In “Women and Their Hair: Seeking Power through Resistance and Accommodation,” Rose Weitz* discusses how women use their hair — its color, how they style it — to send messages about themselves. For instance, some women with professional careers (lawyers, etc.) talked about cutting their hair shorter because they felt they’d be taken more seriously if they downplayed their femininity. African American professionals said they often straightened their hair to counter the stereotype of the “angry Black woman.” Hair styles may also send signals about our political views or religious affiliations.
I thought of that article when I saw a video sent in by Tom Megginson (author of the blog Change Marketing). The video was produced by HairLoss.com; they describe it as a public service announcement. From a story at PRWeb:
HairLoss.com, the Internet’s most comprehensive resource for unbiased consumer information and education concerning hair loss solutions and conditions, has released the second of a series of animated, one-minute-long public service announcements titled “Hair is Important”.
According to Michael Garcia, spokesman for HairLoss.com, this second video release “aims to illustrate to the public that men and women who are trying to restore their hair are really trying to restore much more than just their hair.”
Here’s the video:
The video illustrates Weitz’s point: hair is presented here as a way to “project who we are, what we believe in…and how we view the world.” The right hairstyle — which clearly means having hair — gives you the confidence to do something extraordinary. A lack of hair keeps us from “looking like ourselves and feeling like ourselves again.” If you go bald, you’ll lead a sad, lonely life and won’t get married.
HairLoss.com sponsors a video contest. Part of the description:
Create a 60-second “Public Service-Style Announcement” that captures one or more of the following ideas and concepts:
- Hair Loss is no Laughing Matter.
- Restoring Hair is about Restoring Life
- Hair is important.
- Accept Your Hair Loss (I am More than my Hair)
- You may also create a video designed around your own compassionate and positive message.
The fourth option in that list — Accept Your Hair Loss (I am More than my Hair) — is an interesting contrast to the others. Clearly hair loss is presented as problematic by the organization; it’s “no laughing matter,” getting it back “restor[es] your life,” and hair loss may require compassion…something you generally feel toward people facing a serious difficulty. Throwing in the option of accepting hair loss feels like women’s magazines that have a one-page article on accepting your body, surrounded by pages of articles on dieting and using fashion to camouflage your “problem areas.”
A HairLoss.com rep also warns that you may not realize how miserable you are if you’re experiencing hair loss until you find a cure to your sad condition:
“Restoring hair is about restoring self-confidence and self-esteem,” said Garcia. “There’s an emptiness that follows losing one’s hair. Oftentimes, the hair loss sufferer doesn’t even realize just how much they have lost, besides hair, until they find a solution to their hair loss and get it all back.”
In his post about this “PSA,” Tom points out individuals with bald heads (voluntarily or otherwise) who still managed to inspire, entertain, lead, express a political viewpoint, and so on.
This emphasis on the need for men to have a full head of (not-too-grey, of course, definitely not grey) hair is interesting given that men are increasingly told they need to eliminate hair on other parts of their bodies (when not being ridiculed for doing so).
It also illustrates how we think about aging. The “real” you is a youthful you, before any signs of hair loss appeared. Hair loss robs you of your essential personhood, turning you into another person; getting your hair back makes you look and feel like yourself again. The message here is that aging isn’t a natural process that you go through. An aging you isn’t really you at all. Signs of aging steal your true self, turning you into a different, inferior, person. The way you looked in, say, your 20s and 30s, is the essence of you, and you must maintain/regain that look to remain truly you.
* In The Politics of Women’s Bodies: Sexuality, Appearance, and Behavior, 3rd edition (2010), p. 214-231.
Comments 17
maggie — April 21, 2010
I had alopecia when I was younger; I was totally bald from grade 3-8. Getting the message that you can only be feminine with long hair was fun. It's a woman's crowning glory, apparently! Nuts to that.
TJ — April 21, 2010
I had dreadlocks for ten years (I'm a white male) and had always said that I would cut 'em off when it was time. Well, it was time about six months ago, as my bald spot had become undeniable, and I was amazed at how hard it was to do. I got way more emotional than I thought I would, and was really bummed out for a while.
I'm happy with my balding, short hair now, but I don't think I quite understood people's attachment to their hair, or how balding can be a hit on the ego. Balding hair and head shaving was never anything I thought was bad; in fact, I think shaved heads look cool. I guess it felt different because it was me.
Maggie — April 21, 2010
http://www.babybangshairband.com/
Apparently, being bald is unacceptable at ANY point in a woman's life.
Cycads — April 21, 2010
It's interesting that the ad uses examples like JFK, Bob Marley, and Einstein to establish the idea that "hair makes you", rather than there's a person before the hair. Let me explain: hair did not make JFK a successful politician, making him a president later on. Hair did not provide Marley musical talent, and hair did not in any way help Einstein establish his identity as world famous physicist, we only iconified Einstein's wild mane after he became famous (i'm definitely open to a debate on the significant role hair had on these men by the way).
While using famous (and very successful) men to say that hair is important, we do not see anything similar in hair ads for women. There is no message to say that buying hair products can make women as successful as Hilary Clinton, Aretha Franklin, or Oprah. Well, I think we at Sociological Images may know the answer already. But I just thought the different pitching strategies were worth pointing out.
cynthia — April 21, 2010
Let's not forget the garter-like things that some parents put on their baby girls so that there's no doubt it's a girl. We call them head-garters in our family (we don't use them.) Maybe it descended from the bride-garter tradition; I have no idea.
The hair/youth thing is interesting, because there's a lot of pressure on women over some non-young age to not have long hair. Pressure from family, pressure from the media. You never see a "make-over show" in which the woman gets to keep her hair. And yet going all the way to bald is far, far "worse." It's odd.
Scott Diehl — May 3, 2010
HairLoss.com serves the interests of ALL people suffering from hair loss. If someone wants to shave their heads and move forward, we support them and, no pun intended, our hats off to them.
If someone wants to wear a wig or toupee, we support them and our hats off to them.
To most people, hair is important. This campaign isn't discussing older people at all. It's discussing young people who have lost their hair before their time and look ten or fifteen years older than they are.
To some people, hair is important.
To some people, they "are more than their hair".
The fact that people spend billions of dollars each year to grow back their hair or hide their hair loss illustrates strongly that most people believe hair loss is "a serious difficulty".
This particular ad isn't selling anything. It's explaining to people who don't understand hair loss that there is a reason why people try to replace or restore their hair beyond simply physical appearance. And it aims to give comfort to those who are trying to replace or restore their hair by confirming to them that their bad feelings about their hair loss is completely justified if that's how they feel.
Joseph — September 18, 2020
This is really very sad. But as a rule, this is a consequence of a lot of stress, or not enough healthy food, or improper care. With the latter, your Barber can help you a lot, although you can emphasize a lot of useful things here https://wisebarber.com/. Take care of your hair from a young age
frank — February 4, 2021
great