Despite pleas of resistance, our mother would not allow my sisters and I to cut our hair growing up. Similarly, she only rarely appointed the eldest of her daughters to trim her own elegant black curls. Our father has cut his hair only once since his teens -- placing his long golden braid into his mother’s casket just before it was lowered into the earth. Two of my long-term partners shaved their heads to signify the ending of our relationships. Samson’s locks were the secret to his strength; once clipped, he was defenseless. In Hans Christian Anderson’s story, the little mermaid’s sisters make the ultimate sacrifice -- trading their hair to the sea witch in an effort to save their youngest sister’s life. Countless other tales describe the overwhelming attraction of the maiden’s tresses, often as golden as the sun, sometimes as black as ebony.

Splitting Hairs explores personal and cultural mythology surrounding hair as a source of strength, beauty, and repulsion. Split ends result from the products and heat applied to hair in order to keep up with culture’s demands on staying beautiful. As regimentally trimming one’s hair removes them, these tiny imperfections are indicative simultaneously of both overwork and neglect, failure at upkeep. Almost imperceptible flaws stand as a symbol for the impossible contradiction inherent in trying to sustain so many of our cultural constructs.

 

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