Entanglement ─ The Secret Lives of Hair

When no longer attached to the head, human hair is disconcerting. Whether carefully preserved as a Victorian love token or displayed in museums as proof of mass atrocities, it can tells us stories about the individuals and groups to whom it was once attached. The stories aren’t confined to the past either. Recycled into wigs, extensions, toupees, rope, embroidery, paintbrushes, fertilizer or protein, hair is a commodity in a legal yet largely covert trade.

From scavengers who pick hair out of gutters and rubbish heaps to Hindu pilgrims who renounce their hair and dedicate it to gods in fulfillment vows, anthropologist Emma Tarlo unveils the secret global journeys of hair. Examining the preoccupations and requirements of different cultural groups, she investigates the wide range of meanings hair has for us and reveals the clashes that can occur when different hair worlds collide. A fascinating look inside an industry that most of us know nothing about,Entanglement ensures you will never look at hair in quite the same way again.

Emma Tarlo is a professor of anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she explores the global role of intimate everyday subjects such as dress, food and hair. She regularly gives public lectures worldwide and contributes to BBC Radio programs and news articles. Her previous books include Clothing Matters, winner of the 1998 Coomaraswamy Prize, andVisibly Muslim.