By Janine M. Schall, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

What kind of hair do you have? How do you take care of it? Do you like to try new hair styles or colors? Do you wear your hair in a certain way to express your personality or connect to your culture? What our hair looks like and how we wear it is one of the most obvious, easily noticeable things about us. For this reason, many people spend a lot of thought, time and care on ensuring that their hair is exactly the way they want it to be.

The way that we wear our hair can be an expression of our personality or a way to be fashionable. However, hair is also profoundly connected to culture, history, and power, embodying societal norms and values. The way we style our hair and the rituals we have surrounding hair care convey powerful messages about our identity to others. In some cultures, new hairstyles are even required to mark a change in maturity or status. At the same time, people make inferences and judgements about a person’s group identities, religious beliefs, and even morality based on their hairstyle.

In addition, societal expectations and beliefs around hair are inextricably linked to considerations of power. What hair types or styles have historically been considered fashionable, ‘good’ or acceptable in the workplace or at school? Forced changes in hairstyles have also historically been a way to exert social control, erase identity and dehumanize particular groups of people. Forcibly cutting hair short or shaving it off has served to shame, humiliate or make someone vulnerable.

No matter the type or style, all hair is good. This topic can be fascinating to explore with children, who are often deeply interested in the similarities and differences among people. There are many wonderful children’s books about hair. In fact, this list could easily have been three times as long. However, for this WOW Dozen these books provide a wide a variety of depictions and representations around the theme of hair.

WOW Dozen features a list of 12 global books for children and adolescents around a theme, topic, issue or personal favorites. Each Dozen consists of ten newly-published titles with two older “must have” books. Please share or recommend additional books that fit the theme in the comments section or on social media using #WOWDozen. Use the printer icon in the upper left corner of this post to print or save this list as a PDF.​

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• Themes: Adriana Camacho-Church, Agus Praogo, Anu Chouhan, Brave, Carmen Lop, Carole Lindstrom, Deepika Kaur Puiji, Eve Nadel Catarevas, Felicia Marshall, Freda Chiu, Freedom Braids, Good Hair, Grandma’s Hair is Ankle Length, Hair Oil Magic, Hair She Wears, Janine Schall, Jessica Gibson, Jörg Mühler, Keenan Jones, Ken Daley, Kimberley Kinloch, Me and My Hair, Melody Shaw, Monique Duncan, Mophead, My Powerful Hair, Oboh Moses, Saturday Morning at the Shop, Selina Tusitala Marsh, Steph Littlebird, Weshoyot Alvitre, When Dad's Hair Took Off, Wonderful Hair The Beauty of Annie Malone, Yvonne Sewankambo
• Descriptors: WOW Dozen