Check out the full review at Kritters Ramblings

A book that focuses on something that mostly affects women and each woman has good moments and not so good moments with it - HAIR! There are good hair days and bad hair days and maybe even bad hair months or years! Each woman has a relationship with their own head of hair and through our lifetime we make changes for different moments in our lives and they tell a lot about ourselves and the people we are.

Like in all short story collections, there were a few stories I enjoyed less than others. BUT there were some stories that I completely adored. I loved the stories that made me think about women with different hair and background as I do and how that defines them.

Hair is a symbol of identity: social status, sexuality, politics. This collection of short essays by women about their hair and what it means is just lovely. We hear from women across the globe, telling the history of their own hair coupled with the history of hair in their cultures. We hear from women who lose their hair from chemotherapy. We hear from women who spent their childhoods wishing their hair were anything but what it is.

I enjoyed the first half of this collection of essays much more than the second, though I think it's because I lost patience with the topic. Or, I don't know, I felt like the essayists became more pretentious as the book went on? And, as entertaining and interesting as many of them were, 27 essays is a lot of hair. I tried to read this slowly - just one-to-two essays a day - but maybe even more slowly would have been better.

I would like to have seen a little bit better national representation in this book. I would say that 90%+ of the essayists are from New York. The rest moved there as young adults. How about one by a dark-haired "outcast" among California's stereotypical blonds?

While the concept of the book was interesting, I wish there was more diversity represented, perhaps some international perspectives on hair as well as American. There should have been more diversity among classes too because not everyone can afford to go to a hair stylist. I just got bored by the barrage of white women trying to make themselves into movie stars.

3.5

Hair....


Most women fight it. Some love it. Some even just embrace it's many moods. We all have hair stories though.
This book is some of those stories.
And it's actually quite good.


Because I tell you, you take a person with fluffy, wiry hair like mine and you put her in a convertible with the top down, the person gets out of the car looking like Buckwheat. Or Don King. It helps in one way to wear a hat, but when you take it off you have terrible hat hair-It looks like a cartoon mouse has been driving a little steamroller around your head.


(This story is not in the book but it's one that immediately came to mind for me.)
I remember when actress Keri Russell cut her hair..she went from this..

to this...

and people totally flipped out. Her show that she was on at the time even suffered in the ratings because of it.

There is some serious stories to this book as dealing with "chemo hair" and the fact that black women feel like they have to spend a fortune on their hair.


Then there is one story in particular that talks about the "other hair" that women deal with.
A friend told her about this..
"Women should vajazzle their vajayjays." It made her feel better, she said, after a nasty break-up.
A brief aside on what vajazzling entails: someone strips all the hair off your vulva, labia, and anus and then glues crystals or pearls in some sort of decorative motif in place of the hair.

First of all: Don't google this (Or the phrase "Willie Nelson vagina tattoo.") You can't unsee it.

You guys have no idea how bad I wanted to include that Willie Nelson vagina tattoo in this review. Because you know I looked. Just like I know you are gonna look.

Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.


None of my friends have read this book yet..but reviewers should still be superstars. So I'm including this review.

3.5!
This book was really interesting and definitely made me think of my relationship with my hair and wonder what my relationship will be with it tomorrow, in 10 days, or in 10 years. I think this is a great for any women to read at any age.

Enjoyable and relatable, Me, My Hair and I is a book that all women will find something to laugh out loud over, say "I thought I was the only one" over and wonder over. Hair is so many things to us: political, sexual, individual, conforming. Apparently how we do our hair and the hair choices we make say a lot of things about us and for many women those choices indicate freedom (and sadly at times its lack). While all ages and several races are included, the absence of gay hair leaves us to long-held social stereotypes. It would have been great to hear the hairstory of a gay woman but I guess that'll have to wait. Overall it's a good read and perfect for dipping in and out of as time allows.