Our guest this week is St. Clair Detrick-Jules, a Brown University graduate who is a filmmaker and a new author. Her book My Beautiful Black Hair: 101 Natural Hair Stories from the Sisterhood debuts on September 28 and features essays by and photographs of Black women who have come to some deeper understandings about what their hair and how they wear it means to them.

We talk to St. Clair about chemical treatments for Black hair and how they differ from the treatments white women know, how hair can play a role in mother/daughter relationships, and the important reason she wanted to create this book in the first place.When we recorded this episode, Black hair had recently made the news because of the International Swimming Federation’s ban on Soul Caps at the Tokyo Olympics which are made for Black swimmers with natural hair.

You can find St. Clair on social media at @stclairdetrickjules or at her website www.mybeautifulblackhair.com.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

2- The Book of Eels: Our Enduring Fascination With the Most Mysterious Creature in the Natural World by Patrik Svensson

3- Litany for the Long Moment by Mary-Kim Arnold

4- Water Street by Crystal Wilkinson

5- Blackberries, Blackberries by Crystal Wilkinson

Shows/Films mentioned--

2- Good Hair ((2009 documentary)