★ Is hair ever just "hair"? Drawing on her personal experience of cutting her hair as an act of resistance, author Kajal Odedra reveals how hair becomes a battlefield for self-expression, bodily discipline, and power struggles.
★ Blending personal anecdotes with cross-disciplinary commentary, the book explores the cultural origins and significance of hair styles such as buzz cuts and baldness. It deconstructs the roots of discrimination within the beauty industry and proposes that hair can serve as a tool for activism and community building, offering a fresh perspective on intellectual liberation.
★ Author Kajal Odedra possesses a background in both activism and writing; she was shortlisted for the Pat Kavanagh Prize, and her debut book has received critical acclaim. Her work has appeared in mainstream media outlets such as *The Guardian*.
* The Pat Kavanagh Prize is an annual literary award established by Goldsmiths, University of London, to recognize outstanding literary work by graduates of the university’s MA in Creative and Life Writing program.

Braiding together memoir and cultural criticism, Hair/Power explores the power, control, and liberation that hair can provide.

Growing up as a second-generation Indian immigrant, Kajal Odedra remembers the first time she cut her waist-length hair. It was an act of rage, of defiance, an attempt to push back against societal expectations and regain control. She realised at an early age that hair is never “just hair”: both its presence and absence can have a profound impact. While hair is a powerful form of self-expression, it is also a political battleground, where bodies are policed and normative beauty standards wreak havoc. But who is setting the standards, and how can we dispel these harmful cultural myths?

Interspersing intimate anecdotes with intersectional commentary, Hair/Power dives into the origins and cultural significance of hair— from buzz cuts to baldness—exposing the roots of a beauty industry built on discrimination. Ultimately Odedra is able to find self-love, and she shows us how hair can be a powerful tool for activism, community building, and bringing about our shared liberation.

Prizes and awards

Pat Kavanagh Award: Shortlisted

Kajal Odedra
Kajal Odedra is a British Indian author, activist and campaigns strategist. Her first book, Do Something (Hodder and Stoughton), was published in 2019. She has spent more than fifteen years working in activism and was UK Director of Change.org. Her writing has appeared in the Guardian, Independent, New Statesman and The Times. She received an MA in Creative and Life Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she was shortlisted for the Pat Kavanagh Award.