Black hair has always been more than just hair to us. It’s intrinsic to who we are; personal, intimate, “it’s a means of personal, artistic expression”. Our hair has signified political movements and imprinted on mainstream media. It tells a story as it is “a window on the soul of black America.” Bert Ashe’s memoir delves into not only his personal journal with locs, but the history of them as well. 

Black hair makes a statements and locs are a style that always seem to cause the most conversation. Ashe is candid about his journey to loving his hair during the “fuzzy” stage of his loc journey and the reaction his hair garnered from his colleagues, family, and friends. As a professor that was known for his close cut, his decision to grow locs came as a shock to some and a breeding ground for unnecessary feedback from a handful. Bert does an excellent job of providing background on dreadlock’s origin, their golden era, and the black icons that helped make the style mainstream.   

I loved the conversation surrounding the hot topic of why (or why not) the style should still be called dreadlocks or locs. In many cases, “dread” has been dropped because nothing about our hair is dreadful (and I agree with that fact), however factually that was the Rastafarians intent when they named the style. It was meant to inspire dread, fear in their opposition. The name served its purpose as the media still many years later crafted a harmful narrative around loc’d individuals. The urge to reclaim/rename the style to have the opposite affect is an unfortunate side affect of white supremacy. If our hair inspires fear and we’ve seen what that fear can lead to, then something has to change right?  

Before we had CxH, Saba, SiR and Skip Marley there was the Rastafarians, Bob Marley, and Whoopi Goldberg. Steeped in wit, humor, and history, Twisted is an ode to the beauty of black hair and man’s journey to loving every stage of it.