Me, My Hair, and I

These twenty-seven "hair pieces" offer up 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, 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 itemizes her seventeen hair care products, each with a price tag. Myla 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.