"Wave Caps" by Omari - 26

Reply to: pers-160722822@craigslist.org
Date: 2006-05-14, 2:49PM EDT


I try to make my home as welcoming as possible to visitors. This requires that I keep many things on hand that I don't ordinarily use, including washcloths (doesn't mean what you're probably thinking...), girlie shampoo, and various beverages.

So recently I was surprised to learn that something was missing from my stockpile. A friend had come over and was (ostensibly) considering spending the night. This woman is fussy about her hair, so she asked me if I had a wave cap.

"A what?" I said. She found it surprising that I didn't know what one was. Haven't you ever seen a black woman wrap her hair at night? Well, yes, I do recall seeing my sister and cousins wrap their hair at night. However I had never considered exactly what they use to wrap their hair. I doubt that most men consider this issue. This hasn't been a problem for my friend in the past, though: if she's at a gentleman's home, she can typically request a wave cap and he'll have one tossed in a corner somewhere, even if his hair doesn't require one. Unlike those other men, though, I haven't had a parade of women through my home who leave their hair dressing equipment for use by future lovers.

Of course not all black women need wave caps: I love seeing women who sport Lauryn Hill-style dreads (before she cut them off!) and I can't see why she'd stuff it into a cap, even at night. Nevertheless I realized that my home was discriminatory: few black women would find curly shampoo useful, yet I had that. But I had no wave caps.

So yesterday on a late-night trip to CVS, I picked up a wave cap. Perhaps I'll keep it with the other things I don't need, like tampons.

Whether or not you need a wave cap at night, if you're a black woman, age 21 to mid-thirties, I'd like to hear from you. Tell me your hair care secrets. You can read random trivia about me (and see more photos!) at smileystation.com/craigslist

I considered adding a photo of me in a wave cap, but it looked completely ridiculous...