The Search for Black Owned

Yesterday I decided to take a road trip, which turned into an all out CIA investigation. I was looking for something as simple as hair locking gel. Okay, I know I know I know what you are thinking. You can buy hair locking gel anywhere. But being the radical that I am...I wanted to buy from a Black owned business located in New York or North Jersey. A bit of a trip from Philadelphia...but why not? I like road trips, and both of my sweeties (boyfriend and dog) are willing road companions.

I had my sights set on going to the Carol's Daughter store, being that I frequent the website constantly and not only are they black owned but they also manufacture their goods as well. While talking about it at work that same day, a coworker suggested that I try some of the black owned businesses that are closer to the Philadelphia area. I couldn't give him an argument to the contrary, except to say that I was not familiar with any. Since he couldn't give me a name or exact directions, he suggested I find a local Sally's Beauty Supply and buy the locking gel from a black owned manufacturer instead. That wasn't as appealing to me. No fun, no adventure, no...mystery. I'd never been to a black owned hair supply business, and I wanted to see what it would be like so I grabbed my laptop and googled away. I imagined stores filled with products I'd never seen before. Being serviced by employees that could actually answer my questions, who maybe even had hair like mine and used these products on themselves. Imagine that!

Disclaimer
I am not usually as racially conscious about my buying habits, but this is different for me. The best thing I can compare it to is being an Italian person that is forced to buy authentic Italian food from the Olive Garden and the Olive Garden only. Imagine how frustrating it would be to describe what penne pasta is to the person that is making your food.

The plans to make a road trip to North Jersey were postponed due to my puppy's constipation. Being in a car with him when he is in this condition could make you wish you were never born. My boyfriend and I agreed that we could stand a half hour trip at the most.

There were several websites devoted to finding black owned businesses but the search for a beauty supply store usually ended with zero results in our area. When there were results, we would call the phone number to get a disconnected line or an Asian person who could barely understand our inquiries. It was frustrating to the point of comedy. "You've got to be kidding me!" I laughed out loud. We searched and searched for some places in our area and concluded that the only other option would be to get gassed to death on our road trip to Carol's Daughter in North Jersey/NY or to suck it up and go to a local Sally's Beauty Supply. I googled some black manufacturers of hair products and found a company named Organic Root Stimulator. Fair enough! Sally's it is...or it was...'twas.

I felt very defeated in my CIA investigation, but the result of that search lead me to the conclusion that there aren't enough black owned beauty supply places. Maybe I'll save up some money and look into it. Who knows?

Alright so about the products I bought. I was doing some research and found that you can lock up your hair with gel or wax. The difference can be compared to using a water-based lotion to moisturize your skin or using vaseline to moisturize your skin. One will not last as long at all, being that it is water-based and water evaporates, and the other is thick/gooey, rubs off on everything and is harder to clean off. I decided that I would rather do the gel...what's a little maintenance once a week? There was one bottle of Organic Root Stimulator locking gel left (which to me is a sign that God saved it for me). I snatched that up as well as a bottle of shampoo (the wrong kind) and some scalp moisturizer, specialized for people with locks or braids. I have to take the shampoo back, because the Organice Root Stimulator company says that I should buy their uplift shampoo, rather than the aloe kind that I bought. Needless to say, I will be browsing the web to do more research.

Next task will be finding a day and a person to help me with the actual locking process. Maybe I'll have a locking party. I don't know. I was tempted to go to a salon, but dear reader, I have another confession. I'm cheap. My hair is as thick as it comes and with the kind of texture that I have, the locking process can start after two days of no combing. I have literally woken up looking like Bob Marley some mornings. In my case, it would be silly for me to pay someone $100.00 to do something that I've done by accident on several occasions.

And that about concludes my entry for today. Hopefully the next entry will showcase my new "locked look." See ya soon!


http://www.organicrootstimulator.com/

http://www.bobsaone.org/