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Living in a predominantly middle-working class black neighborhood, I can tell you that moderation IS NOT the order of the day. I get a lot of women who gush over my hair and ask me how to get my kind of hair. Sometimes that makes me really uncomfortable, especially when they say 'good hair' eeewww... I'm glad I was not brought that way.

My Midwest experience is probably a step beyond this.

It's about working with what God gave you.

Yes I agree. I find that locks tend to be distasteful among some people because of its association with 'pot smoking rastas'. I think a lot of it is in womens' minds as to what they think they will look like without the artifical stuff. I find it personally liberating to not waste time fussing with the hair. Having said that. God gave me stubby lookin fingers so I wear nail tips... which I think next to hair is another obsession with my neighbors. It's all good though. I do not want to get all political about ones hairstyle the way many people did in the Sixties. I will say that many black women who shop where I work are not relaxing their hair anymore because I do not.