There are, as I understand it, ways to straighten your hair. Irons, chemicals, a conk, what have you. It is a small point of pride with me that I have never used one of these methods to straighten my o’fro. Rather than trying to tame my hair in some sort of self-hating attempt to assimilate, I have always worn it naturally. Sure, this makes it obvious to anyone who sees my o’fro that I have a substantial amount of Irish in my background, but let’s face it, there is a little leprechaun in just about everyone’s family tree. Some of us are more willing to admit it than others.
In college, I grew out my o’fro and wore a lot of black for a while. I was trying out the Green Panther persona, but it really was not my style. I’ve always been more Van Morrison than Shane MacGowan (who I know is English but he sang Irish music, the thieving bastard.) So after freshman year, I cut my o’fro and have pretty much kept it short ever since.
This is due in no small part to the fact that hair is hotter than hell. It’s a fairly good insulator, and as the temperatures rise outside, I’m not crazy about walking around with a stocking cap on. The trouble is that getting sheared takes time, and I have not found getting a hair cut all that exciting since Brittany quit the Shear Shack back in ’97. (Or should I just say that I have been busy and leave it at that?) It’s not that I’m so busy I can’t stand it, but getting a hair cut doesn’t seem to rise to the level of doctor’s appointments and car repairs that can be suitable excuses for leaving the office mid-morning. So instead I have to sweat it out, which might be an asset to the muffin top removal project.
I too am an ex Sheer Shacker. Since my journey into your next post I have been hanging with the guys from the Veteran’s quarters at Malibu Tan cerca del Cocula. Though I have no single though in common with the man who says medium or short, I am a far better man for the long time I spend with him and his patrons. After a couple times…..my hair is better than it ever was listening to the bigot banter from the closet queen at the sheer shack. The people may not be as pretty and their thoughts are equally ugly. Yet even in our deepest disagreement there is a righteousness from which there their thoughts come, in that for them it is a culture and not just a lack of it.