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

Curl up with these “astonishingly good essays” about hair and its many meanings by Anne Lamott, Suleika Jaouad, Maria Hinojosa, Marita Golden, and more (People). 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. 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. Also layered into these intimate reminiscences are tributes to influences from Farrah Fawcett to 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. “A deliciously enlightening read, equal parts fun and poignant.” —Chicago Tribune “Explores a surprising range of issues, including identity, relationships, vanity, femininity, aging, and society.” —The New York Times “Untangles the many truths about hair, and the lives we lead underneath it.” —Pamela Druckerman, New York Times-bestselling author of Bringing Up Bébé “[A] splendid collection . . . By turns wry, tender, pointed, and laugh-out-loud funny.” —Publishers Weekly