Hair: Public, Political, Extremely Personal [Hardcover]

Diane Simon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 8, 2000

Cut it, color it, perm it, shave it, braid it, wax it, highlight it, mousse it, gel it, brush it and brush it and brush it...

What don't we do to our hair?

Diane Simon is fascinated by people's relationship with their hair because it is both very personal one and very public. She recognizes that so much of who we are is reflected in our relationship with our hair.

Diane is the curly-haired daughter of straight haired parents and has suffered much for her "bad hair". In researching and writing Hair: Public, Political, Extremely Personal she has used her suffering as a point of entry, a common ground to share with those who think of themselves as excluded from Western beauty norms because of their hair.

In Hair: Public, Political, Extremely Personal, social and cultural issues form the backdrop for an exploration of the choices people make to transform themselves through their hair. Hair is a cultural investigation with a strong narrative momentum and a commitment to individual personalities. Join Diane on her visits to Harlem braiding salons and Hassidic wig shops, and in her quest to try every type of hair removal. Spend an afternoon with Sy Sperling at the Hair Club for Men headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida, and find out the truth about some celebrity scalps. Hair: Public, Political, Extremely Personal is candid, humorous, serious, and surprisingly revealing.

Cut It, Curl It, Weave It, Bleach It, Condition It, Implant It, Blowdry It, Spray It, Tint It, Comb It, Rat It, Bob It, Perm It, Braid It, Coif It, Gel It, Wig It, Fake It, Knot It, Pull It, Dye It, Highlight It, Wave It, Shampoo It, Straighten It, Pluck It, Color It, Wax It, Clip It, Shave It, Thread It, Mousse It, Depilitorize It, Tweeze It, Hide It, Laser It, Tease It, Trim It, Chop It, Wash It, Dry It, Brush It And Brush It And Brush It And Brush It And Brush It And Brush It And Brush It And Brush It And Brush It And Brush It And Brush It And Brush It And Brush It And Brush It And Brush It And Brush It And Brush It And Brush It And Brush It And Brush It And Brush It And Brush It

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A longtime sufferer of "low hair esteem," which she blames on her "frizzy" locks, Simon sets out to uncover the complex forces that have shaped the nation's relationship to hair. According to Simon, the "hippie hair" that caught the country's attention in the 1960s was a revolt not only against the status quo, represented by the hardened, false perfection of the bouffant, but also against the longstanding precedent of Judeo-Christian culture, established with Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, in which he sets out the "righteous" norm for hair--short for men and long for women. Simon moves on to consider a rather dizzying array of hair-related history, including Roman depilatory practices in the days of Caesar, the ways in which traditional African hairdressing techniques were preserved and altered during slavery and rabbinical interpretations of the Talmudic dictums on covering the hair. While Simon displays a journalist's eye for detail as she leads us through Harlem braiding salons and Brooklyn wig shops, when it comes to figuring out what all the hair fuss is about, she often comes up short. (After a long section on the difficulties that male cross-dressers face in passing as women, she decides that "Guys dressed like girls are not, after all, girls.") Strands of hair aren't quite enough to hold all this burgeoning information together; in the end, Simon seems bewildered as she remarks, "I have written this book, my hair is getting longer... I'm not sure what happens next." It's a dissatisfying close to what turns out to be, despite its fun sociological tidbits, a thin treatment. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The prevalence of the expression "having a bad hair day" is just one of myriad indicators of how important hair is to our sense of well-being. Chronically "bad" hair, which most often means coarse and frizzy, such as that possessed by Simon herself, has unflattering connotations of primitiveness. This prejudice has greatly impacted African Americans, and Simon explores the racial connotations of hair with admirable candor and sly hipness. Sexism, religious intolerance, politics, and fashion also come into play over the course of this illuminating history. Simon assesses the rage for bobbed hair in the 1920s, bouffants in the 1950s, and the long and liberated hippie hair and Afros of the 1960s. Moving back and forth in time and across oceans, she considers hair-related religious precepts, various attitudes toward body hair and baldness, grooming techniques mild and terrorizing, and all the tangled and ever-evolving perceptions that define our notions of beauty and sex appeal, conformity and rebellion, positive self-images and chronic dissatisfaction. Donna Seaman

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; First Edition edition (April 8, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312208936
• ISBN-13: 978-0312208936
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,502,754 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Calling All Mammals, April 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Hair: Public, Political, Extremely Personal (Hardcover)

I came to this book with an interest in Diane Simon's fantastic on-the-scene reporting--face to face with the founder of Hair Club for Men, side by side with cross-dressers having their hair removed, in the company of wigmakers, hair braiders, hair sellers, high-end stylists and working-class beauticians. Simon introduces her readers to a fabulous array of intriguing characters bound by their concern with hair--too much or too little, too curly or too straight. If the book were just that--a piece of reportage--it'd be worth the cover price for Simon's humor and fine style alone.

But what makes this book remarkable, and deserving of five stars, is Simon's ability to bring the insights of cultural theory to bear without ever losing hold of the attention of even a casual reader. She's an empathetic writer, and a smart one. You may not think you have anything to learn from a white man getting hair implants or a black woman getting hair extensions or a drag queen getting her facial hair literally shocked off, but in Simon's hands each of these characters become mirrors for everyday anxieties, hopes, and history.

This isn't just a book about wacky hair--it's about race and gender in America, a story that cuts close to core questions about identity and appearence. As it finds the readership it deserves, it may well turn out to be one of the really important books of the year, pointing toward a new way of asking questions about how we live that's funny as well as deeply perceptive.

4.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Book!, January 6, 2012

By 

gingeroses - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hair: Public, Political, Extremely Personal (America's Hair Obsessions) (Paperback)

As someone who has also struggled with her hair growing up, I related greatly to this author. This book was intensely fascinating and I learned a lot about the significance of hair in Western, particularly North American, culture. I never knew what an impact hair has had on the world in it's many forms, or what a focal point it truly is in society and the author delivered this news in a funny yet sophisticated and scholarly manner. If you have the time to spare to learn more about this surprisingly interesting thing we call "hair" I certainly suggest this read.