Chris Rock's Movie Good Hair

On a recent trip cut short by my dog getting another major abdominal surgery I saw the movie Good Hair.

That's one hell of an opening sentence eh?

Yeah I went to Canada too.  What's up with the pre-check point check point when you go over the bridge before meeting the Canadian border guards?   I think it was a group of american border guards who were bored.   But they slowed down the process more than the actual border crossing into Canada.

Any-who,  the movie is a documentary/satire of sorts.  I learned a lot watching it.  Like the chemical in hair straightener is sodium hydroxide,  more commonly known as lye.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_hydroxide

Wiki says most over the counter products switched to less caustic bases but that "professionals" still use the older,  stronger sodium hydroxide preparations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relaxer

"Manufacturers vary the sodium hydroxide content of the solution from 5% to 10% and the pH factor between 10 and 14"


This looks like the same % found in stuff like liquid drano http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drano


Women and children put this stuff in their hair and on their scalp regularly to break down the chemical bonds that make the hair curl.   


But the big money is made in hair weaves.  Which I was surprised to learn are mostly made of human hair from India.  


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirumala_Venkateswara_Temple
Many devotees also have their head tonsured as an offer. The daily amount of hair collected is over a ton.^[15] The hair thus gathered is sold by the temple organization a few times a year by public auction to international buyers for use as hair extensions and in cosmetics,^[16] bringing over $6 million to the temple's treasury


On the other side of the world,  Americans pay around 1000 dollars for a good hair weave.  There's all this maintenance that has to be done on the hair as well and plenty of women spend 10k dollars or more on hair a year.  


Chris Rock interviewed a bunch of celebrities including the Reverend Al Sharpton who said something to the effect that black people should make money off the sale of weaves purchased by black people.  It's interesting that women spending 1000 dollars at a time for other people's hair so they may look more "natural" is a fine business opportunity.  I guess it's ok to exploit a people if you're the same color.   


And don't think these themes are isolated to black women and curly hair modification.  Cosmetics are in general chocked full of toxic metals and petroleum chemicals.  You can't even check the ingredient list on a lot of these products because it's "proprietary".   You have to protect the patent rights of corporations before you disclose the potentially harmful toxins going on a woman's FACE.  


Which reminds me of the Walmart cadmium jewelry story.   


Anyone see this ?  
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/health1/warning-walmart-issues-recall-on-ge-coffee-maker_100367643.html




Oh snap,  I put "walmart cadmium" into google and that popped up 1st in the news feed.

Just yesterday it was announced that Walmart, the huge department store chain, has finally recalled their Miley Cyrus line of jewelry after finding out that it contained dangerous levels of cadmium back in February. Although they claimed that the jewelry was not made for children, since many young girls do seek out the ‘Miley Cyrus’ name, the products were posing a danger to them which Walmart was aware of for 3 months prior to the recall. And now, as announced by the CSPC, Walmart has issued a recall on their GE coffeemakers.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced on their website that Walmart is voluntarily recalling several of their GE coffeemakers. To find out if your product is on this list check the CSPC website here. The huge headline for the site states, “Walmart Recalls General Electric® Coffee Makers Due to Fire Hazard”. It estimates that about 900,000 coffee makers are included in this recall. Also stated on this site is the following:

“Hazard: The coffee maker can overheat, posing fire and burn hazards to consumers.
Incidents/Injuries: Walmart has received 83 reports of overheating, smoking, melting, burning and fire, including three reports of minor burn injuries to consumer’s hands, feet and torso. Reports of property damage include a significant kitchen fire and damage to countertops, cabinets and a wall.”

Cadmium in the children's jewelry and now GE is selling coffee makers that burn down houses?   I wonder what the story is behind that?  I'm going to guess it has something to do with using cheap materials and slave labor,  but I'm too lazy to dig into it right now. 


But speaking of GE,   word around the campfire locally is that the mammogram center has seen a steep drop off in screening mammography the past 6 months.  Wonder how that combination of ever increasing health care costs and the recent press over the substantial harms of screening mammograms is affecting the bottom line of our mighty health care institutions.   It's stuff like that that makes it difficult to afford underground parking garage construction.  


/just sayin


For those of you wondering what happened to the hound dog;  he's recovering from a false alarm surgery.  He went into the vet for vomiting and they felt a big spleen and his xray looked funny.  After cutting him open,  everything looked normal and they left him with his spleen.  He's mighty sore but no longer vomiting.