ABSTRACT
“It won’t go straight”: curly-haired women tell their stories by Shani Okavi-Partush, Amit Kama, and Sigal Barak-Brandes. A study of the ‘curly experience’ that focuses on curly hair in Israeli culture and society as a subjective experience and as an inter-subjective experience. The study shows social discipline towards curly-haired women, especially those with darker skin, and that white women with straight hair are less discriminated against than non-white women with curly hair. The ‘curly experience’ involves a great deal of collectiveness and inter-subjectivity among curly-haired women who choose to remain curly haired. This shared attribute leads to empathy, shared humor and knowledge, support, and solidarity among curly-haired women.
