Me, My Hair, and I: Twenty-Seven Women Untangle an Obsession - Paperback

by Elizabeth Benedict (Author)

"[A] splendid collection . . . By turns wry, tender, pointed, and laugh-out-loud funny." --Publishers Weekly

"Untangles the many truths about hair, and the lives we lead underneath it." --Pamela Druckerman, author of Bringing Up Bébé

Ask a woman about her hair, and she just might tell you the story of her life. Ask a whole bunch of women about their hair, and you could get a history of the world. Surprising, insightful, frequently funny, and always forthright, the essays in Me, My Hair, and I are reflections and revelations about every aspect of women's lives from family, race, religion, and motherhood to culture, health, politics, and sexuality.

They take place in African American kitchens, at Hindu Bengali weddings, and inside Hasidic Jewish homes. The conversation is intimate and global at once. Layered into these reminiscences are tributes to influences throughout history: Jackie Kennedy, Lena Horne, Farrah Fawcett, the Grateful Dead, and Botticelli's Venus.

The long and the short of it is that our hair is our glory--and our nemesis, our history, our self-esteem, our joy, our mortality. Every woman knows that many things in life matter more than hair, but few bring as much pleasure as a really great hairdo.

Front Jacket

Hair matters. And these writers go to great lengths to help us understand why.

Adriana Trigiani on trendy hair:
"I figure when Madonna gets scared about changing her hair, something is about to blow again, like Vesuvius."

Marita Golden on black hair:
"Black women's hair is knotted and gnarled byissues of race, politics, history, and pride."

Anne Kreamer on going gray:
"Much to my surprise, when I stopped coloring my hair, time began to slow down, in a good way."

Maria Hinojosa on curly hair:
"As I came to accept and even love my wild hair, it became a way for me to feel power that I had never experienced."

Alex Kuczynski on waxing:
"'Very beautiful.' I will never forget those words. I associate them with shock and vulnerability--and chafing."

Deborah Feldman on covering hair:
"Eventually I threw away my wigs. I abandoned the community that had forced me to wear them."

Suleika Jaouad on lost hair:
"Chemotherapy is a take-no-prisoners stylist."

Patricia Volk on products:
"High-functioning hair obsessives rarely go it alone. We have a team. The products, the people."

"Untangles the many truths about hair, and the lives we lead underneath it." --Pamela Druckerman, author of Bringing Up Bébé

"[A] splendid collection . . . By turns wry, tender, pointed, and laugh-out-loud funny." --Publishers Weekly