I read this book based off Tasnim's @reads.and.reveries and Enobong's @enobooks reviews, and it was a good decision! I listened to the audiobook via my library's audiobook app (the best thing ever), and Emma Dabiri reads it herself. She lays down the facts surrounding Black women's hair, structural racism, and history that's all too often glossed over, but it never feels dry.
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I think if I read it again I would definitely go for a physical copy, as some sections were quite complex and layered and I felt like I couldn't absorb all the information as well as I could had I been reading it you know... with my eyes. It's definitely a book you'll want to underline and tab and share with others!
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Throughout the book, Dabiri weaves the personal and the political, recounting her journey with her own hair alongside the politicised history of Black hair. Dabiri grew up in Ireland at a time when there was no really visible Black community, so she underwent countless microaggressions when it came to her hair and skin colour and struggled to look after her own hair with the products and salons available in Ireland (or not available).
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Dabiri takes us on a hair journey from pre-colonial Africa through to the Harlem Renaissance and up to the Natural Hair movement, which still discriminates against certain hair textures. She delves into politics, history, philosophy, even mathematics. The last chapter on maths and hair braiding seriously boggled my mind. I had no idea that essential mathematical calculations (even used digital systems) originated in ancient Africa - but it's not often talked about in the west because it doesn't fit in with the 'primitive' narrative of the continent.
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This book is just so full of interesting and eye-opening facts. Like how the 9-5 grind has robbed Black people of the time to care for their hair properly, when in the past it was seen as a social time that took however long it took and people took joy in it. Modern life has brainwashed us into thinking that if you're not working 24/7, whatever else you're doing is irrelevant.
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Seriously an illuminating read!