BTN 001: A Silk Press Helped Me Predict Beyonce's Country Album
Between the Notes 001
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Between the Notes 001 ~
In order for me to explain how getting a silk press foreshadowed Beyoncé’s Country Era, we’re going to have to go back in time- approximately early December ‘23. I had been toying with the idea of getting a silk press, because every winter season, I’m tempted. My IG Explore Page taunts me with imagery of luscious, silky tresses in hues of brown, blonde, red, and jet black, cascading over beautifully melanated skin. Don’t let the natural light hit too! That’s when my jealousy reaches its peak. I too desired that feeling of whooshing my head back and forth, making quick glances and turns of the neck, to put on a show for onlookers & passersby.
If you don’t know what a silk press is, it’s a specific technique used to straighten or press black hair with no chemicals- just heat, technique & the right products.
and because I’m a known kitchen beautician, I’d planned to do this myself- so I figured, might as well! My only apprehension was the fact that I’m not a straight hair girlie. I need texture, depth, density, volume- the Naomi Campbell signature buss down middle part, 24 inches (bone straight) is just not my style. So I did my version, which ended up being more of a press & roller set, and it turned out PERFECTLY. Here is where the shift occurred.
i felt renewed, transformed, dare I say- aesthetically reset. That sounds a little dramatic, but if you know the power that comes with a fresh hair-do, then you’d know that I’m not exaggerating. Having been in Charlotte, North Carolina for over three years now, I’d been feeling a pull to ‘tap in’ to my Southern roots. Now, I don’t mean out in the woods camping, fishing, or any type of water sport, but I mean aesthetically tap-in i.e., cowboy boots, more washed denim, fringe, blow-outs…
I kid you not, this straight hair suddenly sparked my impulse to jump into my non-existent pick-up truck, wear my favorite cowboy boots (that I no longer own), and meet my girls at the bar for a night of line-dancing. I’d even bought a two inch pink and gold metal cowboy boot keychain that’s always on my person, that sparks joy every time I look at it. Y’all, I was feeling a calling!
Ok, before you keep rolling your eyes, here’s the receipts. I reached out to my bestie Leilani and sent her 50 ‘leven WhatsApp voice messages about how I’ve been feeling this way, and told her we needed to go line dancing and have “a country ass moment.” Friends, let’s also peep the foreshadowing of me mentioning Beyoncé, because Lei got us the ATL Renaissance tix, and I told her we need to keep the same energy in 2024. Hmm, interesting…
I also brought up the fact that we had a musically unique upbringing as millennials because the late 90’s pop radio stations were an amalgamation of musical styles, but Country music at that time, was very mainstream. I vividly remember cycling through CD’s in my Mississippi bedroom (yes I grew up in MS for a spell) and it ranged from LeAnn Rhymes to Busta Rhymes, J. Lo. to Erykah Badu, Shania Twain to Usher. My wheelhouse was pretty expansive, and of course being raised by two black boomers, you already know I grew up on Jazz, Soul, and R&B! So experiencing that era of mainstream music living in The Delta™ was quite definitely a Southern American experience.
Mississippi Country Family trio: Chapel Hart
My parents are both from the Northeast, but I grew up all over the East Coast, north and south. Before MS, we lived in Houston, TX, and before TX, we lived in Chicago, IL. If you know anything about The Great Migration, you’d know Mississippi was a departure point during The Great Migration where black folks migrated to Chicago. Approximately six million people migrated from the South to the Midwest, Northeast, and Northwest for roughly a six decade period between the 1910s-1970s.
And to bring it to the present, my confusion with some of the discourse I’ve read regarding our community at large discussing what is or is not Country/Black/American Culture, feels a little disconnected, and lacks nuance and historical context.
I was first exposed to Rodeo culture when we moved to Houston in the mid-90s. I remember being in my second grade art class in the Chicago suburbs, drawing a picture of cacti and tumbleweeds once my parents told me we were moving, because that was what I thought Texas was (and to an extent- I was right) lol. But the U.S. is quite the large continent, and if you think about it, each state could be its own country. I think Texas is a great example of that. Besides Alaska, Texas is the largest state in the U.S., and the vastness of Black American culture can’t be limited to only a few textbook traditions that are known to be inherently black. It’s a lot more fastidious and nuanced than that!!
“We’ve Been Here All Along, Doing It With Style”: The Lesser-Known History of the Black Cowboy on Vogue.com
Being a grandchild of The Great Migration, although my parents were born and raised in the Northeast, their household traditions had deep Southern roots, which I still honor today. For example, my maternal grandfather was from South Carolina, and my maternal grandmother’s family was from Virginia. Seeing Northern blacks discuss The Deep South with almost an air of critique and disapproval, without understanding the infinitesimal string that connects each regional cultural interpolation, reads as cognitive dissonance. We can be black Americans and still have different cultural experiences, traditions, and upbringings, because we know that we will always have common ground due to the idiosyncratic cultural layers that are foundational to the Black American experience.
“American Gothic" by Gordon Parks (1942)
