jheri curl

plural jheri curls

1. Alternative letter-case form of Jheri curl.

   Richard’s jheri curls were a black corona around his face.

   2004, Peter Plate, chapter 2, in Fogtown: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Seven Stories Press, →ISBN, page 16

   2 more examples

   We improved the process and enabled salon owners to do more than one jheri curl a day.

   1989 June, Derek T. Dingle, quoting Ed Gardner, “Soft Sheen’s Triangle of Trade”, in Earl G. Graves, editor, Black Enterprise, volume 19, number 11, New York, N.Y.: Earl G. Graves Publishing Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 230, column 2

   In the South jheri curls were just appearing on the hair horizon. One Friday when I jumped into my barber’s chair to get a trim, she suggested I try a jheri curl. I was game, despite the fact that most of the women I knew hated jheri curls on men and called men who wore them “bamas,” a term short for Alabamas, which meant real country.

   2003 August, E. Lynn Harris, chapter 9, in What Becomes of the Brokenhearted: A Memoir, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, →ISBN, pages 126–127

plural Jheri curls · alternative Jeri curl · alternative Jerry curl · alternative jerry curl · alternative jheri curl

1. A hairstyle popular with the African-American community in the 1980s, giving a glossy, loosely curled look.

   Eye shadow but no lipstick, Jheri curl drying out.

   2014, Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings, Oneworld Publications (2015), page 517

   2 more examples

   Today's temperature's gonna rise up over 100 degrees, so there's a Jheri curl alert! That's right, Jheri curl alert. If you have a Jheri curl, stay in the house or you'll end up with a permanent black helmet on your head fuh-eva!

   1989, Spike Lee, Do the Right Thing, spoken by Mister Senor Love Daddy (Samuel L. Jackson)

   His little Jheri curl shined under the car's light. He looked hood.

   2020, Romeo Conway, Stop Faking for Stripes, Trafford Publishing, →ISBN