relaxer out. What I didn’t know is
that the chemical doesn’t really
start to burn until it’s being rinsed
out. I felt like someone was pouring
liquid fire onto my head. When she
was done I had patches of acid
burns all over my scalp.
I was the only man in the
salon; it was all women. It was a
window into what women
experience to look good on a regular
basis. Why would they ever do
this?, I thought. This is horrible.
But it worked. My hair was
completely straight. The woman
combed it back, and I looked like a
pimp, a pimp named Slickback.