In the Harper household, Thanksgiving was always the prep and precursor event to what the following day held. After getting stuffed on mac and cheese and hot water cornbread, the morning after was an even better dessert than my mom’s sweet potato pie (don’t let Momma Harper know I told y’all that).
Black Friday.
It’s the perfect time to shop for Christmas gifts without entirely breaking the bank. The moment for unbelievable sales was back again like the fall season’s Grim Reaper, and it was much easier for my siblings and me to bend our parents’ ear for that item that we just had to have.
Now that I’ve grown up a bit and work, I can participate in the festivities with my own money to buy presents for my family and friends.
This morning, I scoped the scenery with my Klarna up and ready for use before my smile immediately dropped. For some reason, I wasn’t seeing those ‘unbelievable sales’ my parents saw a few years ago.
While my mom was faced with 80 percent off TVs, the sale most exemplified on my timeline was 30 percent off Cécred products.
If you know anything about Cécred, you know it’s Beyoncé’s haircare line that the internet can’t get enough of. Hoping I could snag some of the ‘magical drops’ for my sister that everyone seems to be loving, I was disappointed to see that the $56 drops were still $56 even though the entire site was supposed to be 30 percent off.
Hm, okay, maybe this item is not included in the deal.
Don’t worry, shoppers, it’s worth it because if you add another item, you can get the discount, and if you get to $75, you can get a free comb too…right.
It was irritating, but not at all surprising.
Though some customers may not have an issue with the sale price, as a college student, I can’t justify still paying over $30 for hair oil. It reminds me of a social media video I did in my sophomore year, bringing awareness to the affordability of hair products for Black college students. An issue that continues to persist.
Companies like Camille Rose announced that their entire site is $10 or lower which has gotten me in the past with Donna’s Recipe’s sale in previous Black Fridays and today—if you haven’t tried or smelled their Sweet Potato Pie Extra Creamy Hair Cream for a twist-out, you must!
However, the bad deals this year do not stop at hair care.
Most girls can agree with me on this, but it seems like every five seconds, I need to buy new bras. In this economy, wearing the same bra that you’ve had since high school with some new ones in rotation is where I’m at right now.
Not wearing a bra could be in defiance of the patriarchy, but the price for them seems most definitely a defiance against women who need them.
During a time when companies are capitalizing on subscriptions that customers can sign up for to get a lower price, in the end, the deal is still ridiculous. A black bra should absolutely not be over fifty bucks. A 40 percent off discount once a year does not change that.
Even if you buy an affordable bra from Walmart, the guarantee that it could survive after a month is a fate left up to nature.
In any timeline, being a girl has its aggressive disagreements, from haircare to bras. Hopefully, we can get a Black Friday that is once again worth it.