Janet knew that “the no hair thing wasn’t for me.”
I think I was on the road doing Bob Fosse’s Dancin’. Somehow I got it in my mind that I wanted a Jheri Curl so I headed to the salon. And Lord have mercy! I got back to the theater, and all of my hair just started coming out. I mean literally falling to the floor. The company manager looked at me and said, “your hair looks horrendous.” I concurred. So I went to a barbershop in the next town, I believe it was Baltimore, and had my head shaved bald! Imagine my completely bald head, totally buffed-out body, 5 pairs of lashes… when I walked out on the stage, people would gasp—they thought I was Grace Jones! I had this long, linear body, huge eyes which were accented with the biggest false lashes, and muscles galore! [Laughter]
On top of that, people began calling me ‘sir’. So I kept a big pair of earrings on and always wore makeup. To be honest, I actually developed a bit of a complex with that whole issue. I was like, wow, people think I’m a dude! So I knew that the no hair thing wasn’t for me. Plus, I liked changing my hair, and I’m a hat queen.
Anyway, fast forward… my hair began growing back out. But get this, the roots had dis-attached! My scalp was so damaged that I had a slight case of alopecia. I had to apply steroid drops on my scalp for about 6 months. And when my hair finally grew, it came in completely straight. I looked like some sort of hideous little fuzz head!
CN: Good grief! I’ve heard many a hair horror story in my day, but this one takes the cake. Did that end your foray with chemicals?
JH: Actually, no. After that, I went back and got another perm. We tried perming it in small sections, but that didn’t work either. Fell out nonetheless. It was during that time when I finally did “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” I wore a press and curl. People didn’t know that! I was often asked how I achieved the body… the bounce. Well, there you go! It wasn’t a perm, it was a press. The stylist on the set was great. She would straighten it and bump the ends. But the whole time I was on the show, I wanted to showcase my natural hair. In the third season, I had plans for Vivian to go natural, plans of wearing my curly hair on air. Vivian was going to find her Blackness! If I had actually come back to the show, I wanted to have an episode where I could wear my hair natural.
So after I left the show, that was it. I was done with heat. Pressing your hair breaks it down, just like any other process. And so there would be sections that, after washing, wouldn’t go back kinky. Sections of it would completely go dead straight. So for the last 20 years, I’ve barely even put a blow dryer to it.
Oh yeah, I had dreads for 2 years. And, boy, was that an interesting process. I had them on Dennis Leary’s show “The Job.” I do love them, my son now has them, but they were just a bit too dull for me. They’re dull no matter what you use… the light just doesn’t bounce off of them, the beauty doesn’t transfer well to camera. Also, there wasn’t enough versatility for me. I have to be able to comb my bush. To feel the bush! I always admire them on others, but they’re not for me. If I ever do them again, I’ll definitely get Sister Locks. Because mine were thick and lumpy!
