Junior Tarina Spratt will not have to comb her hair for the rest of this quarter. Her braided head is designed purposely to avoid the inadequate options for African-American hair care in Athens.

"We can't just walk Uptown and get our hair done - it's a process," Spratt said. "If you're one of those untalented people who can't do your hair, you have to get braids or pony tails down here."

With a small supply of overpriced hair products and an even smaller number of trained stylists, many black OU students are forced to venture into larger cities to get their hair cut, relaxed, styled, and braided.

"A black hair salon would clean up in Athens," said Sophomore Azure Darby. "There are enough blacks down here for it."

Despite the 673 black students enrolled at OU, only a few of Athens hair salons regularly style and relax black hair. Few black students are willing to trust white hair dressers and barbers to cut and style their hair without first appraising their work, Spratt said.

None of the hairdressers employed by Station Street Hair Designs, 2 Station St., are trained to work on black hair, said stylist Debbie Cain. And though the salon carries both relaxers and conditioners, it only serves an average of one black customer a month.

"I think it would be nice if we had someone who could do black hair," Cain said.

Elza Metz, an employee of Hair Happening in Athens Plaza, said although the store only has two black customers a month, all of the store's hair dressers are trained to style black hair.

Regis Hairstylists, 10 S. Court St., serves 10 to 15 black customers a week, said store manager Ken Moore. While the majority of those customers get relaxers, many students also have their hair conditioned and trimmed, he said.

"We love doing African-American hair," Moore said. "Anytime we feel there is something we need for black hair we call the regional manager."

Moore said only three of his employees are able to style black hair, but the other hair dressers currently are being trained. In a recent seminar, sponsored by the Regis company, a black hair stylist from Cincinnati taught the store's employees about black hair.

"The styles change so fast, but we learn a lot from the customers," he said.

Many of OU's black male students also have a problem getting a decent haircut in Athens. But unlike black women, most black men cut their own hair or have other male students cut it for them.

"There is a problem, but it's nowhere near to the extent that women have," said sophomore Sam Gaston. "The biggest problem we have is catching up with the people (that cut our hair)."

Arthur Adam, a freshman computer science and engineering major, said he would never go to any of the barber shops Uptown because the barbers are not black.

"I'm going to let it grow until I find someone who knows what they're doing," Adam said.

Rick Pullin, an employee of Craig's Varsity Barber shop, 43 1/2 S. Court St., said cutting black hair is not much different than cutting white hair.

"Everyone's able (to cut black hair), they just don't come in," Pullin said. Pullin said the shop serves about six black customers a month.

Cecil Gillette, owner of Carsey's Barber shop, 72 N. Court St., said he gets about 48 black customers a month, including several regulars. "We get them anywhere from a shave to a trim," he said.

Despite the obvious difference between a professional and unprofessional haircut, Gaston said he does not see the point in visiting a barber shop. Because not many black students get their hair cut here, getting his hair cut in Athens is not a priority, he said.

This lower set of standards for both men and women at OU stems from the lack of black beauty salons and barber shops in the area, Spratt said. That absence also plays a role in the declining enrollment numbers for blacks into the university, she said.

As a member of the Multicultural Access Program, an annual seminar aimed at increasing the numbers of minorities at OU, Spratt said many of the visiting black students are concerned with hair care.

"They always ask 'Where do you get your hair done?'," she said. "It's embarrassing to tell them they can't."