For the uninitiated

Jheri curl info from http://memorylab.deanlabs.com/FashionDetails.aspx?ID=221:

Once the natural (unprocessed) afro lost favor, the wet-look jheri-curl took over. Popularized by Michael Jackson, the jheri-curl is a chemical perm process that relaxes the natural kinky curl of black hair, leaving loose curls in its place.

Hair care product manufacturer Jheri Redding created the process and a series of gels and conditioners to help maintain the distinctive wet-look. Having a jheri-curl required constant care and upkeep, as well as a hearty heap of oil activator conditioner to keep the hair soft and shiny.

Unfortunately for bus seats and car headrests, the jheri-curls oil activator left behind an unpleasant greasy residue. But such is the price of looking good.



S-curl info is from Wikipedia:

S-Curl is a trademark for a line of hair products designed to slightly straighten the natural hair texture of a man of African descent, so that natural wave and curl patterns are looser and more prominent. The term "s-curl" soon came to describe the hairstyle that resulted from the use of the S-Curl line products and the products of competitors.

Depending upon the strength of the application, an "S-curl" hairstyle has hair texture either only slightly less kinky than natural African hair, or more closely approaching the curly hair texture of a mixed or Latino person. Similar to a woman's permanent, an S-curl is applied using relaxers containing lye, and, like a jheri curl, requires continued use of specialized shampoos and conditioners to keep the chemically altered hair from becoming dry, hard, and brittle.