When White Girls Use Black Girl Hair Products

We have here a small tub of Marula Natural Therapy Hair Strengthening Moisturizer made from the oils of the Marula fruit found in Africa. Ok, the words "oil" and "Africa" should have clued me in on this particular day at work.... There was a woman with a table set up in front of the pharmacy handing out samples to all of the women who passed by. I had seen her out there all day and when I left the pharmacy to put up a box of Protonix the woman asked me if I would like to sample this hair product. "Well, what is it?" I asked. The woman (who was white) proceded to tell me about all of the forms and functions of the Marula oil products. I didn't think anything of it when the lady handed me two samples. "Thanks." I said as I headed back to the pharmacy reading the sample packet. "Hmmm, 100% Marula Oil...Africa's exotic moisturizer.... Keep the look...At Home Salon Care...this might be nice to try..." Then a little voice in the back of my mind said, "Is this for white people or black people? I don't know. Should I ask someone? Then I might look stupid or offend someone. I'll just wait and see what happens."

It's no secret that white people and black people have totally different hair. I learned from first hand experience when a black girl asked me to french braid her hair. I knew how to french braid (I thought) and after I'd finished her hair she looked at it and said, "That looks terrible." She was right. We both got a good laugh out of it. Besides, she should have known that white girls do not hold a candle to black girls when it comes to braiding. At least I don't.

I continued to watch the lady hand out samples to all women, white and black, who passed by.

So, on Friday when I worked a half day I decided I'd try the hair product after work. What harm could it do? I followed the instructions on the package: Pour a small amount into your hands, rub together and massage evenly through hair. Set or style as desired. What I didn't notice was that the instructions say nothing about your hair being wet. Oops. So, with wet hair, I rubbed a small amount of Marula through my tresses. Suddenly they became strait and stiff as if weighed down with glue. "Weird," I thought to myself, "maybe it softens out when you dry it..." So, I dried my hair. I had great difficulty getting the brush to go through it, but I managed. At last it was dry. The final product...not exactly as I had envisioned. Let's just say my hair still looked wet in areas and whenever I touched my hair for the rest of the day my hands came away with a greasy residue on them. So I'm left to wonder, do the sample ladies at Wal Mart have any idea what they are doing with these products, or is it just a joke? That lady was probably laughing to herself all day.