Hairy Matters: The Good Hair Festival, @ The Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam |

It's not rare nowadays to go online and stumble upon pictures of beautiful people in multi-coloured hair not just on dedicated fashion sites, but on many different social networks. The way we colour, arrange, style, cut or shave our hair reveals a lot about our personality, and at the same time it says a lot about our culture as well. Wavy curls, Shirley Temple curls, straight hair, natural hair and futuristic styles could be seen as extensions of our identity.

The photography of J.D.'Okhai Ojeikere documenting the elaborate hairstyles and head wrappings of Nigerian women, is for example suspended between fashion, anthropology and history, revealing traditions behind special ceremonies and festivals, while hinting at social positions in the community or at the way specific styles evolved from the postcolonial era.

Hair is the focus of a very special bi-annual event that will take place this Sunday (22nd May) at the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam. Devoted entirely to hair as self-expression, the "Good Hair Festival" is divided into three themes – "Hair as Subculture," "The World of Barbers" and "Hair Trends".

The first section will look at hair as an art object and at its socio-cultural significance via the identity of people from diverse cultural backgrounds, and will expore the way we look at each other and react to covered/uncovered hair.

The second section will allow male visitors to have a free trim ot to shave their beards and mustaches. The most interesting thing in this section is actually an analysis of the differences and similarities between barbershops in London, Amsterdam and Cape Town. The Great Hall of the museum will indeed feature pictures of the current streetscape along with images from the museum collection with barber signs from the 19th and 20th century in Indonesia, Suriname and Ghana.

Fashionistas will instead love the third and final section that revolves around a series of new and futuristic hairstyles, courtesy of professional hairdressers and experts.

Each theme is accompanied by a series of dedicated events, demonstrations, talks, debates and workshops. Long locks, short bobs, weaves, dreadlocks, curls – you name it, you will be able to see them or learn more about them or about very personal stories and traumas involving hair loss and such likes.

There are actually many highlights in the programme: there is a talk about the cultural role of hair and hair politics with Björk's favorite hairstylist, filmmaker and photographer Jimo Salako, who has worked for Prada, i-D Magazine, and Dazed & Confused among the others; a debate on the hijab or headwrap that touches topics ranging from religion to fashionable or cultural considerations, and one panel about the boxerbraid – or cornrows, aka kwikwiba – that will look at cultural appropriation.

Among the special guests there's also wig-maker and hairstylist Charlie Le Mindu who will offer an insight into his eccentric world and talk about his life, work and inspirations.

Art fans should instead opt for the debate about the role of hair art, with artists who employ this material in their work or who use it as the focus of their projects.

Yet the Tropenmuseum is not just about hair: housed in an impressive listed building overlooking Amsterdam's Oosterpark, this institution features in its collections objects that have many stories to tell about humankind and themes such as mourning, celebration, ornamentation, prayer and conflict with no gegraphical boundaries, from Africa to West and Southeast Asia, from New Guinea to Latin America, so there will be a lot more to see once the festival is over.