So, my mother and I are in our local Kroger store, because we need to buy food and I need some hair de-tangler. I wander around a bit in the shampoo aisle and I don't find anything suitable for my hair. As it turns out I didn't go down far enough and we came across the black hair care aisle with the Motions and the organic hair oils and the what nots.
I'm stuck on finding something that would effectively detangle my lion's mane. There's a whole section of perms with happy looking girls with straight hair and I shudder at the memories of hair sores and clumps of hair coming out in the tub.
Anyhow, I decide on some Sta-Sof-Fro as recommended by my mom (I mean, I do have a fro after all) and as we're leaving what do I see, what do I see...
I flailed. I gasped. I yelled. My mouth slanted 45 degrees left.
What
the
FUCK?
Oh, oh I see. Yeah, because all us negroes aspire to is whiteness, because as we've been taught, whiteness is good. White is right. It could probably get away as being "tone cream" if it weren't for the fact that everyone knows what the hell that is.
Edyt of little consequence: For the viewing audience at home, yes I assure you I'm familiar with skin bleaching products. That's actually kind of why I wrote the post--if I didn't know what I was looking at I would have probably been confused & kept going my merry way and I kid you not. I was introduced via their popularity in South Asian countries & I knew black people used them because, well, we're black. This was just my first time encountering the shit in person and in such a neighborhood as where I found them, it didn't make a lick of sense.
Okay, question and answer time. I ask you answer:
A) Why was this is in the black hair care aisle, in a store in a mostly black (upper middle class) neighborhood?
B) Who thought this was a good idea?
C) Am I the only one that noticed this shit?
D) Why was the section for skin lightener bigger than the section with perms?
I don't really know about D, I just thought it was weird. Oh by the way, this is the LIGHTNING ROUND so be quick about it.
Edyt: If you're having trouble I was tweeted this Current mini-doc on skin bleaching in Jamaica. I didn't realize it was actually illegal in Jamaica & the UK, I suppose because for some many countries skin bleaching products are legal & popular? But that made me more depressed than it should have. The funny part about coming across those products when we did is that I've been complaining all month about how I wish I could tan & darken evenly.
