There are many books written by various authors on this subject matter, but none like this. What follows is a book about hair, also a book about culture and acceptance of one’s own identity. It is a book about change, aspiring to link together the past with the present. It is a book about the qualities of being modern, and what modern life has meant, in relation to black people’s hair. It is a book about the price we all pay on superficial appearance, whether we care to admit it or not. It is a book about the destitute of self-knowledge, which motivated us to disassociate ourselves from ourselves with inexplicable reasoning. Think of this knowledge as samizdat out-formation: an informal, unsanctioned way of conveying a message that is indispensable at a time when official modes of speaking the truth have suffered a serious loss of credibility.