A Book That Celebrates Identity
We have been taught to view hair as a superficial matter: a style, a choice, something to tame or display. But what if everything you thought you knew about hair was too simplistic? The Spirit of My Hair invites you to think more deeply about this topic. Afro hair carries memory, history, and pride, but it has been regulated, stigmatized, and misunderstood for centuries. This book reframes hair as a living archive, a symbol of identity and resilience that demands to be seen on its own terms. Through art, personal stories, education, and dialogue, this project celebrates natural hair while opening essential conversations about culture, advocacy, and self-acceptance. It's not “just hair.” It's a story that belongs to all of us.
THE SPIRIT OF MY HAIR
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Guylaine Conquet
Guylaine Conquet is a French visual artist, activist, and cultural ambassador based in the United States. A former journalist in French television and radio, she transitioned into painting to tell stories of Black identity, natural hair, and resilience. She is also an educator, teaching high school students and leading lectures at colleges and universities on the theme of hair identity. Her work has been exhibited internationally in Miami, Paris, Atlanta, New York, and London. In 2024, she initiated the French anti-discrimination bill that recognized hair-based discrimination in workplaces and schools. Through art, books, teaching, and cultural projects, she inspires others to embrace their heritage with pride.
"I understood that my hair, my nose, my skin, everything about me was wrong. I had to straighten, lighten, and deny myself to be acceptable."
— Maryse Condé, Tales from the Heart
Why This Book Matters
"The Spirit of My Hair"
What does it mean to carry history, identity, and resilience in your hair?
In The Spirit of My Hair, artist and activist Guylaine Conquet delivers a powerful memoir that reclaims the beauty and heritage of Black hair. From her childhood in France, through her career in French television and radio in Guadeloupe, to her transformation into an acclaimed visual artist in the United States, Conquet reveals how hair has shifted from a source of embarrassment to a crown of pride.
Part memoir, part cultural history, and part call to justice, this book shines a light on:
• Black Hair Identity: how hair shapes self-love, confidence, and belonging.
• Heritage & History: the ancestral traditions woven into braids, Afros, and natural styles.
• Discrimination & Resistance: the colonial roots of imposed beauty standards and the global fight for recognition, including Conquet’s initiative in France’s 2024 Anti-Discrimination Bill.
• Art as Activism: how painting, storytelling, and cultural advocacy create spaces for healing and pride. With lyrical prose and unflinching honesty, The Spirit of My Hair celebrates resilience while exposing the struggles Black women continue to face in a world that too often demands assimilation.
If you believe that hair is more than style—that it is history, heritage, and spirit—this memoir will inspire you to embrace your crown with pride.
See What Readers Are Saying!
TESTIMONIALS
Heritage, Resistance, and Celebration of Black Hair
Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2025
★★★★★
This book is a commemoration of our greatness—a greatness that has always been. Across millennia, our hair has traveled oceans, carrying with it stories of resilience, beauty, and identity. It has been celebrated, adorned, and revered, not only as a crown upon our heads but as a testament to our enduring spirit. Black hair is more than strands; it is history woven into braids, freedom etched into locs, and pride rising in every curl. This is our reminder: we have always been great, and our hair tells the story of that greatness.
Lettely Foster
★★★★★
Oprah Book Club worthy!
Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2025
Absolutely incredible book and an incredible achievement! It was an honor to purchase this book by Guylaine Conquet . She is a talented author and artist and the world needs to read the importance of an ethnic woman's journey with our hair. 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ all the way! Oprah Book Club next!
★★★★★
Ce livre m'a été recommandé et comme le sujet m'intéresse je l'ai acheté et je suis contente de l'avoir fait car il m'a replongé dans les incertitudes de mes jeunes années qui, éclairées par les découvertes sur la toxicité de ces crèmes relaxantes, m'ont permis de voir comment, la façon dont la société renvoie à un idéal façonne nos actions.
Le récit est inspirant, révélateur de notre processus de libération mais reste léger et a un humour qui dédramatise le sujet.
Merci à l'auteur pour cette bouffée d'amour et de valorisation de notre identité
★★★★★
A very inspiring book that beautifully celebrates identity, culture, and the deeper meaning behind self‑expression.
THE SPIRIT OF MY Hair
Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2025
Un livre qui explique et decomplexe sur un sujet fort
Reviewed in France on November 29, 2025
★★★★★
Deep, self reflecting and love.
Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2025
Thank you!!! So inspirational.
I used to be like the author and feeling so discouraging with my hair and ashamed as a little girl.
I could see me into that book.
From self-hatred to loving her hair then embracing her new journey of activism. It’s so inspirational. WOW!!!
★★★★★
The Knowledge of our culture very important
Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2025
This book is very well explained about the culture of hair every customer should buy one.
Art That Reflects Every Shade of You
Celebrating Every Shade of Identity
ART AS HEALING
After thirty-five years of chemical straightening and extensions, I began to paint my journey toward accepting my natural hair moving from rejection to pride. On canvas, curls became a vocabulary and texture became truth. What I couldn’t say out loud, painting could: my hair was not a problem to solve but a story to remember, a language to relearn. The Spirit of My Hair began there as a practice of repair art as a quiet clinic where shame fades, memory returns, and dignity stands in full color.
ACTIVISIM FROM CANVAS TO CONGRESS
Painting and my years in journalism taught me discipline: research, layering, revision. I carried those skills from the studio into civic life. Stories became briefs, portraits became testimony, and the personal became procedural. In France, I pressed for legal recognition that hair bias is not a matter of style but a violation of rights. Step by step, we helped shift standards so that dignity is not only displayed in a gallery but enforced in schools, workplaces, and public institutions. The Spirit of My Hair is both a book and an action plan art that argues.
WHAT I'M FIGHTING FOR
I’m fighting for the right to show up whole: identity affirmed, health protected, history taught, discrimination ended. That means ending policies that penalize texture and protective styles; demanding product transparency and safer standards; and building the evidence data, case studies, and guidance that turns lived experience into lasting protections. The goal isn’t permission; it’s parity. The promise is that the next generation won’t have to transform themselves to be seen.
GET IN TOUCH
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Phone
(1)7865677079
Address
Atlanta Georgia USA
Address:
Atlanta Georgia USA