Bad Hair Research Articles

Blue Lipstick: Concrete Poems (review)

Reviewed by: Blue Lipstick: Concrete Poems Deborah Stevenson Grandits, John Blue Lipstick: Concrete Poems. Clarion, 2007 [48p] Trade ed. ISBN 0-618-56860-3$15.00 Paper ed. ISBN 0-618-85132-1$6.95 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 6-10 High-schooler Jessie struggles with many of the traditional trials of her age group, such as annoying assignments, a pestiferous younger sibling, fatuous peers, and her own seesawing emotions; on the bright side, she's got the loyal friendship of best pal Lisa and her beloved cat, Boo Boo Kitty. Jessie's experiences are related in a series of thirty entries with text laid out and illustratively enhanced for maximum visual impact: in "Bad Hair Day," the lines form the wiry and frantic hairs [End Page 26] on a head; "Go Look in the Mirror!" places the main portion of its words inside a mirror frame—and in mirror writing; "The Secret" offers a point-to-point map of the dissemination of a tidbit that shouldn't have been told to anybody in the first place. While the entries are absolutely prose rather than poetry, and it would have helped tremendously to have an up-front clue that this is a narrative series rather than a collection of discrete elements, the sequence is genuinely clever and effective. The concrete concept is often wittily employed (the word-constituted cheerleaders are particularly amusing) and it retains the point of view of narrator Jessie, while entries that are smartly conceived in other ways are amusing as well: "The Name-Your-Rock-Band Chart," exactly what it sounds like, will be utterly irresistible, and there will be much cackling over the flyer promoting a fictional compliments business in "Girls" (guarantee includes "no ironic tone of voice" and "no behind-your-back-denials"). Design is friendly and accessible, with black complemented by a cool peacock blue that offers contrast in both typeface and shaded backgrounds, and the multiplicity of fonts (identified on the last page) are thoughtfully employed. This has enough acuity to appeal to fans of sophisticated poetry and enough energy to draw those who find the sophisticated stuff merely dull, and it will undoubtedly inspire a multitude of curricular uses. Copyright © 2007 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Socialization and Saying "Cheese!": School Picture Day in Children's Books

This study surveys twelve recent children's books focused on the ritualized event of School Picture Day in American schools; ten were written in the late 1990s and most after 2000. Collectively, they reveal children's preoccupation with loose or missing teeth and bad hair (or haircuts); these recurring themes obliquely address more generalized childhood fears and anxieties about social acceptance and personal appearance. Close readings of these texts and their illustrations further reveal their subservience to adult agendas, and adult anxiety concerned with the documentary power of photography, self-presentation as social performance, and the normalizing functions of American educational institutions.

Perhaps She Was Having a Bad Hair Day!

In this ‘Open Letter’ the author raises a number of concerns about the role of critique in feminist writing. She does this by exploring an article that represents, for her, a particularly bad case of the lack of generosity that can arise in the treatment of another’s work. The author argues that, to develop greater generosity in our critical engagement with each other’s work, we should make greater use of our reflexive imaginations in order to take fuller account of the conditions of a text’s production.

Pediatric Speech-Language Pathology in Health Care

Pediatric Speech-Language Pathology in Health Care

‘Bad hair days’, scalp sebum excretion and the menstrual cycle

Many women complain that their hair is periodically unmanageable, popularly known as 'bad hair days' (BHDs). At an anecdotal level BHDs are more common around the time of menstruation and, in view of previous studies reporting menstrual variation in sebum excretion, the authors hypothesised that changes in scalp sebum levels during the menstrual cycle might contribute to perceive differences in hair quality. To test whether there is a relationship between BHDs, the menstrual cycle and scalp sebum excretion. Thirteen women were studied through three menstrual cycles. Sebum levels on the scalp and forehead were measured twice weekly using a Sebumeter and each subject kept a record of hair quality and hair washing practice. BHDs occurred throughout the menstrual cycle but were more common during menstruation. There was no discernible variation in sebum levels on the scalp or forehead during the menstrual cycle and there was no correlation between individual mean skin sebum levels and the frequency of BHDs. However, BHDs were more common in those women who washed their hair infrequently, although the association between the frequency of hair washing and BHDs just failed to reach statistical significance (p = 0.06). BHDs are more common during menstruation and in women who wash their hair infrequently. This may relate to a build-up of sebum on the hair but menstrual variations in the frequency of BHDs are unrelated to sebum levels.

“Only My Hairdresser Knows For Sure”: Stories of Race, Hair and Gender

In the Dominican Republic, a white woman’s hair is described as blonde. Whether it is curly or straight, black or brown, it is said that she is blonde. About the “others,” it is said that they have bad hair and that’s all—bad hair has no color.

