A few years ago at Spelman College, Lori Tharps was making an appearance to promote a book she co-wrote with her friend, Ayana Byrd. The book, Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America, examines the fascinating, often emotional relationship Black Americans have with their hair. And she was about to find out just how much it affected the people who read it.

During the question and answer period, a woman in the audience stood up, told an emotional story about growing out her relaxer and, when she was done, snatched off her wig, showing her natural tresses for the first time. She got a standing ovation.

“Hair Story came out in 2000,” Tharps told Stereohyped. “and it never ceases to amaze me that people are still so passionate about hair and the issues that it evokes. You hear something like the Glamour incident and the Don Imus incident, and you realized that these issues will never go away. I would suspect that anywhere there are black women there are black hair issues.”

Tharps’ interest in hair history began when she was a graduate student at Columbia University’s journalism school and had to choose a topic for her master’s thesis. She had never been big on hair — in fact, she had gone through most of her life keeping it neat, relaxed, and pulled back in a ponytail. And yet she still had undeniable hair issues.

“I had deep feelings about my hair,” she said, “and I couldn’t access why I felt that way. I knew that if my hair wasn’t looking right it could ruin my whole day or make me feel self-conscious. I wanted to know why did I and other black women have these deep, deep feelings about our hair? Once started researching the topic — the black hair care business, the policies, the histories — I discovered such an amazing history.”

From her master’s thesis sprung a book rich with information about black America’s obsession with hair, with historical references that go back to 15th century Africa. Think the Hair Wars weavologists are working completely outside of the box? Think again, says Tharps. Black Americans interest in adorning our hair and placing special importance comes directly from Africa.

“To say that if we are coloring our hair or straightening it we’re copying a European beauty ideal? In some context, sure,” she said. “But we’ve been decorating our hair forever.”

Most hair traditions are significant, she said. From women getting together to get their hair done on Sundays, which originated during slavery, to intricate cornrows, which, Tharps said, might have been used to pass along secret information on the Underground Railroad.

And generations later, people still read a lot into black hairstyles, particularly natural ones. Even when they shouldn’t. Tharps points to the recent Glamour magazine incident, when a now-fired editor told a group of lawyers that “political” hairstyles like afros and dreadlocks had no place in a corporate setting. People still make assumptions about women and men who choose to dread their hair or wear it in other natural styles.

“I don’t see how a hair style that is natural — afro, dreads, etc — can be considered not corporate unless it is considered not neat,” she said. “I think it’s all about how you wear it. You can have dreadlocks and put your hair in a bun and be corporate. Have an afro and keep it neat? It’s corporate. You can have straight hair, have it razor cut and spiked, and it’s not corporate. Whatever style you have — corn rows, braids, locks, relaxer — you do have to respect the corporate style. Anything else, like if corporation says, “no dreadlocks?” That’s racist.”

As hair issues keep popping to the surface — and seriously shaking up the news cycle — Tharps takes note and plans on releasing a second edition in 2010 with Byrd. Until then, she continues to write books (she has a memoir coming out next March, Kinky Gazpacho), but Hair Story will always be one of the first things people want to talk about.

“You just can’t help but always come back to it once you realize how influential hair is,” she said. “I never though i’d be a hairstorian, but here I am!”

_{Check out Lori Tharps at her Web site or her blog, My American Melting Pot.}