Super Short Story:
Like I’ve mentions before, my boyfriend and I are of different ethnic backgrounds. I absolutely love our ethnic and cultural differences. It is so fun to introduce each other to culturally common practices, items, and foods. This super short story is about the ‘Boar Brush”.
The boar brush is a hard bristled brush common used by African Americans and people with very thick hair. It is used to style or control, smooth or increase volume. Yes, it is largely made with the hairs of a boar. My boyfriend knew of the ‘phenomenon’ as he calls it, but never used one.
He decided to grow his hair long. He has pretty thick hair. In the growing process, he begun to get irritated when his hair got to a pint that it was always in his face. So he wanted to pull it back in a headband, which I didn’t agree to.
The next solution was to wear beanies/skull caps, but as the weather got warmer, that wasn’t a good option either.
So he wanted to tie it back, but couldn’t get his hair to lay flat.
So I introduced him to… the boar brush (and thick gel).
In the process, he tried to do it himself but did not have the ‘skill’ to get the brush all the way through his hair to the scalp, so I do it for him. When I am brushing his hair for him, he winces a little, because the bristles are so hard. It always reminds me of my childhood, and the childhood of all the little thick hair girls I knew, whose mamas used the boar brush to lay their hair down flat and slay those baby hairs.
College and Life After 