Facing the Mirror : Older Women and Beauty Shop Culture

This innovative, ethnographic study of a neighborhood beauty salon investigates how customers constitute a lively, affirming community of peers during their weekly visits. Facing the Mirror gives voice to older women, who, in a sexist and ageist society, are frequently devalued and rendered invisible. These older, mostly Jewish women articulate their experiences of bodily self-presentation, femininity, aging, and caring pertaining to their lives within and outside Julie's International Salon. This book explores the socio-moral significance of these experiences which reveals as much about society as about older women themselves. Women's narratives expose structures of power, inequality, and resistance in the ways women perceive reality, make choices and live in their worlds. The Women At Julie's International Salon Share Their Experiences Of Bodily Self-presentation, Femininity, Aging, And Caring. Their Own Words Are At The Center Of The Book; The Stories Of Their Lives, Fresh And Compelling, Are Told Here With Affection. But Beyond The Stories Themselves, Frida Kerner Furman Explores The Socio-moral Significance Of These Beauty Shop Experiences, Showing How They Reveal As Much About Society At Large As About Older Women. For In Telling Us How They Perceive Reality, Make Choices, And Live In Their Worlds, The Women Of Julie's Expose Structures Of Power, Inequality, And Resistance In The Larger World That All Of Us, Young Or Old, Beautiful Or Not, Face Every Day. Women's Territory : Community And The Ethic Of Care At Julie's International Salon -- The Witch In The Mirror : Feminine Beauty And Its Imperatives -- What's My Alternative? : Aging And Its Challenges -- The Cheese Stands Alone : Women In Relation To Work, Caring, And The Family -- Energetic Anger : An Invitation To Resistance. Frida Kerner Furman. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [203]-214) And Index. This ethnographic study of a neighbourhood beauty salon investigates how customers constitute a lively, affirming community of peers during their weekly visits. The book seeks to give voice to older women, who, in a sexist and ageist society, are frequently devalued and rendered invisible.