So I’m sitting here thinking about Jheri curls. They’re funny. I love nothing more than to go to someone’s house and see a curl picture. Great stuff.
Well, everyone I know has a curl story. Some of us–like ME!!!–have other people’s stories, but they’re so funny that we tell them ourselves. In that spirit, I will tell a friend’s Jheri curl story.
(Given the randomness of the post, I find it necessary to assure you that I’m sober.)
My boy–a reader of his site who has to make sure I get this correct–got him a curl when he was about 8. He was lovin’ it. Said his curl was so fresh. In fact, I can picture him as a chubby li’l fella with a curl.
Anyway, said he got the curl, but then he went to swim in the pool. I’m assuming it was the black pool, for the white pool would never let you in with a curl. Gettin’ the water all greasy and thangs (and I’m not sure if all of you are from places with black and white pools, but those who are know exactly what i’m talking about).
Well, my man said he started walking home and didn’t have a care in the world. Until he got in the mirror, that is. His curl had turnt orange.
Most likely, it turnt ernge.
42 Comments
by Brew City Drew
What a coincidence. A lady that works for the post office just came into my store reeking of activator. It was not easy to keep from busting out.
by ETS
I’d think the chlorine would have taken care of the curl juice?! *shrugs*
I have too many curl stories. I live in Phoenix. Don’t know what it is about here, but I see a curl at least once a week. I AM NOT EXAGGERATING! Usually at church. I also see high top fades. No lie.
I guess my best curl story is when I was in elementary school this girl liked me. I didn’t like her at all, but I thought I possibly could if she didn’t have a curl. So I asked her if she’d let me cut it down a little. She said yes. She got in mad trouble with her mom. I felt bad. But we still ended up going to this dance that our afterschool program had. She looked the best she ever looked, but I don’t think my trim had much to do with it.
I never had a curl. I had a high top fade that I’d put a comb-thru in – not quite curl but still in the relaxer family. I didn’t want a curl, I just wanted to be able to comb through that joint. I know I’m not the only dude that was tired of waking up with a matted box!! Anyway, I always left it on too long and always burnt my scalp. Which meant I’d always have to cut it off and start my box over. : (
by Iris
Brooklyn, 1983. My sister wrecked my hair with a jheri curl. I rinsed it out, and took myself to Astor Place haircutters and through some misunderstanding was given one of the first high top fades. My other sister tried to help me fix it by adding more jheri curl activator. I had a sky-high jheri curl. Imagine if Stoney Jackson and Kid (from KId n Play) had a daughter. Thats what I looked like.
There: you got a combo jheri curl/ Astor Place horror story.
by Stephanie
I attended my granny’s funeral last week in Eagletown, OK and let me tell you the Jheri Curl is alive and well. It has never left. And they are not shame. The are proud of their curl and their curl length. Thank goodness they didn’t give my granny a jheri curl.
Jheri Curls….You gotta love ’em.
by ETS
As many of you have noted, Tennessee is the surefire, guaranteed Jheri Curl Mecca. I don’t know anyone who has spent more than 24 hours in the black parts of Memphis, Nashville or Chattanooga and not seen one.
Uh, Cobb … what is a “dry” curl??
by Lester Spence
I’m even mad that you KNOW someone with a jheri curl story, given that you’re at least ten years my junior. By…maybe 86 or so it was played out around my parts i think.
Whatever the case I don’t have a personal jheri curl story. Didn’t want one. Didn’t get one.
Thank the Lord.
by The_Other_Bo
Ok, so which is worse to be rockin’ in the 21st, a Jheri curl or Finga Waves(expecially on a male?) I guess you can give someone 45+ a pass on a curl… I guess.
by Fred Batiste, A Weapon of Mass Destruction
Lately, all my jheri curl sightings have been either in IHOPs or when I’m traveling through airports.
1. Arlington, Texas, 2000: While working as a mere intern, me and some dudes went to an IHOP after going out to the club. Man, about two booths in front of me were these two pimps (think a fatter version of King James from Pimps Up, Hos Down) with one of the wettest, most tropical rain forest/Seattle rainy drippy curls in existence. Then he bust out and said “Already” to one of his “women.”
