how the Human Kintsugi Project began…
While teaching my course, GWS 3270 Beauty Cultures, a general studies course covering both Global Diversity and Arts & Humanities requirements, I had a bit of a personal crisis. The way I dealt with it was healing for me so I shared my story with class and offered them extra credit if they took up the challenge to tackle something in their lives with the same approach. The results often astound, move and delight me. In this first post, I will share the online prompt for the assignment. In posts to follow, with their permission, I will share some of the journeys students took in response. Here is the original prompt, which debuted in Spring 2025:
Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken ceramics by reassembling them with gold, highlighting rather than hiding the damage:
As our eyes follow the lines of destruction now filled with gold, we recognize at some level that there is a story to be told with every crack, every chip. This story inevitably leads to kintsugi’s greatest strength: an intimate metaphoric narrative of loss and recovery, breakage and restoration, tragedy and the ability to overcome it. A kintsugi repair speaks of individuality and uniqueness, fortitude and resilience, and the beauty to be found in survival. Kintsugi leads us to a respectful and appreciative acceptance of hardship and ageing.
Kemske, Bonnie. 2021.Kintsugi : The Poetic Mend. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
In March 2025, my hair looked like this:
It was long, thick, still naturally dark at age 58 — it felt like the one thing about me that wasn’t aging! The one thing that wasn’t broken.
Then one day a couple of weeks later I was setting a different part and discovered this:
I immediately called the doctor and made an appointment. Alopecia Areata — it is caused by stress (being a professor can be harder than you can imagine) and can be treated but sometimes instead of going away it grows or proliferates into more bald spots and becomes permanent. I found out this is the same condition to cause Jada Pinkett Smith to go entirely bald. I don’t know yet if mine will be temporary or permanent, remain small enough to cover with my hair or cause to me to lose all the hair on my face and body.
>In April 2025 I went to a professional conference of folklore scholars where I would be giving a presentation. So I decided to embrace my temporary or permanent baldness boldly, at least for the day. This is how I showed up:
People loved it. More importantly, so did I. So I kept doing it periodically:
The more I used my unexpected change to my body as an opportunity than a tragedy, the better I felt. Today in June, despite everything from steroid injections to dousing my scalp with Rosemary oil and caffeine, the circle is still very persistently bald. Here’s me in late June still wearing the look, this time at Disneyland (that’s Galaxy’s Edge in the background). I’m lucky enough that going to Disneyland was actually part of a research project — life is still good despite going bald in other words:
I don’t know what the future holds for my hair or body but I know eventually it will either fall out or turn entirely gray. So many things change: my weight goes up or down, things you’d never expect begin to wrinkle and sag (did you know your elbows can sag? It’s true — they can, I’m proof), basic functions cease to work entirely or do so differently or accompanied by pain. No matter how young and fit you are, no matter how closely you may fit the “beauty standard,” you will not be the same person you are today that you are tomorrow, with some changes minor but cumulative and others major and sudden. Many irreversible.
Update: July 9, 2025
.I discovered a second bald spot. So, thus far my alopecia is progressing rather than reverting. I wonder if instead of going grey, I will simply lose all my hair. All I can do is continue treatment, reduce stress (ha), and make the most of whatever happens. I thought if I could creat etwo parts, each leading to it’s own bald spot, I could make it look like ivy taking over like it does on the facade of a building. Two parts doesn’t seem to be possible, so I made a path between them and colored it all in blue. It is a series of still pools connected by a running stream.
So here’s your challenge:
What part of yourself do you normally minimize or hide? Take a picture of the carefully concealed you. Then celebrate your flaw: whether you paint a sun to highlight a really ripe pimple or wear a midriff that shows off your “muffin top,” draw attention to that part of you instead of trying to conceal it. Take a picture and post the before and after. Share how it made you feel. The more daring (but not pornographic) you are, the more you share your process and feelings, the more points you’ll get for this extra credit. If you go out in public with it and document that, you get even more points.
A Note on Trauma
Please note that you can participate in this project without delving into areas you have not recovered enough from yet to avoid re-triggering trauma.;The women in the examples had done a lot of healing work before they got to this class and the point where thy could produce what they did so this was confirmation for them of their strength and progress, a statement of triumph that made them feel stronger not weaker. My personal example is something that makes me feel good and transformed my experience of what might have been an unfortunate development into something full of whimsy, beauty and joy. Find a flaw you think you have where this exercise would make you feel stronger, more accepting of yourself, celebrate the real, authentic, joyful and courageous you that you wish you could show the world everyday. The public nature of this exercise, trying it out with a couple dozen strangers instead of the whole world is a safer way to try being more you than doing it in front of the whole world — maybe trying it out with us will help you get brave enough to take the next step. So participate in a way that takes a bit of bravery but won’t send you through an emotional black hole.
NEED SOME POSITIVE AFFIRMATION TO GET YOU STARTED?
(this is about you – it’s only 22 seconds, so listen)
The one you’re with, after all, is you.
In entries to follow, I will include some of what my incredible, brave, beautiful students have turned in for this assignment. I've given away more extra credit points than I ever imagined I would because...well, you'll see for yourself. And I'll post more of my own journey. Now, at 59, there are new changes to adapt to everyday and life is, after all, not about the destination. October 29, 2025.