"Hot Comb offers a poignant glimpse into Black womens lives and coming of age stories as seen across a crowded, ammonia-scented hair salon while ladies gossip and bond over the burn. The titular story zHot Comby is about a young girls first perma doomed ploy to look cool and to stop seeming ztoo whitey in the all-black neighborhood her family has just moved to. In zVirgin Hairy taunts of ztender-headedy sting as much as the perm itself. Its a scenario that repeats fifteen years later as an adult when, tired of the maintenance, Flowers shaves her head only to be hurled new put-downs. Realizations about race, class, and the imperfections of identity swirl through Flowers stories and ads, which are by turns sweet, insightful, and heartbreaking."--