Let It Shine Through

Let It Shine Through

Labels: 80's Babies

A conversation about the 80's could never be complete without a discussion on fashion and style. Big hair, pastel colors, acid-washed jeans, gaudy gold chains and earrings and biking shorts were a few of the trends that set the tone for the decade. However, one style left an indelible mark (literally and figuratively) on the decade, the Jheri curl.

Hair product guru Jheri Redding concocted a combination that provided a loose, silky look to the heads of millions of African-Americans and Latinos. For a period of time, it seemed as if every woman and many men were wearing Jheri Curls. The glossy look, maintained by constant application of activator, made for messy and expensive upkeep. A bottle of activator costs somewhere between $3- $6, but were small and the amount needed usually called for several bottles to be used per week.

Furthermore, to protect the style, a plastic cap was to be worn while sleeping or just chilling. The “Jheri Curl Cap” in itself became iconic for everything it came to stand for, a stereotypic symbol for those who wore them publicly even without the curls beneath it. However without it, many a sofa, pillow, shirt and other material would’ve seen its end. The activator‘s sheen would transfer and stain nearly every surface and that it came in contact with.
Because of the constant maintenance needed for the Jheri Curl, many who wore it saw a decline in their hair quality. The mix of chemicals caused severe breakage, dried out the scalp and in some cases the damage was irreversible and caused people to lose hair that would never return.

The Jheri Curl wasn’t restricted to the women in my family or urban communities across the country, Michael Jackson, DeBarge, Ice Cube, Ready for the World and A.C. Green (who rocked his into the 90’s) were all dedicated wearers of the style. Michael Jackson’s hairstyle found infamy while filming a Pepsi commercial and a malfunction of pyrotechnics caused his hair to catch fire and left him with second degree burns.

Viciously mocked and satirized in films such as Coming to America and Hollywood Shuffle and television shows like “In Living Color”, the Jheri Curl finally died out and gave way to the high top fade in the late 80’s, but in various regions across the United States, it took a bit longer to fade away (no pun intended).