Good Hair Page #4

A beautiful way

to relax your kind of hair.

Mentally,

I think a lot of black women,

they're on this quest for

attaining the straightest hair possible,

trying to conform

to a more European look.

The straighter hair, the better.

And we've been coached

with that mentality since childhood.

With Vigorol Hair Relaxer

and a hot comb,

you'll have your hands full.

I remember seeing ads like this

when I was a little kid

watching ''Soul Train.''

What the hell

is relaxer anyway?

Where does it come from?

Well, some of it comes

from Greensboro, North Carolina.

This medium-size town

was once the capital

of the Confederacy.

White will fight desegregation!

But now it's the home

of Dudley Products,

a $35-million black-owned

hair empire

that employs thousands

of people worldwide.

Greensboro is the home

of the Dudley Mansion,

the Dudley Beauty School,

Mr. Dudley himself,

and, of course,

Dudley Manufacturing.

Dudley Products have been valued

at up to $100 million.

The plant itseIf is worth over ten.

It employs hundreds of people

and is situated

on over 47,000 acres

of prime North Carolina real estate.

In short,

Mr. Dudley is a nap impresario.

Bad hair has been very good

for Mr. Dudley.

What's he doin'?

Joe is making relaxer.

This is how they make relaxer?

This is a portion

of a 7,000-pound batch of relaxer.

7,000 pounds

is worth how much?

7,000 pounds,

you're talking about $18,000.

This would last Prince

about a month.

Exactly.

The slightest

little bit of these chemicals

can really cause harm

to the body.

A splash of sodium hydroxide

in your eye

can potentially lead to blindness.

It may not happen right away,

but it can lead to blindness

later on in life.

But you'll eventually

have a dog.

Yes, you will eventually have one.

And the more

of these chemicals you inhale

as you continue to work in it,

it can have

an adverse affect on your body.

Let me read some of these.

''The rate of change

is controlled by what factors?

Temperature, concentration,

time, and pH.''

Wow, what's that word?

What? Ammonium thioglycolate?

Wait. Say that again

to the camera.

Ammonium thioglycolate.

You're smart.

Enrollment at

the Dudley School of Beauty

means one thing:

long nights poring over scalp theory.

These budding hair scholars

master the chemistry

of Dudley products

and how to use them

on mannequins,

even white mannequins.

They are

also tested on the finer points

of how not to put relaxer

in the eyes,

how not to burn ears

with hot combs,

but most importantly,

they learn

that if you can make

enough black women happy,

you can live like a king.

When you go back home,

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes