Rapunzel's Daughters: What Women's Hair Tells Us about Women's Lives

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Macmillan, 2004 - Health & Fitness - 266 pages
The first book to explore the role of hair in women's lives and what it reveals about their identities, intimate relationships, and work lives
Hair is one of the first things other people notice about us--and is one of the primary ways we declare our identity to others. Both in our personal relationships and in relationships with the larger world, hair sends an immediate signal that conveys messages about our gender, age, social class, and more.
In "Rapunzel's Daughters," Rose Weitz first surveys the history of women's hair, from the covered hair of the Middle Ages to the two-foot-high, wildly ornamented styles of pre-Revolutionary France to the purple dyes worn by some modern teens. In the remainder of the book, Weitz, a prominent sociologist, explores--through interviews with dozens of girls and women across the country--what hair means today, both to young girls and to women; what part it plays in adolescent (and adult) struggles with identity; how it can create conflicts in the workplace; and how women face the changes in their hair that illness and aging can bring. "Rapunzel's Daughters" is a work of deep scholarship as well as an eye-opening and personal look at a surprisingly complex-and fascinating-subject.

From inside the book

Contents

1 The History of Womens Hair
3
2 Hor Combs and Scarlet Ribbons
30
3 Ponytails and Purple Mohawks
63
4 What We Do for Love
92
5 Paychecks and Power Haircuts
113
6 Bald Truths
134
7 At the Salon
165
8 Ill Dye Until I Die
190
9 No More Bad Hair Days
219
Notes
227
Bibliography
243
Acknowledgments
257
Index
259
Copyright

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About the author (2004)

Rose Weitz is a professor of sociology and women's studies at Arizona State University.

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