COMMENT

Physics...fun?'Physics is Fun' - it's a book, a course, a summer school... Physics,with a reputation for hard maths, nonsensical equations and crazy teachers livingwith a permanent bad hair day, yes, PHYSICS IS FUN! Maybe if we say it often enoughour students will believe us. PHYSICS IS FUN! Keep saying it, and try to believeit. But we are scientists, and we have to look at the evidence and acknowledgethe truth: when most people recall the fun times they had at school-how many thinkabout their physics classes? Try asking them.Let's face it - although our studentsenjoy our exciting demonstrations, the well-structured development of conceptsin our classes, and the cooperative and supportive atmosphere of our classroomsand laboratories, even when they find that their physics teachers are the mostkind, considerate and approachable of people, even then, when we've done all wecan to make physics pleasant, fun and exciting, our students have to fathom outphysics... and that can be hard!'Physics isn't fun in the trivial sense, it'shard work: but you get a fantastic sense of achievement when you make progress.' This is my counsel to most young people who come to discuss whether or not toopt for physics. We try our best to make the material accessible and interesting,but at the end of the day, struggling with something that intially you can't do,but eventually you can do, is part of developing in physics. But what about the teachers? November's meeting of physics teachers from across Europe, Physics onStage, featured many of the best innovations in physics teaching from the 22 countrieswhich sent delegations (see News). It is probably no surprise, but we need totake note that the most popular stands, talks and lectures were the ones whichwere most fun. And there is lots of fun to be had doing physics. Whether it istoys, music, poetry, or simply talking about the symmetry in particle physics-themost popular stands, workshops and lectures were those where teachers could enjoythe fun in physics again. Even physics teachers are human!It is so easy to getbogged down in the drudge of everyday teaching and forget the students, let aloneourselves. But if you think back to the good teachers you had at school - weren'tthey the ones who were enjoying themselves, and maybe not perfectly organized. There has to be a moment at which a good teacher says 'I'm going to do this, becauseI want to... it's fun physics!' No other justification is needed. Our new look for 2001 So here is the first issue of the new-look Physics Education - and we sincerelyhope that you enjoy it. The Editorial Board and the publishing team have beenworking hard for the past few months to keep the best of the old format, but tomake a fresher, more user-friendly publication. As incoming Editor I must acknowledgethe excellent work done by Ken Dobson and Jill Membrey, the outgoing team. Itis a tough act to follow, but a challenge I am privileged to undertake. As a physicsteacher I know how difficult it can be to stay inspired and up-to-date, so as Editorof Physics Education I want to support your professional development as much aspossible. Starting with support for student teachers (see Starting Out), throughto teachers in charge of equipment and budgets (see Technical Trimmings and Reviews):we want to share good practice. Finally, let's laugh at ourselves-don't miss SigningOff: a humorous look at physics teaching.I've really enjoyed working on this newformat, and I hope that you enjoy the read. Please give us lots of feedback andsend in your own contributions. I'm very pleased that our first issue has twospecial features: to me they represent the potential and the purpose of physicseducation. Sport is an exciting growth area of science in which increasing numbersof students want to understand the basic laws of motion and the application ofsophisticated technology; and communicating physics - well that's not just fun, it'sfundamental. Editor Dr Kerry Parker

Verse and Vision: Bad Hair Day

Verse and Vision: Bad Hair Day

Of ancient tales and hairless tails

In 1875 Charles Darwin1 retold the story of "the toothless men of Sind (individuals with very little hair on the body) [who] also suffer much during hot weather from excessive dryness of the skin". Besides hyperthermia caused by inadequate sweating in a warm environment, this condition is associated with abnormal or absent teeth and mucous glands, and is consequently described as hypohydrotic ectodermal dysplasia (HED). The mouse mutants that model this disorder (called crinkled, downless and tabby) do not get hyperthermia—mice don't normally sweat much anyway. Instead, they have what might best be described as a bad hair day. In addition to having sparse and uneven body fur and bald spots behind the ears (where there is normally a tuft of fine downy hairs), mutant mice are completely hairless. They provide a fascinating window into the biology of pattern formation, as development of the primary hair follicle, which normally begins with a localized epidermal thickening or placode at 14 days of gestation, is completely absent in these mutant mice.

Bad Hair Days in the Paleolithic: Modern (Re)Constructions of the Cave Man

Although we have never seen Paleolithic humans in the flesh, we recognize them immediately in illustrations, art, cartoons, and museum displays. The familiar iconography of the "Cave Man" often depicts our early human ancestors with longish, unkempt hair. However, this conventionalized image is not congruent with available archaeological data on the appearance of Upper Paleolithic humans. The lengthy iconographic history of representations of our prehistoric humans is rather a palimpsest of beliefs about the origins of humans, "natural man," human nature, primitive humans, and the savage "Other": a history of discourses about human evolution, human language, and the place of humans in the natural world. These images are traced in their anthropological, evolutionary, and philosophical contexts from medieval art through recent scientific illustrations, art, cartoons, and murals, and their influence on the scientific interpretation of our ancestors is assessed. [Cave Man, Paleolithic, evolution, primitive, illustration]

Roots that go beyond big hair and a bad hair day: Nappy hair pieces

Roots that go beyond big hair and a bad hair day: Nappy hair pieces

Bad hair day? Blasphemy, indecency & English advertising

An examination of two advertising campaigns from 1996/7 and their potential for breaching the English common law regarding obscenity and blasphemy, despite compliance with the rigorous Advertising Standards Authority's codes of conduct. The two campaigns analysed are illustrated below. One is for the film Larry Flynt and the other is the Church of England's Christmas advertising campaign ‘Bad Hair Day’. Much use is made of the application of existing case law to the problem, with some discussion of those areas of law still left open to interpretation. Because of the nature of the common law no absolute conclusions can be reached on such points, but the reader should have sufficient information to form his/her own judgment for the future.

