Dennis "Denny Moe" Mitchell
In the mid 1980’s when I really got into the hair cutting business, if you could not cut an afro you might as well hang up your clippers, find another trade, take up wood shop or become a mechanic or something. You really needed to know how to cut a decent afro because in Harlem men were not recognized as grown men if you didn’t sport an afro at some point in your life. Now don’t get me wrong, there were some jacked up afros…plenty of them. As kids who were born in the 1960’s, our parents generation tried to pass the afro look on toes, and we took it in stride. Unless you had that good hair, that Smokey Robinson “My Girl” hair, many kids had to use those steel metal afro picks to comb out those “knaps”. Let’s face it, majority of us had that Jim Kelly, Jim Brown and Fred “The Hammer” Williamson “Three the hard way” hair. That Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier “Let’s do it again” hair. I would have loved to cut an afro of any of these legendary gentlemen. In the 1970’s the afros they wore were a piece of work! Perfect symmetry was not a necessity back then. Most of these men had that coarse afro American tight hair.
Overtime I began to perfect the blowout that became to talk of the town. First of all, I incorporated the chemical blowout into my repertoire and with this I was able to relax the hair. Most barbers back then, and to a point still today, do not wash and shampoo their customers’ hair. Without this you cannot achieve a blowout to compete with mine on your best day! I had a distinct advantage because I was able to work with the true length of the afro and create that “mink” look. My chemical blowout finished off an outfit bought from A.J. Lester’s clothing shop uptown; maybe a pair of double knit pants, a mock neck and a quarter field coat. Now you are ready to hit an afterhours spot and get your “mack” on!
The reason my blowout was such a hit, was because I was able to quickly determine my customers texture of hair and determine what length it needed it to be to sustain the perfect blowout afro. After the chemical wash, the hair would get thinner than normal so I had to carefully blow dry the afro without pulling from the root. I always made sure to grease the scalp to protect the hair because of the heat from the dryer. Now you have this long afro and to “mink” it out you have to cut a little off, because there is nothing worse than having a slanted or crooked afro… With thick hair, you can blowout all day because it will stay strong, like my man C.O. Strong and Cool Cal. Since Strong had problems seeing me regularly to get a Denny Moe Blowout, he started to grow dreads. That’s how important a correct blowout was for him.
Another key to my blowout, was knowing how long to work on the cut. Some barbers “disturb the cut and push their luck”. In order to produce a perfect 360 round blowout afro, you have to get in and get out. Once the clippers start to get too hot in your hands, it’s a wrap. Try to keep a cut to 20 minutes. If I get to 40 minutes, I would put the clippers down and pick up the liner and do the hairline and go back to the clippers after they cool off. Just remember, the afro is nothing but a silhouette. Just concentrate on the roundness of the cut, that’s all the customer cares about. I had the ability to tailor make a cut. I was “bespoke” in my own right and most of all I was a great finisher of a cut. When I finished, you knew you were just blessed with a Denny Moe Chemical Afro blowout. So let’s take pride in what we do and keep our customers looking great.
In the mid 1980’s when I really got into the hair cutting business, if you could not cut an afro you might as well hang up your clippers, find another trade, take up wood shop or become a mechanic or something. You really needed to know how to cut a decent afro because in Harlem men were not recognized as grown men if you didn’t sport an afro at some point in your life. Now don’t get me wrong, there were some jacked up afros…plenty of them. As kids who were born in the 1960’s, our parents generation tried to pass the afro look on toes, and we took it in stride. Unless you had that good hair, that Smokey Robinson “My Girl” hair, many kids had to use those steel metal afro picks to comb out those “knaps”. Let’s face it, majority of us had that Jim Kelly, Jim Brown and Fred “The Hammer” Williamson “Three the hard way” hair. That Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier “Let’s do it again” hair. I would have loved to cut an afro of any of these legendary gentlemen. In the 1970’s the afros they wore were a piece of work! Perfect symmetry was not a necessity back then. Most of these men had that coarse afro American tight hair.Overtime I began to perfect the blowout that became to talk of the town. First of all, I incorporated the chemical blowout into my repertoire and with this I was able to relax the hair. Most barbers back then, and to a point still today, do not wash and shampoo their customers’ hair. Without this you cannot achieve a blowout to compete with mine on your best day! I had a distinct advantage because I was able to work with the true length of the afro and create that “mink” look. My chemical blowout finished off an outfit bought from A.J. Lester’s clothing shop uptown; maybe a pair of double knit pants, a mock neck and a quarter field coat. Now you are ready to hit an afterhours spot and get your “mack” on!
The reason my blowout was such a hit, was because I was able to quickly determine my customers texture of hair and determine what length it needed it to be to sustain the perfect blowout afro. After the chemical wash, the hair would get thinner than normal so I had to carefully blow dry the afro without pulling from the root. I always made sure to grease the scalp to protect the hair because of the heat from the dryer. Now you have this long afro and to “mink” it out you have to cut a little off, because there is nothing worse than having a slanted or crooked afro… With thick hair, you can blowout all day because it will stay strong, like my man C.O. Strong and Cool Cal. Since Strong had problems seeing me regularly to get a Denny Moe Blowout, he started to grow dreads. That’s how important a correct blowout was for him.
Another key to my blowout, was knowing how long to work on the cut. Some barbers “disturb the cut and push their luck”. In order to produce a perfect 360 round blowout afro, you have to get in and get out. Once the clippers start to get too hot in your hands, it’s a wrap. Try to keep a cut to 20 minutes. If I get to 40 minutes, I would put the clippers down and pick up the liner and do the hairline and go back to the clippers after they cool off. Just remember, the afro is nothing but a silhouette. Just concentrate on the roundness of the cut, that’s all the customer cares about. I had the ability to tailor make a cut. I was “bespoke” in my own right and most of all I was a great finisher of a cut. When I finished, you knew you were just blessed with a Denny Moe Chemical Afro blowout. So let’s take pride in what we do and keep our customers looking great.
No comments:
Post a Comment