Vroege Recensenten

Ask a whole bunch of women about their hair, and you could get a history of the world: reflections and revelations about family, race, religion, ritual, culture, motherhood, politics, celebrity, what goes on in African American kitchens and at Hindu Bengali weddings, alongside stories about the influence of Jackie Kennedy, Lena Horne, Madonna, Farrah Fawcett, and the Grateful Dead. Layered into these essays you’ll find surprises, insights, hilarity, and the resonance of common experience. Marita Golden writes about her grief over what so many African American women still endure to obtain “good hair.” Patricia Volk opens the cabinet under her sink for us–and itemizes her seventeen hair care products, each with a price tag. Anne Kreamer writes about how she came to go gray and love it. Deborah Feldman reveals why she left the Hasidic Jewish community that required her to cover her hair. Myra Goldberg tells of how ill equipped she was to tend the hair of her adopted biracial daughter. And Suleika Jaouad describes the ravages of chemotherapy and the empowerment of shaving designs onto her head. These writers know that a woman’s hair is her glory, her nemesis, her history, her sexuality, as well as her religion, her self-esteem, and her mortality. Women know that there are many things in life that matter more than hair, but few that bring as much pleasure as a really great hairdo.