Status
Publication
Description
"Hot Comb offers a poignant glimpse into black women's lives and coming of age stories as seen across a crowded, ammonia-scented hair salon while ladies gossip and bond over the burn. The titular story 'Hot Comb' is about a young girl's first perm--a doomed ploy to look cool and to stop seeming 'too white' in the all-black neighborhood her family has just moved to. In 'Virgin Hair', taunts of 'tender-headed' sting as much as the perm itself. It's a scenario that repeats fifteen years later as an adult when, tired of the maintenance, Flowers shaves her head only to be hurled new put-downs. Realizations about race, class, and the imperfections of identity swirl through Flowers' stories and ads, which are by turns sweet, insightful, and heartbreaking."--… (more)
User reviews
Hair is the uniting theme in the stories, but it really touches on a lot of things, from the intimacy of braiding someone's hair to the way white people comment on or want to touch Black hair. Interspersed between stories are drawings of ads for hair-care products. I imagine Black readers will find a lot to relate to, and for readers who are not, perhaps they will learn some about the variety of Black hair and hair care out there and be a little less likely to ask, "Can I touch it?"