Soul Glo Jheri Curl Syndrome

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Attention all sufferers of the “Soul Glo Jheri Curl Syndrome”:

Maybe you haven’t read this in Wikipedia, but it states:

“…..Besides the fact that it eventually went out of style, the jheri curl’s decline in popularity probably occurred because of the damage it caused to the wearer’s hair. Perming the hair was time and labor-intensive and expensive to upkeep. The harsh mix of chemicals required for the process caused the wearer’s natural hair to become extremely brittle and dry…”

With that said, there is no reason why I should see not one but two people in a row this morning wearing a Jheri Curl in Prince Georges County. I know LL Cool J once said, “Don’t call it a come back”, but I truly believe there are certain things that should be left in the ‘back’ and should never ‘come’ again and the Jheri Curl is one of those.

According to Wikipedia, Willie Morrow (pictured above, in the left) invented the “California Curl”, but it was made popular by Jheri Redding. Oh and if you didn’t know, Jheri was a white man.

Yeah, I was a bit shocked to learn that Jheri was white. I can’t remember when was the last time I saw a white person wearing a Jheri curl, even when it was popular. So I’m going to assume, Willie Morrow, who doesn’t even have an wiki page dedicated to himself, sold his idea to Jheri, who before his death was a big ‘wig’ (pun intended) in the hair industry.

This morning I figured I would make a stop at Target before I got into work. I’m at the register paying for my items and that’s when I saw him, standing in his soul glow glory, the Target security guard. The shine of his Jheri curl was pristine. The glimmer that bounced off each individual curl literally could have brightened the cloudy skies that have been hovering over the DC area for the past week. I was so tempted to snap a photo of his hair, but I didn’t want to make it so obvious. As I’m standing in line behind him at Starbucks, I could literally smell the activator. In my mind, I could imagine him asleep at night, sweating from the plastic cap he probably still has to wear on his head. I also imagined that on those nights, when he may forget to use his plastic cap, that his pillowcase has Jheri Curl juice stains on it. I was so in awe of  his Jheri Curl masterpiece that I didn’t even realize it was time for me to place my order.

As I made my way to my office, I’m standing in the elevator waiting for the door to close. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought I was in a time warp back to 1988, because I saw another person with a Jheri Curl. Now this woman could have gotten a few tips from the security guard, because her curl was in desperate need in of some Jheri Curl Juice. She had a teeny weeny fro but the Jheri Curl was a bit dry looking. It was screaming for some activator. I knew I wasn’t the only person in the elevator to notice her retro curl, because two other women looked at each other and snickered.

So this morning, not even within an hour apart, I saw two victims of the “Soul Glo Jheri Curl Syndrome”, which I thought died back in the early 90’s, but apparently these people didn’t get the memo. I feel sorry for the people who  may have to possibly sleep next to them at night, who have to spend hours at a time inhaling the smell of activator and trying to clean Jheri Curl juice stained pillowcases. When will people realize that certain styles just need to stay in the 80’s/90’s and the Jheri Curl is at the top of the list.

Tagged as: beauty, Jheri Curl Syndrome, Jheri Redding, Willie Morrow

Article by [flahy] [blak] [chik]

I’m a blogger/writer based out of the DC Metro area. During the day I’m your ABOVE average 9-5 professional. In my spare time I choose to share my opinion on various subjects. Everything from the mundane to the not so mundane piques my interests. I can go from serious to humorous in a matter of seconds. My motto in life is, “There’s never anything too serious that can’t be laughed at”. Check out more at www.flyblakchik.com.

[flahy] [blak] [chik] has written 38 article(s) for us.