In cosmetology school we are taught to avoid taboo topics like politics in the salon, but how do you completely avoid politics when hair itself has a history of being politically influenced? In this episode I get a little nerdy about the dark history of hair trends influenced by the guillotine (yes, the beheading machine used in the french revolution) and my best advice for gauging how to navigate political conversations behind the chair.

SOURCES (I know there are alot, but honestly I had so much fun reading all of them. There are many more stories included in these articles that I did not fit into this episode that I highly recommend learning about)

Wigs and hair powder:

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/head-tilting-history/rise-and-fall-powdered-wig

https://www.cutmytax.org/post/the-hair-powder-tax-the-reason-why-we-have-short-hair

A la victime : http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com/fashion_costume_culture/European-Culture-18th-Century/Fashion-la-Victime.html

1920s bob and present day:

https://www.stylist.co.uk/beauty/beautys-role-in-social-rebellion-activism-body-hair-red-lips-feminism-protest-history-suffragettes/137928

https://www.europenowjournal.org/2017/01/12/2158/

https://www.vogue.in/beauty/content/the-politics-of-hair-how-protest-hair-became-a-form-of-political-expression

https://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5117/

https://fashionista.com/2017/04/bob-short-haircut-hairstyle-history

https://venturamuseum.org/research-library-blog/the-bad-bob/#:~:text=The%20new%20generation's%20bobbed%20hair,new%20fashion%20styles%20and%20attitudes.

Native American hair:

https://sistersky.com/blogs/sister-sky/america-s-native-american-boarding-schools-hair-cutting?srsltid=AfmBOooWrSRMh5pi3bxDC1hmlZTut1EXV4LXXRHkGRz2pTjGeGmuNAfG

Civil rights:

https://daily.jstor.org/how-natural-black-hair-at-work-became-a-civil-rights-issue/

CROWN Act:

https://www.epi.org/publication/crown-act/#:~:text=Over%2020%25%20of%20Black%20women%20ages%2025–34,to%20their%20hair%20(Dove%20and%20LinkedIn%202023).&text=While%20the%20Civil%20Rights%20Act%20of%201964,that%20manifest%20race%2C%20such%20as%20hair%20texture.