Pink Combs and Brushes

Photograph by Tom Kiefer, 2012. Via the New York Times

For over 10 years Tom Kiefer, a Customs and Border Protection center janitor, collected items confiscated by Border Patrol agents from migrants crossing the United States border with Mexico.

Combs, brushes and mirrors were considered nonessential and possibly dangerous, he said.

Emotional Healing Through Hair

Photograph by Gabriella Angotti-Jones.

 
So many of us have been touched by the plight of mothers and fathers being separated from their children after coming to the United States seeking asylum. In New York, one story stands out. A Guatemalan woman named Yeni Gonzalez was detained in Arizona, but her children were being held in New York. Her bond was raised by a GoFundMe campaign, and her travel across the country to be reunited with her children was facilitated by a relay of cars taking her leg-by-leg over 2000 miles.“The day Ms. González was released, the women braided her hair and, defying orders not to touch or embrace, they lined up to hug her goodbye.” The organizer of the GoFundMe page told reporters that more than anything, Gonzalez can't wait to comb her little girl's hair. 1. 

The full story of her journey is recounted in this New York Times story. 

1. https://patch.com/new-york/bushwick/s/gglk5/guatemalan-mom-reunites-with-kids-in-harlem-after-ice-separation

The Art of the Wig

“An undescript head of hair is the most difficult thing to accomplish.” 

Raffaele Mollica has been making wigs since the 1970s. The New York Times stepped into his studio, where he weaves "the hair one strand at a time" to create pieces that sell for thousands of dollars. “It’s tremendous labor and all that labor is art.”

In their accompanying piece about wig-making in New York City, The New York Times tells us about other artistes, such as Nicholas Piazza. It is the story of a fascinating but dying world – one that I have wondered about for some time because I have walk past the numerous, cubbyhole shops selling human hair in midtown for years.

Wigs at Nicholas Piazza’s studio in Manhattan. CreditDemetrius Freeman for The New York Times

It's great to see the writer included the deeper, political story of hair by referencing the work of Emma Tarlo and the FTC's brief regulatory guidelines (1970-1995) on labeling hair.

When Facial Hair Gets Political

“Any boy can become president — unless he’s got a mustache.” ~ Thomas A. Dewey

Yesterday The New York Times posted an article about how the new Speaker of the House Paul Ryan growing a beard has caused a stir.

Waiting on confirmation from the House Historian, but apparently, I’m the first Speaker to sport a beard in about 💯 years.

A photo posted by Speaker Paul Ryan (@speakerryan) on Nov 30, 2015 at 1:08pm PST

The power of hair as a vehicle to assert oneself in the world and to convoy unspoken values of any given age is undeniable. But who holds the answers to unlock these hidden hirsute rules? According to Tammy Haddad, a Washington media consultant and former political director of MSNBC, even though Mr. Ryan’s job “is the center of the entire political system, the beard shows that he’s not of Washington, he’s not part of the system.”

Did the beard always hold such outsider status? Perhaps not, but sporting facial hair was often seen as a political act. Beards among clergy were once serious, symbolic matters that at various times Church leaders either required or banned! And let us not forget that even clergy were not immune to the whims of fashion in their day.

Beards were fraught with shifting meaning in lay culture as well, as this 2013 article from The Atlantic points out. Considering a beard? It might serve you well to know your history.

"A Barber's Shop at Richmond, Virginia," from The Illustrated London News, March 9, 1861

 An 1853 Punch magazine sketch satirizes the "beard movement," an old lady is approached by helpful railway guards and
"concludes she is attacked by Brigands."

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: The North Korean Hair Rumor

Hair styles are such a symbol of cultural conformity and nonconformity. Just like fashion, we use hair-dos to fit it or stand out. We Americans relish the freedoms we enjoy to do whatever we like with our looks, even when its tasteless to the point of offensive. So the internet rumor that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un was forcing male university students in the capital to sport the same 1/2 shaved style as Dear Leader Jr. understandably went viral. It speaks to our supreme distaste for the idea of communism's cultural control.

While the mass buzz cuts may be a rumor, according to the New York Times North Korea did wage war against long hair in 2005.

"... the government waged war against men with long hair, calling them unhygienic anti-socialist fools and directing them to wear their hair "socialist style." It derided shabbily coifed men as "blind followers of bourgeois lifestyle." The country's state-run Central TV even identified violators by name and address, exposing them to jeers from other citizens.

The hair campaign, dubbed "Let's trim our hair according to socialist lifestyle," required that hair be kept no longer than 5 centimeters (2 inches). Older men received a small exemption to allow comb-overs.

The campaign claimed long hair hampers brain activity by taking oxygen away from nerves in the head. It didn't explain why women were allowed to grow long hair."

Sheesh, who knew? Glad I cut my hair off, hopefully I'll get smarter now!