A former coworker kept telling Reva Fox that her hair looked great when she wore it straight.
They told her: “Your hair looks so good like this. You should wear it like this every day.”
But to Fox, curly hair feels tied to her Jewish identity, and the comments didn’t sit right with her. Today, she is arts and culture director at the JCC, where she said she has not faced comments about her hair. Yet, she still remembers a time when she felt singled out for having the curly hair that Jews can sometimes have.
“And it was hard to hear because, this is how my hair is, right?” Fox said. In that old moment with a coworker, she felt that it takes “more effort to straighten it to accommodate your comfort level.”
According to organizers of the JCC event “Untangled: The Jewish Hair Saga,” taking place at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center on March 25, Jews with curly hair can sometimes feel set apart in non-Jewish spaces. They may also embrace their curly hair to connect more deeply with Judaism in a society where curly hair isn’t always preferred.
Event organizers are careful to point out that Jews can have any type of hair, and sporting curly locks isn’t necessary to attend and listen to the speakers.
Fox said: “This program’s intent is for us to own all of this instead of feeling like we’re trying to fit in or trying not to fit in, or failing or succeeding in presenting as Jewish.”
The event will cover other aspects of Jewish hair too, but organizers say that the inspiration for the project stemmed from conversations about curly hair in the workplace.
“When you’re working in a place that’s mostly homogenous, that only really adds to the ostracization of being Jewish, but it’s also a factor about yourself that you can’t hide. You can tuck a necklace into your shirt, but you can’t always hide what’s on your head,” said Dalilah Bernier, an event co-organizer and director of teen initiatives at Milwaukee Jewish Federation.
Discussion topics will include Jews with both curly and straight hair; that Ashkenazi women have been disproportionately affected by reproductive cancers and the hair loss that can come with that; Jews in other countries and their efforts to overcome limited options in hair care available to them; and head coverings worn by observant women. The event will also cover Jewish traditions like payot, the long sidelocks sometimes worn by Jewish men, and upsherin, a traditional Jewish haircutting ceremony for 3-year-old boys.
“This program will be an opportunity for people to hear about other people’s experiences that they may not have gone through and to get some understanding,” said Simone Bruch, events coordinator.
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Untangled: The Jewish Hair Saga
- Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center, 6255 N. Santa Monica Blvd.
- March 25, 6:30-8 p.m.
- Admission is $12 for JCC members and $15 for the general public.
- Jccmilwaukee.org/Untangled
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Speakers for Untangled
The speaker list for Untangled: The Jewish Hair Saga is to include –
- Dalilah Bernier, director of teen initiatives, Milwaukee Jewish Federation
- Michael Morris, community engagement manager, Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center.
- Mushka Lein, representing Chabad of the East Side
- Reva Fox, arts & culture director, Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center
- After Breast Cancer Diagnosis speaker
A hair stylist will attend the event, too, with samples, and for questions and answers.
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