Qwho invented the relaxer? Is it a man, a woman…? Surely an American! Many myths surround this birth, which we inevitably want in pain… When I saw my mother burn her scalp with her miracle cream, I also asked her this famous question.
“During slavery, to punish rebellious slaves, the master plunged their heads into a bucket filled with soda. Seeing that the rebel's hair had become smooth, the other slaves came up with the idea of straightening their hair by mixing soda with potatoes and egg. They then applied it all to their hair, ”she replied.
Myth or reality ? Even today, I cannot say so. But one thing is certain: an inventor claims the paternity of the relaxer, a certain Garret A. Morgan.
At the start of the 1890th century, in the midst of racial segregation, African-Americans are doing everything possible to integrate by erasing the physical characteristics specific to their group. At the same time, we witness the invention of the curling iron by Adam Frisby (1906), of the straightening comb by Simon Monroe (1909) and finally of the ancestor of ceramic tongs by Isaac K. Shero (XNUMX). From now on, frizzy hair is no longer inevitable; they can be smoothed out… at least temporarily.
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