Talking about your hair becomes a framework for talking about your vanity, your self-esteem, your relationships with your family, your mortality.

I think I've been mildly obsessed with my hair. I don't think I have a hugely adversarial relationship with it. One my essay is about my decision to keep coloring my hair once it started to go gray, but once I wrote the essay - once the book was in production - I decided to go gray.

You can just say the word hair to a woman, and she tells you the story of her life.