair which at that point had been straightened without chemicals, straight and shiny, they got you. She went and thanked me.
So okay, I have an appointment tomorrow with a complete stranger. Oh god, I’m so scared.
Look, MOL. I have been rocking my hair naturally kinky for over 15 years now. I don’t know what to tell you. I just felt left out and wanted to chime in. Plus, I swear I have heard black girls rave about those Dominican salons.
Ha. Those girls raving about the Dominican salons are right, btw. They know magic and can get your hair bone straight with just a blow dryer, but I need something that can withstand sweat. I don’t want to my hair to poof up after 10 miles of cycling. Also, I don’t want to be afraid of the pool. Not that this will come up during a Midwestern winter, but still.
What part of town you at, MOL? I’d ask some of the ladies at work, but I think they mostly live west or south, our office being in Oak Brook.
I had a Dominican lady cut my white-boy hair a couple times, but she kept insisting on doing a good job instead of the slash-and-burn-everywhere-with-a-#8-clipper haircut I asked for. The last time I went to a place that only charges five bucks, but between a haircut done with scissors duller than what I bought at Everything’s a Buck and results that even I could tell were substandard I shan’t be going there again.
Chicago has a long history of self-segregating. We have Greek-town, Little-Italy, Chinatown, etc.
For better or worse people tend to aggregate in neighborhoods of their own ethnicity.
The African American neighborhoods are on the South and West sides and tend to be economically depressed.
Chicago unfortunately has not become integrated as it should be. It’s not unknown but far too rare to find neighborhoods that are diverse.
The reason my wife and I chose to move to Oak Park was based largely upon the fact that we are an interracial couple. OP is very accommodating to that. The city makes an effort to welcome people of all backgrounds. There is a village government effort to welcome multiracial families, gay and lesbian families, immigrant families, single families, etc. We believe our diversity is our strength.
I need to find me a black salon! Or at least a male stylist. My hair isn’t that weird, but just curly/wavy/stubborn enough that nobody can do shit with it! Would probably help if I knew what I wanted them to DO with it, but apparantly walking in and saying “I really need to look more professional than this; can you help?” isn’t the answer, lol. Also, to hell with stylists that insist on cutting hair wet. It’s nothing what it looks like dry, NOTHING. I leave the place and two hours later it’s 3 inches shorter, gddamnit.
My dad was raised on the south side, and he’s white, but that didn’t stop him from fighting with the italians the next block over, or the Serbs on the next, or the Irish on the other side. Segregated as hell!
Oh. I didn’t know if it was an historical legacy or a current ordinance. If it had been a current enforced ordinance I was going to be all like :eek: Not that a historical and persisting legacy of segregation aren’t also bad, of course. Growing up mostly in the South I have seen this legacy of segregation and it is never a good thing. Living in Memphis I am thankfully exposed to more diversity, but there are still pockets of racial enclaves that just persist no matter what, and it is disheartening. One of the reasons we moved were we did in Bartlett was the extreme diversity in our neighborhood. I love it. I think we may be the only white family on the block. We have people from Laos, Vietnam, Africa, the Dominican Republic, and of course AA on our street alone!
I was curious too. Not everyone has a good working knowledge of how things work in the “big cities” or is trying to be snarky about this sort of thing (former sheltered Alaskan here). Some of us honestly didn’t know, so thanks for explaining. PS, why do you have to have your hair relaxed MOL? The natural look is cute (also an honest question).
Well, the city couldn’t do it legally but the lenders and insurance companies did it through redlining and the Chicago Real Estate Board did it through racial-deed restrictions, which Dr King came here to protest.
