From the Kitchen to the Parlor: Language and Becoming in African American Women's Hair Care (Studies in Language and Gender) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is an academic book, so the information presented is often dry and densely packed. However, I found that by reading it carefully, I felt I gained insights into the hair care world that I had only just suspected before. I guess it gave my hair-dresser paranoia a bit more fuel, but I found it enlightening at the same time. Though hair is just something that grows out of our head (if we are lucky, that is), it can often times be highly politically charged, especially for those of us of African descent. Jacobs-Huey delves mostly into the world of black hair dressers to study this interaction. She explores their world, and how they use language to take the care of black hair out of the hands of black women. They frequently do this through making their profession almost like a religion, complete with jargon that's used to exclude the "uninitiated". Though there has been much literature about hair, as well as the politics of black hair, Jacobs-Huey actually explores the conversations between white women, hair dressers of both races, and black women about hair care. She notes the meaning behind what at first glance appears to be simple conversations between women about hair, but upon analyzing them, she points out the politically loaded subtext within them. It becomes a sort of game loaded with meanings that often times one side is totally oblivious to. It also shows the dance between politeness, getting needs met, politics, racism, and self-expression women of different races and positions engage in around the topic of hair. Jacobs-Huey acts as documenter to the give and take conversations, revealing how women talk to each other about hair, rather than writing a one-sided political discourse on a particular philosophy of hair. I dropped out of letting professionals care for my hair a long time ago. So I found it fascinating to "infiltrate" (through Jacob-Huey's book) the world of black hair care professionals who believe that the care of a woman's hair should not be left to the novice. They use language to erect a barrier (rather than for true communication) so that the lay-person is excluded from understanding discussions about her own hair. This book illuminates the power struggle that goes on for who truly has control over a black woman's hair.

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When is hair "just hair" and when is it not "just hair"? Documenting the politics of African American women's hair, this multi-sited linguistic ethnography explores everyday interaction in beauty parlors, Internet discussions, comedy clubs, and other contexts to illuminate how and why hair matters in African American women's day-to-day experiences.

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