Kvällens häftigaste frisyr!

Abstract

Hair is both biological and cultural and a material for design and pleasure. But hairstyles are also a site of power, used both for inclusion and exclusion. Taking my points of departure in post structural feminism, critical masculinity studies, consumption studies and queer theory I discuss hairstyling both as a regulating power and a pleasure that brings young male Turkish service workers together in an effort to create the most thrilling hairstyle of the night. The creations functions as a brand for the company and force the male employees to create more and more extreme hairstyles. However the hairstyling also creates pleasure and the practice constitutes a homosocial friendship among the workers that helps them cope with the pain of long working hours. In the last part of the article I compare the Turkish service workers' performance with one performance presented in a Swedish Hairstyle Show the same year.

Keywords

• hair
• power
• pleasure
• compulsion
• Turkish service workers
• hairstyle