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Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America
Ayana Byrd and Lori Tharps
Review by Carla Robinson
If you want your hair to grow, cut it only during a full moon. If you let more
than one person at a time do your hair, the youngest one will die. Always burn the hair in
your comb, or someone could use it to drive you crazy. Sound familiar? Authors Ayana Byrd
and Lori Tharps list these and other Black hair superstitions in Hair Story, their
engaging perspective of Black hair’s long and winding road through America. The book
demonstrates that from its roots in ancient Africa, to its flirtation with Black power, to
this side of the Jheri curl, no other ethnic characteristic has traveled such a
fascinating path. As the authors deftly point out, for a configuration of keratin, Black
hair has certainly lead a life of its own.
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Byrd and Tharps do a remarkable job of
detailing that life. Using illustrations, humorous tidbits and first person accounts to
pepper their prose, they demystify our love/hate relationship with our hair. Hair Story
begins with the grooming practices and hair rituals of ancient Africa, where one’s
hairstyle was indicative of tribe, marital status, religious belief and social standing.
It moves on to the antebellum South and the obliteration of African grooming rituals.
Post-slavery, it explores their gradual replacement with new ones informed by both
American racism and that stubborn brand of African-American ingenuity. Its discussion of
Madame C. J. Walker clears up many misconceptions about a time that forever changed the
way Black women, in particular, style and groom their hair. M
May 2001 |
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