Hair Love was written by Matthew A. Cherry, a former NFL player who now works as a filmmaker, and will be released by Penguin Random House in May 2019. The book is based on a short animated film about an African American man styling his daughter's hair for the first time. The idea for the project came to Cherry after coming across a variety of viral videos on the Internet of black fathers spending time with their children.
Le livre est basé sur un court métrage d'animation que Cherry a créé après le lancement d'une campagne Kickstarter en juillet 2017.