An Independent Study of Hair

When I realized I would lose my hair was when I came to understand that wearing hair was no longer given; it would forever be a sequence of choices, all charged with meaning. I started thinking about how hair is worn in different spaces and how it came to be a situated practice. In response to my own recent experience with breast cancer, I began with medically induced hair loss and then shifted to religious and performative contexts.

My research ranges from representations of baldness in media to the construction and culture of modern-day wig making. Combining primary and secondary sources, I am constructing an archive of interviews, ephemera, and images of hair, head coverings, baldness and extensions. This research is part of my MA in the NYU Costume Studies department and under the guidance of Rachel Lifter.