April 1941. South Side Chicago. "Barber shop in the Black Belt." View full size. 35mm safety negative by Edwin Rosskam for the Farm Security Administration.
Submitted by Michael in LA on Mon, 03/10/2008 - 5:19pm.
Black men wore (and still do) wear tight elastic caps to set tight, close waves in their hair. "Conking," or perming the hair straight and then keeping it together for a night out, was done with a "do-rag," which is a bit different.
In his autobiography, Malcolm X talks about the pain of those crude perming chemicals burning his scalp, and what can go wrong when you start the process only to find your pipes frozen and no water flowing to wash that stuff out!
And yeah, I wore a stocking cap too until I was about 20... Great photo.
Submitted by Anonymous Tipster on Mon, 03/10/2008 - 12:51am.
Appears that the barber is wearing a stocking cap. These were made from a woman's stocking, usually worn overnight for the purpose of setting a day-long "permanent". I did this up to about age 16 (that would be 1955).
