Hair: An Illustrated History

Description

Bobs, beards, blondes and beyond, Hair takes us on a lavishly illustrated journey into the world of this remarkable substance and our complicated and fascinating relationship with it. Taking the key things we do to it in turn, this book captures its importance in the past and into the present: to individuals and society, for health and hygiene, in social and political challenge, in creating ideals of masculinity and womanliness, in being a vehicle for gossip, secrets and sex. Using art, film, personal diaries, newspapers, texts and images, Susan J. Vincent unearths the stories we have told about hair and why they are important. From ginger jibes in the seventeenth century to bobbed-hair suicides in the 1920s, from hippies to Roundheads, from bearded women to smooth metrosexuals, Hair shows the significance of the stuff we nurture, remove, style and tend. You will never take it for granted again.

Susan J. Vincent is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies (CREMS) at the University of York, UK.

This richly illustrated book reveals the power and importance of hair, from the 16th century to the present day. Amazing, amusing and erudite, Susan Vincent brings historical hair practices into lively dialogue with the hair on our heads today. * Sarah Cheang, Royal College of Art, London, UK * Meticulously documenting hair as an object, a commodity, a gift, a fond memory of a person and, sometimes, an animal, Vincent covers 500 years of European hair history in clever chapter titles: from hair care, to those who care for hair, those who are hairy, and those who are hairless. Well written and strategically illustrated, her account is thoroughly absorbing. * Joanne B. Eicher, Editor in Chief, Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion * Hair is 'extraordinary stuff' are the closing words of this informative and witty examination of its history in developed societies. The text is complemented by 150 images providing readers with a well-illustrated primer on hair in its myriad forms. * Valerie Cumming, author of 'Understanding Fashion History' and Editor, Costume: The Journal of the Costume Society * Entertaining ... lavishly illustrated ... a sheer delight to read. * Yorkshire Gazette and Herald *