BlackFace
--
or
Black-Owned?
Featuring: Dr. Miracles No-Lye Relaxer
It’s recently come to my attention that black people still care a lot about the texture of other black people’s hair (and the length of Beyonce’s bangs). I frankly could not care less. But since everyone else is doing it, I decided to take a brief look into a segment of hair products that targets black folks, namely relaxers (chemical hair straighteners). In doing so, I stumbled upon a “hair care system” that seemed vaguely familiar, primarily because of commercials like this:
Inspired, I dug a little deeper. It turns out that the first relaxer was concocted by a child of former slaves, Garrett Augustus Morgan, Sr.
And, of course, Madame C.J. Walker (a black woman) is renowned for revolutionizing black hair care, thereby becoming one of America’s first black moguls. Her expertise included proficiency in straightening comb usage and various other grooming products (not including chemical relaxers, as is often falsely reported).
Getting back to the commercial in question though. Since Dr. Miracles is advertised as a black man who swoops in to save black women from the horrors of our hair, I figured I should ask:
BLACKFACE or BLACK-OWNED?
The real “Dr. Miracles” is, in fact, this guy:
Brian Marks not only founded Dr. Miracles (along with some other guys named Ollie Johnson and Richard Lombardi), he also founded African Pride (and a suite of other “ethnic” hair care products) in the 1980's, which he eventually sold to Revlon for thirty-five million dollars in 1998. Dr. Miracle’s 2004 sales totaled around three million. We can only assume that its sales have grown well beyond that at this point.
To complicate things, however, the face of Marks’ newest product line and co-owner of Dr. Miracles is none other than his wife Nene. Nene Marks is “African” (no country specified in any literature or interviews). Get it — African, African Pride — it just works. She began her career starring in videos for Naughty By Nature, Jay-Z, and countless other rap superstars, eventually moving on to become the original face of Dr. Miracles. Apparently, Nene’s chief responsibility is “testing” the products because, well, she’s black.
That’s not all. Based on her recent Facebook activity, after marketing chemical relaxers for umpteen years, the Marks’ newest venture— Nene’s Secret — targets natural hair and includes ingredients from Nene’s “homeland.” That’s mighty rich of them.
And they are rich. Make no mistake about it.
But it’s not all about them because they do help to make sure that more black babies are born who will eventually use their products. They allegedly provide exclusive corporate sponsorship for Birthing Project, “The Underground Railroad for New Life.” Good for them.
ANSWER: BLACKFACE AND BLACK-OWNED
Have a product you want to tell us about? Comment here or email: dearcultureclub@gmail.com.
Write a Response below. (Here’s how.)
