Me, My Hair, and I

Hair matters because it’s always around, framing our faces, growing in, falling out, getting frizzy, changing colors—in short, demanding our attention:

It’s an early life lesson in basic grooming, a public window into the private household. In social science terms, hair is a signifier.

My hair and I have grown into ourselves and know what we’re about.

we took turns ironing each other’s tresses to suppress any bourgeois pro-­war tendencies toward curling

We get that hair is serious. It’s our glory, our nemesis, our history, our sexuality, our religion, our vanity, our joy, and our mortality

Hair matters because it’s always around, framing our faces, growing in, falling out, getting frizzy, changing colors—in short, demanding our attention: Comb me! Wash me! Relax me! Color me!

ASK A WOMAN about her hair, and she just might tell you the story of her life.

It’s like the medical field. Aside from people being born and dying, women will spend their last dime to get their hair done, so I’ll always have a job.