2. Hartsfield-Jackson Int’l Airport, ATL, 2001: While boarding a connecting flight to Miami to visit my brother I notice two things (1) the swollest white boy I ever seen. He was dressed in a throwback and some jean shorts. I realized that it was WWE wrestler John Cena.
After that came this dude in a maroon suit with fuschia lapels and cuffs. Dude looked like a cross between Bobby Womack and Eddie King Jr. on crystal meth. He had on them Notorius BIG Versmache glasses and a hat to match his suit. Underneath, mind you was a curl like that pretty m-fer from The Deele who wore them hats. BTW…he was slugged up.
3. Memphis Int’l Airport: Going to and coming from NABJ in Indianapolis (better known to me as Baton Rouge, Indiana) I saw about 10 curls of various sizes and degrees of wetness. I felt like the late Crocodile Hunter cuz they had me mumbling “Crikey” up in the airport. I wanted to ask them if the Coming Out Hard album had THAT much of a hold on Memphis.
That’s all from me. And I thank God that me and my brother never had curls. Ain’t nothing worse than tryin to catch some sleep and you grab a pillow that a curl-wearer had slept on either with or without their shower cap on. Turrible, Turrible, Turrible feeling.
by rell
Unfortunately I don’t have one. I was still young during the Curl hay-day. Soul-Glo in Coming to America is about as good a story as I would have.
by dnunn
Summer of 1985…….Fresh in 85, cuzz 85 is all the way live!!
1) I was the young brother who’s curl turned orange. My dad is a barber and had just did it the day before. He told me explicitly not to go swimming. Me being the smart ass that I was, figured I could go swimming with my friends and he would never know, being that he didn’t get home until after 7 and was hating on me anyway.(Funny, but the worst ass whippins of my life was always because I went swimming when someone told me not to) Well me and the block rode our bikes all the way to Victoria park where it was going down that summer!! Honies were there with their fly 2-pieces and their basket weaves and me being the horny lil show off that I was, I wanted to show’em how tight I was. I had just perfected my back dive and was getting really nice on the diving board and what accentuates ones dive skills more than a nice shakeable curl that glistens and bounces as you jump on the diving board!!! I killed it the whole day!! You couldn’t tell me nothing with my curl glistening, vans on my feet and riding home on a fresh Huffy with the mag wheels!! Well what pops had failed to mention ( he never did much explaining other than the forceful “because I said so”!) was that the chemicals that they put in the public pool don’t mix too well with the alkalyne base of permanent wave aka Jherri Curl. With all of the youngsters in there peeing in the pool, the really put in an extra batch of chlorine. To make a long story short on the ride home my homies noticed that not only was I no longer a nice carmel brown, I had gotten black (a tell tale sign that you went swimming), was ashy as hell and my curl was turning orange. I got in the house and was horrified. I knew my pops was going to tear that tail up and on top of that he was going to cut my Michael Jackson curl off that I had waited so long to grow. Well as predicted, pops got home and wore that asss out, but he did let me keep the back portion and that started the new Negro trend of the colored Duck Tail…………..
2) Juneteenth 2001 – went down to Fort Worth , TX and ohhh boy was the Jherri Curl in affect. Not only did these cats have curls, but the real players still wore their shower caps in public to keep it nice and moist!
3) Nashville, TN 2007 – My lil’sis just graduated from TSU and I counted 4 Jherri Curls, 2 Wave Neuvos, 1 brother with finger waves.
by eauhellzgnaw
Summer of 86: I was the king of toy bartering. I had recently scored the huge Transformers Space Base–the one that had a transformable tram that went around a track. An older kid from the neighborhood had the audacity to offer me a 1/2 bottle of curl activator for my new toy. His argument was that it was a deal because “The girls will be all over you!” I was in elementary school, mind you. I took one look at (and one whiff of) his crusty, gnarled, fucked up curl and wisely declined the offer.
by Kirk
“Memphis International Airport”….that’s a joke right, Fred?
by Fred Batiste, A Weapon of Mass Destruction
Kirk…um…that’s the name of the place. But you could just smell the sweet stench of barbecue sauce and sizzled-up chicken and swine when you got off the plane for the layover. Hell, I thought I got transported to the Soul Plane terminal…until I saw about 5 people with curls…4 with gold teeth in their mouths…
by Rex
Back in the early- to mid-90s, I had looooooong hair. Always trying something to help tame it, I got a curly perm and used Vaseline hair grease for a bit to relax it. It was my version of a Jheri curl.
