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proud southern matriarch, Miss Jessie was, the most "tell-it-like-it-is"
woman her family ever knew. She was also the "cookinist" woman in Poughkeepsie,
chuckled her granddaughter Titi. Never one to hold her tongue, Miss Jessie
reserved her most colorful commentary for two subjects: good food and good grooming.
It wasn't uncommon that her food and hair preparations contained some of the same
ingredients. If Miss Jessie couldn't find what she wanted in a local shop, she'd
figure out a way to make it herself (right at her kitchen table).
Miss
Jessie never worked from recipe books and had excellent dexterity. She was a "common
sense" type of person. Able to identify a problem and create a solution,
Miss Jessie use to whip up an egg and mayonaise treatment when her granddaughters
complained about their hair. Many of her preparations included remedies for hair
and beauty which she shared with her family.
Years
later, two of her grand daughters, Titi and Miko would go on to specialize in
curls, kinks and waves. Born to an African American father and a Japanese mother,
Titi and Miko had a head full of hair that was neither straight nor kinky with
a combination of different textures. Back then both of their parents worked
full time and attended school. This left no time to care for their hair.
"I loved going to visit my grandmother Jessie because she took a special
interest in our hair when our parents could not. We lived 3 hours away from Jessie
and she would send her preparations home with us in jars. So when "Picture
Day" came and we wanted to look cute, we relied on her preparations to do
our hair."
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