Unacceptable Results

Ultimate Hair Dynamics, a local hair piece company in San Diego has recently been airing an infomercial on bad hair transplants. The infomercial includes pictures of a hair transplant surgery being performed which do not reflect the professional practices of the majority of doctors in the art of

Generation Next, or The Future of Bad Hair (Text for a Film by Greg Tate and Arthur Jafa)

Mama Tate says there are fifty black people in the world who know how to read and write, and they all know one another. Granddaddy Henry Grinner said no matter where you go in the world and no matter what you see, somewhere up in there you will find a negro. As we saunter into the millennium the question arises, just whose black culture is it anyway? Who will define the terms of blackness for the next century? Our educated and privileged elites or our toiling masses and grassroots politicians? Our Fortune 500 companies or our hiphop nation? (If they aren't one and the same by the time you read this.) Let's talk about Black, Inc. Who owns it, who controls it, who's making the big bucks by keeping it real? In the late 20th century the question arose, Are you now or have you ever been a member of the hiphop nation? You answered: I claim affiliation, but I ain't sweating Tommy Hilfigger. The question arose: Are you black or are you a brand name junkie? You answered: I am an endangered person of African descent seeking political asylum and consumer protection. You know we have always wanted it all, man. The color of money and the communion of funk. The approval of white people and the remote distance of nigger heaven. Two souls warring in one body said W. E. B. Du Bois at the dawn of the 20th century, one African and one American. All praises due to the prophet Berry Gordy. He forged our modern-day synthesis of black entrepreneurship and black pleasure. I mean, this is the man who taught the Civil Rights Movement how to dance on Wall Street. Malcolm X, Amiri Baraka, and the Black Panther Party. They're the ones who vilified the black middle class and deified the black revolutionary--armed, dangerous, and straight out of some ghetto mentality. Then came Blaxpoitation. The Bloods and The Crips. Crossover Dreams. Time marches on and Ice Cube a.k.a. architectural drafting school graduate and two-parent-family-reared O'Shea Jackson invents Gangsta rap on NWA's debut album Straight Outta Compton. Thereby upholding a tradition Ralph Ellison commented on in Invisible Man of discontented, crafty, and charismatic middle-class black boys inciting the lumpen proletariat for existential fun and profit. It might be unfair to say someone had to pay for Ice Cube's sins, but it turned out to be Tupac Amaru Shakur, who may also hold the dubious honor of being the last martyr of the 1960s. In The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual Harold Cruse proposed to answer why all mass black political movements fail. Cruse thought they failed because none conceived of strategies which a la Berry Gordy synthesized cultural, political, and economic agendas. A simpler answer might be that, more often than not, self-interest prevails over group solidarity. Black unity is a dream package that would have us believe police informers. Molotov tossing anarchists, lesbian literati, and Jesus freaks can co-exist on the same race platform. They might reside within the black body more comfortably than the black body politic. We may easily agree about the need to combat injustice and inequality, but watch your back when the conversation turns to issues of style, sexuality, free speech, and class. …

Hearing loss in renal disease: clinical and pathological studies.

Ninety-one of 224 chronic renal patients, most of them hemodialysis and/or transplant patients, had sensorineural loss: 11% noise exposure; 7% genetic; 22% due to multiple factors, including ototoxicity; 41% with hearing loss and ototoxic drug exposure, (but one-fourth had had insufficient drugs to cause hearing loss) and 11% were of unknown etiology. Hearing loss and normal hearing patients exposed to ototoxicity or multiple factors were similar in all parameters but hearing loss. Ten temporal bone cases are described, two from patients with hearing loss of unknown origin. One showed cochlear hydrops, fibrous tissue proliferation in cochlear perilymphatic spaces, Corti's organ degeneration, displaced tectorial membrane and probable metastatic calcification in the stria vascularis. The other case showed hair cell loss. Three patients had had ototoxic drugs; one bad hair cell loss and tectorial membrane abnormalities; one had hair cell loss and metastatic strial calcification; one was normal. One patient had pus in both internal auditory canals. Another bad otosclerotic focus without stapes fixation. Three were normal. We do not yet recognize pathology typical of hearing loss of severe renal disease. Findings seem to fall into two broad categories: those of known entities and those of obscure etiology.