It was sad. But, we grow older, wiser, and we learn from our mistakes.
by Rex
LOL HARD @ your Google Ad Sense ads for this post.
by ETS
I think dudes rocking fanga – yes, fanga – waves was ALWAYS wack, but clearly I’m in the minority.
by jaypee
Never had one, but growing up in rural Georgia, everyone else did! 🙂
Here’s a couple straight out of Coming to America:
1. My mom had a dinner party back in the 80’s. After everyone left, my mother (who is the kindest, most mild mannered person you’ll ever meet) cursed up a blue streak; a couple of her friends who were rocking the curl left greasy spots in the back of the sofa!
2. One of my good friends at the time walked around with a mini bottle of activator in his back pocket. Gotta hand it to him, the girls loved him…..
As far has finger waves go, they are hot in the ATL. I see 3-4 dudes daily who are rocking it!
by ETS
Bo, how a dude gonna be hard after going up to another dude and asking for a hairdo?! Talmbout,
“Yo son, can you hook me up with some of them fingerwaves?! Word on the cell block unit is that you know how to do ’em real good. I need to find a muthaf*cka who know how to get all my baby hair in ’em and er’ythang.”
“Stylist”: Thanks, folk. What side you want the part on?
Convict: Only on the left side, yeah that’s the Crip side.
“Stylist”: Ahh … that’s a good look, son. Ok, just sit on this Pretty Ricky ottoman in between my legs. Let me find a stool and some Let’s JAM hair gel.
by ETS
“And it dawned on him – some dude must have braide his hair.” – Bo
*throws hands up in the air and logs off*
by jaypee
I’ve was squeamish the one time I went with my wife to get a pedicure. I couldn’t imagine going to the salon to get my hair did. Buddy, you turn in your man card the day you do that…..
by eauhellzgnaw
Also related:
1). One day, this kid we used to hang around with for some reason (he used to fake a dimple when girls were around cause “the ladies like it.”) was greasin up his hair with some Tropical-smelling Let’s Jam, and I caught him sneak a taste from the jar.
2). My girl once wondered why the guy who does her hair never has any male clients. “So many guys have cornrows. It doesn’t make sense.” It took a while for her to get it.
by RevMood
On the campus of FAMU c.1989- me and my three amigos had NO money for haircuts, (you know an unkempt natural wasn’t cool), so we purchased (stole) a communal jar of Bantu (that nigperm shi#). We proceeded to “process” ourselves with dreams of gettin’ chicks with our straight and flowing locks but it didn’t work out so well. In my reefer and malt liquor induced haze I over-applied the hairjuice in some spots, and not nearly enough in others. When I rinsed it out my hair was NatCole/SammyDavis straight in the front and extra-buckwheaty in the back. From that day forward I was known among my crew as “Ja-curl,” as in half of a jheri curl. Sad but sooooo true.
by dnunn
Everybody is talking about the Jheri Curls………but what about them S Curl stories? I know some of yall had the curly top back in the day : )
by deesha
Fall 1987…
I head to Washington, DC to represent my district as a Congressional page, U.S. House of Representatives.
Unfortunately, the unlicensed friend of my mother who gave me my regular, kitchen-ass jheri curl touch-ups had been puff-puffing that day (no passing), and ended up overprocessing my ‘ri.
So…I am in the 87-88 Page yearbook looking a hot mess. For posterity.
by Cinque
“Leads to another great story a friend tells.
“Hung with one of my boys all summer, and he had corn rows. Next time I saw him, they were gone.
He said he went to visit his boy in the joint, and his boy had braids. And it dawned on him–some dude must have braided his hair.
At that moment, he realized that maybe braids should be viewed as played out. ”
-I dunno why but that had me rollin’.
-Any references to Let’s Jam are instant laughs, especially a cat coppin’ a quick taste. Man that Let’s Jam used to hook up my S-curl in the early 90’s. You couldn’t tell me nothin, lookin’ like Mr. Dalvin circa 92 or some shit.
