I remember an episode of “Sanford and Son,” starring Redd Foxx, where he revealed his conk, meaning his processed red hair, and described it as “dyed, fried and laid to the side.” It brought uncontrollable laughter from the live audience and was described by many in the African-American community as hilarious.
The name “conk” came from “congolene,” a combination of lye, petroleum jelly, eggs, potatoes and soap. This is the procedure that Denzell Washington revealed in his portrayal of Detroit Red in the Spike Lee film “Malcolm X.”
Then I looked at the trend and style of other men of African ancestry beginning decades ago and realized that a great number of our parents were ashamed of the texture and appearance of their hair. Media images over the years as well have made some black people ashamed of their African ancestry.
We should have been taught that everything about our natural kinky hair began in Africa. The different hair textures of African people ranges from deep ebony, kinky curl of the Mandingos, to the loosely curled flowing locks of the Ashanti.
In the early 15th century, hair functioned as a carrier of messages in most West African societies. The citizens of these societies, including the Wolof, Mende, Mandingo and Yoruba, were people who filled the slave ships that sailed to the New World. Within these cultures, hair was an integral part of a complex language system. Hairstyles were used to indicate a person’s marital status, age, religion, ethnic identity, geographic origins, wealth and rank within the community.
Many of the most admired musicians of the early days of R&B, blues and soul music were well known for wearing the conks, including Chuck Berry, The Temptations, Nat “King” Cole, James Brown and Muddy Waters.
Dick Gregory used to joke about wearing a stocking cap so tight that it gave him a headache. And number of black men had ‘do rags and made scheduled trips to their hair dresser to get their hair “processed.”
Murray’s Hair Pomade and other gels, oil and grease products helped to keep black men’s hair slicked down to the scalp. Remember many in the black community admired lighter skin and straight hair.
Marcus Garvey, a black freedom fighter in the 1920s advised his followers to embrace their natural hair and reclaim their African heritage. In the ‘50s the Johnson Products Company introduced the Ultra Wave Hair, a “long-lasting” hair straightener for men that could be applied at home.
Eventually, during the 1960s and ‘70s, the Afro emerged, but Blaxploitation movies such as “Superfly” and “The Mack” glamorized black men with long straight hair, and eventually the jheri curl appeared.
These days many men adopt baldness, and some researchers have found that men with bald heads are more likely to be viewed as commanding, dominant and masculine. What is your preference?
Please watch the Bernie Hayes TV program Saturday night at 10 p.m. and Sunday evenings at 5:30 p.m. on KNLC-TV Ch. 24. I can be reached by fax at 314-837-3369, e-mail at berhay@swbell.net or on Twitter @berhay.
The name “conk” came from “congolene,” a combination of lye, petroleum jelly, eggs, potatoes and soap.
