Fluffy hair, long bob, buzz cut, man bun – today’s trend hairstyles certainly played just as little role in the Stone Age as mohawk or tower hairstyle. Nevertheless, the head of hair was important even then, says Katja Spitzer in her non-fictional picture book, in which she gathers interesting, astonishing and curious things about hair.
Spitzer repeatedly shows that hairstyles are much more than just fashionable headdresses
In a lively, conversational tone, the Berlin-based artist explains that people have up to 150,000 hairs on their heads, and that hair is made of horn and that “tiny balls of color” determine their color. She tells of the effort that Empress Sisi had to spend with her almost ankle-length headache-causing hair, of hairstyle and grooming trends in ancient Egypt, during the romantic and rococo periods; tells of hairy offerings in Indian temples, beards, animal hair, artistic braided hairstyles, curly expressions of love and the magic of red hair. Spitzer repeatedly shows that hairstyles are much more than just fashionable headdresses: “With our hair we can show who we are and how we feel.” And: hairstyles like afro, bobble head or mohawk are political statements!
With its luminous pictures designed in special colors using the screen printing process, Spitzer sets an unmistakable symbol: they not only show hair and hairstyles, but also human diversity from its most beautiful side. And finds a fresh illustration idea for every double page and thus every hairy subject area that it touches on. Sometimes flat and side-filling like Sisi’s “chestnut-brown hair”, sometimes airy on a white surface like the splendidly plaited braids or the extravagantly decorated hair towers of the fine rococo ladies, who even offered flower vases and miniature ships. What a sight, what a head of hair! “Hair. Stories about hairstyles” an entertaining non-fiction picture book that is well worth seeing, (from 7 years) Marlene Zöhrer
Katja Spitzer: Hair. Stories about hairstyles. Prestel junior 2021. 40 pages, 16 euros