Bad Hair Day

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

   I know that Jane Pauley has stated that she coined it in the 1980s on the Today show.  I'd talk with her about it.  She may have said it, not remembering where she had  picked it up.
   An African-American origin appears compelling.
   Ntozake Shange (who also wrote FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF) published the book NAPPY EDGES in 1979.
   In 1986, Tawnya Pettiford-Wates (who had starred in FOR COLORED GIRLS...) dramatized NAPPY EDGES in Seattle.  One number in the show was titled "Bad Hair Blues."
   In 1988, Spike Lee came out with the film SCHOOL DAZE.  One number in that film was "Straight & Nappy," a story about "good hair" and "bad hair."  Lee's film came out in May 1988, and the Houston Chronicle's "bad hair day" citation comes not far behind.
   A check of the songs "Bad Hair Blues" and "Straight & Nappy" should straighten this out, or get this etymology out of my hair, so to speak.