This paper provides an auto/biographical account of my hair journey, with specific emphasis on my hairstyle changes, and their ‘inextricable links’ to my identity and self-presentation (Bankhead and Johnson, 2014) at different stages in my life. In doing so, reference is made to the work of Anthony Giddens (1991) Erving Goffman (1950) and Judith Butler (1990). In addition, I discuss how for Black women, ‘hair’ is also a continual source of political debates. These centre on whether particular styles (e.g relaxing (chemical straightening), and/or weave), mean we present ourselves in ways reflecting European (often hegemonic) beauty standards, rooted in longstanding negative representations of ‘tightly curled’ African hair. Conversely, are growing numbers of Black women (including me) who opt for ‘natural’ hair, choosing to present ourselves in ways which consciously reject hegemonic standards of beauty? Or are these hairstyles simply a matter of choice and/or convenience? Drawing on the work of Black Feminist researchers Teihasha Bankhead, Tabora Johnson (2014), and Cheryl Johnson (2009), I describe ‘brushes’ with these issues in Black hair salons, which impacted on my experiences in this context. Other issues, such as extraordinary lengths of time spent waiting to be seen are discussed, alongside power relationships existing between the hairstylist/salon owners and the clients, arising from these situations. In doing so Foucault's notions of power (1984) and Freund et al's discussion of time and power (2003) are referred to.

本文提供了我的头发经历的自动/自传，特别着重于我的发型变化以及它们在我生命中不同阶段与我的身份和自我表现的“不可分割的联系”（Bankhead和Johnson，2014）。在此过程中，参考了Anthony Giddens（1991）Erving Goffman（1950）和Judith Butler（1990）的著作。另外，我讨论了对于黑人妇女来说，“头发”又是政治辩论的持续来源。这些重点在于特定的样式（例如放松（化学拉直）和/或编织）是否意味着我们以反映欧洲（通常是霸权）的美容标准的方式来展示自己，而这些标准源于长期以来对非洲“紧卷发”的否定表示。相反，越来越多的黑人女性（包括我）选择“自然”头发，选择以有意识地拒绝美的霸权标准的方式展示自己？还是这些发型仅仅是选择和/或方便的问题？借鉴黑人女权主义研究者Teihasha Bankhead，Tabora Johnson（2014）和Cheryl Johnson（2009）的工作，我描述了在美发沙龙中出现这些问题的“刷子”，这对我在这种情况下的经历产生了影响。讨论了其他问题，例如等待观察所花费的时间过长，以及由这些情况引起的发型师/沙龙所有者与客户之间存在的权力关系。这样做时，提到了福柯的权力概念（1984年）和弗伦德等人的时间和权力的讨论（2003年）。