Barbara Edelman
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thread 1/6
#DidYouKnow that from very roughly the 1930s through mid-late 1970s, Jewish girls from brooklyn, the bronx, westchester, connecticut (not nj or long island) travelled to harlem beauty shops to get their hair straightened? it was a rite of passage for many jewish girls. if the family was financially
02:48 PM - Apr 01, 2024
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Barbara Edelman
A
thread 2/6
comfortable enough, a nose job followed, usually around xmas break in their high school senior years. i have/had "bad hair." yes, we also used that term amongst ourselves. no white hair dresser knew how to simultanously shape & thin curls. i don't know if the method even existed then. i think vidal
02:48 PM - Apr 01, 2024
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Barbara Edelman
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thread 3/6
sassoon invented (jewish; maybe his mom & sisters nagged him about it). so i walked around with what i referred to as a badger on my head. i learned that making jokes could defuse the girl bullies. anyway...i nagged & whined & cried until at last my father said, "for chrissake! take her to harlem
02:48 PM - Apr 01, 2024
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Barbara Edelman
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thread 4/6
already!" i had informed key mean girls that i was going to get my hair straightened. then my mother asked one of her black pta/cub scout den mother acquaintances if they could make any suggestions about salons. she asked mrs. bernard one spring afternoon after my brother's cub scout pack meeting
02:48 PM - Apr 01, 2024
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Barbara Edelman
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thread 5/6
at our house. i was hovering around the leftover snacks, and heard mrs. bernard loud & clear: "alice, don't ever take barbara to a black salon! they'll burn her scalp with chemicals and burn her beautiful hair with electric combs!" FFUUUCCKKKK. i could barely say "goodbye mrs. bernard," when she
02:48 PM - Apr 01, 2024
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Barbara Edelman
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thread 6/6
left with her cub scout son, jackie. there was no trip to a harlem black owned beauty salon. there was no straight hair. and reader, there was no nose job until i was 18, when i no longer wanted one.
02:48 PM - Apr 01, 2024
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