-I never had a real curl though, but I do remember my Grandma gettin’ mad at me for crackin’ on her curl all the time. One time she was cookin’ some fried chicken and I told her to watch out or else she’ll end up like Michael on some Pepsi commercial shit. Then one time I told her she should get hers done like Melvin Riley from Ready For The World and rock a headband (peep any of their videos and you’ll know). I’m surprised she didn’t beat my ass all those times. But anyone rocking a curl in hot ass Phoenix has some issues, regardless of if they’re blood.
-Top curl songs: “Leave My Curl Alone” by Hi-C and “Jherri Curl” by Poison Clan.
-Quick question: has anyone ever played b-ball against a dude with a curl? I swear I almost tore my ACL in 7th grade because of this MC Eiht lookin’ kid just had to sign up for youth basketball looking like a spokesman for World of Curls. I was anti-gang just because of the curls those cats rocked….
by jaypee
Forgive my ignorance, but what’s the difference between the Jheri Curl and the S Curl?
by Jen
Cleveland c. 1979 jhericurls hit the schene like the flu. Young, old, didn’t make a difference. Maybe 1 out of 200 looked decent. I hated them-basically s white perm applied to black hair to make the curls bouncy & behavin’. Oh, and then the clear plastic bags to ‘preserve’ the curl, except some people NEVER took them off. There would be steam rising off the bags when it was hot outside. I once saw a woman with a bag and a pink curler sticking out of it for her bangs. Oh, the horror of curls. They finally mostly dissapeared in the 90’s around here – except for my father-in-law. Me & my husband (an old flat-top man) just can’t bring ourselves to speak of that.
by misspriss
Am absolutely dying because a great portion of our Father’s Day Celebration a couple of days ago hinged upon the discussion of Jheri curls and the like.
Let me first set the foundation for this timely tale: My dad and my uncle are old school playas still living in a time warp in a small town approx 30 miles east of Atlanta; for they do not realize the error in the Jheri Curls that they sport (especially my Dad who has managed to “mold” his curl into a flat top box—his ability to do this has stumped me for years; my mother (who would want me to tell you that she never had a curl) contends that whilst they were married,she could not keep a good set of pillow cases; fast forward to ’07: any woman who allows her man to wear a curl should be ashamed…so my step-mother should be pimp-slapped for not checking my dad!)
Said uncle (Uncle Jheri Curl) is a cosmetologist who “brought the curl out” in said small town circa 1980. Might I say that he is stuck in the small town and the 80’s—literally and figuratively, respectively.
After watching CB4 on Saturday night with the hubby and my 14 y.o. stepson, they (’cause hubby has “good hair” and stepson is clueless) had legions of queries about “the curl”. Though I never had one, but come from a family where Jheri Curl is King, I assured them that I would have Uncle Jheri Curl delve into the intricasies of the curl the next day.
Never one to disappoint, Uncle Jheri Curl showed up on my ATL doorstep on Father’s Day with a cheap “a”, mustard-colored linen short set (now that I think about it, the “shorts” sort of looked like capris—but I digress) , lauding the fact that he, at 52, won a “Walk It Out” contest last weekend and his curl (which looks very much like a cocker spaniel’s ears, just add a bang) glistening ‘just so’.
After intoxicating Uncle JC with much BBQ, freshly squeezed lemonade and the good corner of his favorite (and my home made) strawberry shortcake, I baited him up (with an audience in tow) to reveal the enigma that is the curl (or the “KULL”, as we jokingly pronounce it).
1. He was a premiere platform artist for Bronner Brothers and “did all ‘they’ shows”. Apparently he had great dexterity and was able to roll a successful curl in record time.
2. His trademark (and he said that he had T-shirts printed that also exclaimed this): ‘If I can catch it (being hair), I can roll it’. O…K….
3. During Easter 1987, he set a goal that he would roll 100 curls by the end of April. On his 100th curl, the lights went out in his ‘shop’ (a converted garage in his home) so he thought quickly and rolled said final curl by candlelight. He made $3500 that month ‘rolling heads’ alone.
