From the editor | January 11

Hair. Yes, it’s just keratin — but it’s also identity, politics, economics and more. Whether it be our story on the growth of the natural hair movement in Africa, or an entrepreneurial “tennis racket” device or the creation of modern wigs for young Orthodox Jewish women, we loved putting together this series.

Fay Schlesinger, OZY Managing Editor

Stories From the Fringe

OZY's Hair! series looks at the pleasure and politics of our beloved locks.

Hair: Long or short, curly or straight, light or dark or colored — the mighty mane is a part of our human bodies that we tend to pay a lot of attention to (and money on). And because we often associate our precious locks with our identity, well, that makes its upkeep — care and style — a mighty important focus. Meet the people who are celebrating their natural hair and creating a wealth of options for others to love their kinks and curls.

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The New + the Next

How a Tennis Racket for Hair Became a Multimillion-Dollar Business

This entrepreneur is a grinder on a mission — to get your hair in shape easily.

Noel Durity has created a device resembling a tennis racket to tease out Afrocentric hair. Taking his creation on Shark Tank, he impressed judges Mark Cuban and Daymond John to the tune of $225,000. Now Durity's Twist It Up is a lean and mean operation — with just a dedicated social media person, a photographer and an outside CPA — that was on track to do over $1 million in sales in 2019.

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Sponsored by Bright Cellars

Drinking Wine Is Easy. Choosing Wine Is Hard.

That’s why two MIT grads created an algorithm that recommends wine based on your individual palate by using a simple seven-question quiz. You don’t have to know anything about wine to take the quiz. They ask questions like “What’s your favorite chocolate?” and “How do you like your tea?” Seeing which wines they recommend is 100 percent free. So take the quiz.

Bright Cellars is offering OZY readers $50 off their first order!