4 out of 4 stars
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What if your hair could talk? Would it be your best friend, happy to hang out with you because of how well you treat it? Or would it be irate, screaming at you for your terrible treatment of it? That's the basis of "Who You Calling 'Nappy Head'?" by Talita Bay, and learning about the awful, inhumane treatments hair goes through from the perspective of the hair itself can change how anyone feels about their hair.
"Who You Calling 'Nappy Head'?" tells the story of Natural, a head of hair belonging to an unnamed girl from her birth to adulthood. The book begins with Natural's birth, and soon after she forms a bond with the girl she's attached to (a girl she refers to as "friend"). She, like any one of us as a child, loved hearing her mother tell her stories as a kid and thought of herself as Princess Natural Hair with the strength of Samson's hair (Mighty Hair!). Unfortunately, their relationship was changed forever when kids at school started calling her Nappy Head. When her friend gets home she immediately binds her in elastic bands and days later she's brought before "judge hairdresser" and things go downhill from there.
After her first visit to the hairdresser, Natural is put through all sorts of horrible torture treatments over numerous years trying to get her under control. Many treatments are given their own chapters, such as The Rack which talks about braiding to punish her for her "frizzy behavior". Then there's Burned at the Stake in which a heated straightening comb is used. Natural says this is especially awful as it's done in her own room, a place she always considered positive and safe with her friend. All the while, Natural details the horrific treatments, comparing them to various torture treatments used on people through the ages.
This short book (60 pages according to Amazon) is funny, unique and does a fantastic job of showing how badly different ordinary, everyday treatments of hair really are. While the book covers some more elaborate treatments (hair dye and salon hair relaxer treatments, for example), there are also things many folks use on a regular basis (such as using a hair straightener or blow-dryer). Natural's torture is described in such a way that it's easy to empathize with it and never want to hurt your hair again!
While the book is aimed at women, since in general women are the ones most pressured to make their hair into something it's not, I fell in love with the humor and concept of this book and had to pick it up to review. I liked that Talita did mention a few times in the book that men care about hair too; in the Preface, for example, Talita points out the wigs men wore in court and in government (like George Washington!). While I was never one to care much treating my hair, I did always love having my hair long and felt it helped give me the "nerdy computer programmer" look. I kept it even though people often assumed I was a woman when they saw me from behind, and even kept it when I received the surprise that my hairline was receding. Hair was also a big part of my early relationship with my now-fiancée; we were in a long-distance relationship and she told me that she thought shaved heads looked good on guys, so in the middle of the night (long after midnight) I cut my long hair and spent over an hour buzzing and shaving it. It was the first time in as long as I could remember that I didn't have long hair, and it was liberating!
"Who You Calling 'Nappy Head'?" was the perfect length to not get repetitive or boring, and it maintained fresh, humorous and oddly-relatable the entire time. It was also perfectly edited and easy to read, even for folks like me who have never been to a salon, although people who frequent them will get even more out of the book. My official rating is 4 out of 4 stars.
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"Who You Calling 'Nappy Head'?"
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