4.He used the $3500 to buy a LUV truck; which, using a bootleg Mercedes emblem from my booster aunt, he converted into a Benz due to some crafty grill work (I know this has nothing to do with a curl, but I just thought this was hilarious)
5. He was such the legend, clients came from “up the road” (i.e. Atlanta) to his chair
6. Over the years, he has dwindled from 100 curl-seeking clients per month to approximately 3 old ladies who, like him, refuse to let the KULL go. But be not mistaken, he wholeheartedly believes that the curl is sure to make a comeback(yeah…….right……)
by esther
i had a jheri curl for about a year in the mid-80s; nothing too eventful happened though.
however, my grandmother has curly hair and when the jheri curl came along it was like a godsend for her cause she could apply activator to her hair to manage her curls. we would crack up at my grandma’s ‘jheri curl’. in fact, to this day, she still uses activator on her hair.
by esther
i’m rollin with these stories!
i should add to my jc tale that the only evidence i have of my curl days is a portrait-sized picture of me that is sitting on my grandma’s mantle (which means the picture is 20+ years old). what makes it worse it that it’s in her living room and to enter her house, you must enter through the living room, so everyone who visits sees it.
i’ve tried to convince her to get a more recent picture of me (so i could burn that photo). i’m like, ‘granny, don’t you want to update that picture?’ and then she’s like, ‘no, chile, i love that picture. you were by sweet baby girl then.’ i’m like, ‘damn!’ through my teeth and under my breath, of course. lol!
by Tiffany
I happen to really like the jheri curl, i really want to get one… but everybody i know is tellin’ me not 2 🙁
by Rebelque
Man, it was summer 1985. All of the crew was outside playing football and dang…….I was going to get my first curl. I was going to 8th grade and the honeys were starting to peak a Bruhs interest. The 6 hour process started……about 5 of my friends came by asking if I could come outside to play. My sister quickly told them that I was getting a Carefree Curl and would not be out all day. The news spreads fast in the projects so about 3 hours into the process, everyone was showing up and asking to take a peek. Well 6 hours later I emerged from the seat and didn’t even look at it. I went straight outside. It was then that I found out that, for some reason, the curl did not take. I had one curl in the back of my head. I got clowned so hard that the next day I went and got it cut down into a shag and told everyone that it wasn’t actually a curl but a texturizer. They didn’t believe me though. This is still a topic of conversation in my neighborhood today.
by jherri curl dee
i got my jherri curl last yeay it was october 2006 i like it my stylist used a curl kit i got from the beauty shop people are always asking me what made me get a jherri i say im going old skool im going to get my recurl next week im switching to care free curl thats the best curl money can buy the charge is 50.00 dollars and yes people who see me laugh but im in my own world i guess.
by jherri curl dee deon
the jherri curl was big in flint michigan in the mid 80s after 1987 it was starting to fade out but after reading some of the reviews here alot of folks still have them so im not alone on that part besides its good to be different.
by Olivia
The other day I got my first ever jheri curl. Man, it looks jammin’! I am the hottest kid on the block. I am white, but I have Mediterranean hair so it looks ok. I love my jheri curl. It is the best decision I have ever made. It is so Fly! BRING BACK THE CURL!
by J.A. Nicholai
I’ve never had a jheri curl before, but I had a neighbor who had one. I never had much time to ponder how horrific her jheri curl was though, considering her horrible features… at this point in my life, I had never seen a gorilla with hooves before, so I was quite taken aback. However, thinking back on it… that shit was nasty. It was always juicy, it smelled like alize, too. We were in 5th grade and everyone thought that bitch was boozin.
by J.A. Nicholai
….and obviously Olivia is going through some thangs.
by Mary
I am loving these stories. For some reason I was thinking about Jheri Curls and googled it. I am white, but had a crush on this black guy in high school with a rockin’ Jheri Curl. He must have spent a lot of time in the beauty shop, because his hair was always perfectly curled and not drippy! I’m from Memphis, so the earlier comments about Memphis International Airport are cracking me up (Soul Plane). There is a BBQ joint right when you get off the plane, which is great, so the whole place smells like pork and chicken. Is the activator stuff called Sta Soft Fro? A lot of kids used to keep that in their back pocket too, during the big ‘fro days in the 70’s.
by Omar
I’m sixteen and live in Edmonton Alberta Canada me and some next men are trying to grow a curl i have real soft hair and my hair grew to 3-4 inches i need some advice real quick
by shelly
i had one back in the day..every women in my family had one, nothing exciting happened with it…that was the first time in my life (11) i could comb my hair myself. to this day my aunt still has a jheri curl but she just tell people she got ‘good hair’ her son is half white so she kinda pulls it off. i’m about to get one real soon or some s curl…something