Anxious and Hairy

Ever wondered why we aren't quite a fully naked ape? Why do we all have eyebrows but only some have beards? Why are teenage boys so very smelly and why do we spend so much on removing, quaffing or augmenting our hair, on top and down below? Taking the reader by the short and curlies, Judy Wearing provides a deliciously witty, accessible and scholarly romp through all things hirsute: from evolution to culture. While, as she makes clear, she started this lifelong pursuit driven by curiosity, the resulting understanding of our follicles casts a profound light on what it is to be human. You will never see your body the same way. Brilliant! * Laurence D. Hurst, author of The Evolution of Imperfection: the Science of Why We Aren’t and Can’t Be Perfect *
Judy Wearing's Anxious and Hairy is a delight. She delves into our tangled relationship with hair with infectious curiosity, exploring everything from Brazilians to Bigfoot. She traces both the evolution of hair and its present-day cultural meanings, while ultimately revealing that our mixed emotions towards that stuff growing (or not growing) out of our skin may reflect a deeper struggle to come to terms with our animal nature. * Alex Boese, bestselling author of Elephants on Acid and Other Bizarre Experiments *
Written with clarity, warmth, and a nose for the unexpected, Wearing's engaging interdisciplinary study will appeal to scholars and general readers alike. For anyone who has ever wondered why hair matters as much as it does (even when we pretend it doesn't), this book offers a fascinating and illuminating answer. * Andrea Charise, author of The Aesthetics of Senescence: Aging, Population, and the Nineteenth-Century British Novel *
A masterclass in how something as ordinary as body hair can tell the extraordinary story of being human. * Lucy Jane Santos, author of Chain Reactions *
If you've ever wondered how come the naked ape is actually pretty hairy in some fairly inexplicable ways, this book will enlighten you. * Peter Forbes, author of Thinking Small and Large *
We all have hair. Anxious and Hairybrilliantly invites readers to comb through the complicated nature of hair and being hairy. Readers can mull it over, thinking with Judy Wearing, as she braids together the layered strands of anxieties we have about hair: too much, not enough, wrong place, wrong colour. A compelling work that will be a permanent addition to writing on hair and the body * Jonathan A. Allan, author of Uncut: A Cultural Analysis of the Foreskin *
Fun to read, exploratory in scope and meaning, and a conversation piece for anyone interested in human anatomy or popular science. * Kirkus Reviews *
Judy Wearing knows about hair. Why humans have evolved to have it where we do, why we often stress about it, and why the distribution of our hair is so different to that of other mammals. Wearing has written a brilliant and engaging account of our hair. It is meticulously researched and beautifully written. If you have ever thought about your hair, you should read this book. A folliclingly good read. * Tim Coulson, author of A Little History of Everything *