Around seven years ago, photographer Jeff Mermelstein started taking photographs of women twirling their hair. Walking the city streets with camera in hand, Mermelstein found he wasn’t lacking for subjects. Over the years, he became an “expert” in female hair twirlers. Reportedly, women twirl their hair more in the summer, and women of all races and nationalities do it. Some women twirl a thin strand; other women twirl bigger chunks. So, why do women twirl their hair? “There’s an easy interpretation: reflective of anxiety and tension,” says Mermelstein. “And nervousness.” Now, he’s turned his preoccupation into a book, Twirl / Run, which also features his other preoccupation, photographs of people running. [NYTimes.com]
