The Roots of My Hair

Reviews Whit Taylor | July 23, 2026 At this point, the “Black hair origin story” is somewhat ubiquitous in contemporary comics. In recent years we’ve seen work such as Wash Day Diaries (Jamila Rowser & Robyn Smith), Hot Comb (Ebony Flowers), Frizzy (Claribel A. Ortega) , Curl Friends (Sharee Miller) and other comics created by Black women on this very topic (albeit approached in various ways, which I’ll get to later). In an industry historically populated by white men, this topic may have initially seemed fringe or niche. And as of late, “identity”-led and “trauma”-informed comics have been the recipient of derision from those who feel like media has neutered its raunchy, underground, non-PC art in favor of these “thematically important,” “woke” narratives that favor “feelings” over artistry. I’d like to counter this notion by asking, who is this work actually made for? And what about comics is ripe for this topic? In Rowser and Smith’s Wash Day Diaries, Black hair and the cultural rituals surrounding its care and expression are a source of celebration and revelry. The characters in this book live in predominantly Black and Brown communities and there is a sense of appreciation...