Millions of dollars have been spent on the Black Hair Industry. Think about the stylists, their training, products, hair supply stores, human hair weaves, brick and mortar buildings, websites and then money that the average female budgets for hair care. If you have a short crop hair do, you have to see a barber regularly to maintain the shape. If you have mid to long hair or short hair some women will relax their hair to make it manageable. Then there is conditioning and coloring, trimming, highlighting or hair extensions.

There is also the time one must set aside for going to get your hair styled and the wait time–it could be hours. Then there is the tipping part which is 15%, and you give the women who washed your hair some bills, too.

Suppose you want a change so you purchase a wig, either human or synthetic. I had a hair stylist tell me that you treat it like it’s lingerie. The human hair comes from eastern Europe or India where it is then processed and colored in hair factories.

You might go own vacation and you worry about the humidity and the frizzies, so you make a trip  to the African Hair Braiding Salon. One to three pairs of hands might be on your head, quickly creating goddess Braids, Twists, Micro Braids or Silky Dreads. Which leads us to…

Natural Hair, where no chemicals are used to relax or straighten and the hair is locked into dreads, or twists. Black Hair is revered and treasured in this state because quite frankly, this was the hair you were born with. Of course, naysayers believe that braids and dreads are third world and not conservative enough, many a law suit and controversy occurred over natural hair.

Where did I fall in the scheme of hair styles? Why, everywhere. Name a style and I had it. During depression my hair was neglected so I opted for wigs and hats. Or I would keep braids in for three months to avoid more frequent trips to the salon. I think of all that money spent over the years and believe that I probably could have established a thriving IRA account. But, nonetheless, grooming is very important. Well, couldn’t you do it yourself at home? Yeah, you could but the results are not the same.

I think we need to talk about hair next time, because we did not touch upon the history….