Cunningham, Michael, and George Alexander - Queens: Portraits of Black Women and Their Fabulous Hair

[oyceter]

Like Cunningham's Crowns (same photographer, different interviewer), this is a a gorgeous book of photography coupled with personal interviews, only this time, it is on... hair! Yes, Actual Black Women (tm) talking about their Actual Hair (tm)! Hopefully those tormented by curiosity about the subject will at least read this instead of springing unwelcome questions on random Black women.

You can see many of the portraits on his webiste, and they really are gorgeous. But as with Crowns, I love the interviews the most. This book has a larger age and geographical range than Crowns, probably because I got the sense in Crowns that church hats were not being picked up as much by the younger generation (is this true?). I also love that he has several Ghanan women from a hair-braiding school included. There are pictures of women in their every-day hair, pictures of women in showcase hair, pictures of women in ceremonial hair. And there are also pictures of the hairdressers themselves, along with interviews.

There's discussion of natural hair and good hair and "nappy" hair and "bad" hair, of jheri curls and afros and straight perms and locs and braids and cornrows and ringlets (and one mohawk, yay), dyeing and cutting and shaving, and the importance of the local hairdresser and barbershop. There are stories from women of all ages, all of whom have decided to do different things to their hair for different reasons.

It's just a lovely collection; go read. Or if you can't find it, definitely visit his site and check out the pictures.

Comments

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

I've watched the debates and controversies over black women and their hair over the years. It's been several years, but I vaguely remember a case of a woman who worked for an airline receiving a poor score on her employee evaluation for deciding not to straighten her hair. That makes me sad, that someone would have to force their hair to fit a particular standard of beauty to keep a job.
At this point in my life (age 45), I've come to the conclusion that women of all races experience hair frustration. It's so hard to be happy with the hair that we've got that we torture it into something else. I've had my share of horrible perms, and I will never have the long, flowing to the waist, waves that I've dreamed of. Like it or not, my hair is best short.
I also think about all those women on What Not to Wear who still wear the exact same hairstyle they've had for 20 years, damaging their hair to make it be the way they've been convinced it ought to be, rather than what looks good on them.
That said, I'm fighting the gray for as long as I can possibly get away with it. :-/

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

Just to add, my long flowing hair envy bit me again while I was watching Watchmen. Malin Ackerman's hair as Laurie Jupiter was so pretty, just the kind of style I always wanted.

(Message to myself: Do not try again to grow your hair out. It will fail. Just don't. You know it's never going to happen.)

[oyceter]

At this point in my life (age 45), I've come to the conclusion that women of all races experience hair frustration.

I definitely agree that all women experience hair frustration, but I think that frustration is multiplied tenfold for black women, especially because their hair is politicized in a way that most women's is not. I mean, it is really annoying for me to know that all the hair care products in the store do not work so well on my hair, and ditto with the dyes, and that it's almost impossible to find a non-Asian hair person who knows how my hair works, but my choosing to perm my hair curly or straight is almost never seen as a "political" choice (a la Glamour's article last year on how afros were not suitable for the workplace because they were too "political").

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly. And that there can be material consequences related to how black women wear their hair is wrong. I remember years ago watching a Phil Donahue show in which Allen Toussaint talked about being an advisor for The Cosby Show (shows just how many years) and the debate they had over the mother and Rudy arguing about doing the daughter's hair and whether that was an appropriate scene to include because of these issues. And underlying the politics is the message of "your hair's not good enough; you're not good enough; torture yourself to mimic those who are good enough, but oh, you still won't be good enough." How can an ally fight that issue, I wonder, without being patronizing?

I'm fortunate. My hair issues have no impact beyond "Oh, Laurie changed her hair again." My dissatisfaction and frustration have no political element. At least not with my hair and ethnicity. It's all neurosis on my part.

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

Strike that. Fortunate is the wrong word. Rather, it is an element of my privilege that my hair issues are neurotic rather than politically charged.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Can I just derail for a moment and say I do not understand the kind of people who ask black women about their hair, or-- for that matter-- ask if adopted family members are 'real' brothers or sisters, or touch pregnant women's stomachs because apparently a baby bulge is community property? What the hell is wrong with people?

[delux-vivens.livejournal.com]

What the hell is wrong with people?

Entitlement run amok?

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

I don't know but I want people to stop.

[oyceter]

This makes me think of a video game title: Orc Hordes vs. Entitlement Run Amok!

[oyceter]

What the hell is wrong with people?

Ha, seriously! And yet every time someone is like, "'This is not ok," those people are like, "I do not understand what I did wrong!" *rolls eyes*

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

It's embarrassing.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

This sounds so great! (And it was fun paging through all of the "queens *" on the library system to find it, too.)

[oyceter]

Hee!

It is pretty awesome, and now I am sad I was not able to see his photography on exhibit.