Welcome Back, Booklovers! So Frizzy was put on my radar by Kiara Valdez over at First Second who edited this graphic novel.(In case you missed it I previously did an interview with her. Which you can check out here.) I've been trying to read more graphic novels and comics because one of my favorite childhood series is a comic. And there's so many unique stories you can tell through this medium. So thanks to First Second/Macmillan for this finished copy.
Frizzy is the story of Marlene, a young Dominican girl with big curly hair. Her mother drags her to the salon every Sunday to "tame" her curls by blowing them out. But Marlene secrets hates the salon days and she hates how her family always compares her to her perfect cousin. She dreams of the day she can let her curls be free and forms and plan to copy a hairstyle from Youtube.
The artwork truly does the heavy lifting here. It immediately sets the tone. Having grown up in a very Catholic Caribbean household the pictures of Jesus on the walls in the house reminded me so much of my mother's house growing up. I especially got a laugh out of Judging Jesus.
A lot of us have gone through this experience. I remember my mother insisting my hair needed relaxers because I didn't know how to take care of it. It was supposed to make it easier to manage. I remember Dominicans girls from the cosmetology class offering to give me a blow out. The days I fried it with the flat iron only to try and make curls with the curling iron to give my flat lifeless curls some body. That cousin with the "good" hair who made you feel bad about yours.
I liked that the text pointed out that the anti-Blackness and push for straight hair as acceptable was something passed through generations. And I loved the full circle moment at the end which reminded me so much of my own natural hair journey. I only wish I had an auntie as cool as Tia Ruby to help me through the trial and error of finding products that work.
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