#7. Natalie Allen

The Ultimate 50

7. Natalie Allen

2008 Update

In early 2008 Allen returned to cable television -- this time as host of the Weather Channel program Forecast Earth. Hair Fans noted it put her in a stable with two fellow Hall of Fame hairstyles. But Allen appeared with a longer style than many had seen before, and she seemed intent on growing it out even farther.

On top of that, Allen started traveling around North America as a reporter for the series. This indoor interview shows she prepared for the outdoors by flipping hair back on either side of her eyes, and undoubtedly spraying it down. As long as conditions are calm, this is no problem.

But as she walked waterside in British Columbia with legendary environmentalist David Suzuki, a wind was blowing. It shoved Allen's hair back, but this sharp-right head turn posed potential trouble. Many a Hair Fan has longed to see whether this head of Super-Hair could handle a breezy day....

....and as Allen turned front-and-center, the wind made the right side of the style collapse across her face. It only lasted half-a-second, as she quickly flipped her head to bring the hair back behind her shoulders (never touching it in the process).

This moment was very hard to vidcap, perhaps matching how hard it is to bring this hair down to defeat. But it's available to review on the Forecast Earth web site. There are plenty of other clips showing Allen there as well -- and in almost all of them, her "high-risk, high-reward" long hair looks fabulous, inviting and almost daring. One risky fall after years of strong hold is still an amazing record.

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2006-07 Update

An Allen entry at Wikipedia (since deleted) said she suddenly left MSNBC early in 2006. There was speculation she was in a romance with a network executive. And when he left MSNBC, Allen left shortly thereafter -- but we're now told it was a network budget cut of freelance employees, and nothing more.

This vid-cap was taken in June 2006, shortly before she vanished - with shoulder-length hair, a hint of wave at the ends and round-brushing to frame her face. (Could she actually have used spray with this style? We think so.)

Allen now is a member of another Hall of Fame, besides ours -- at her alma mater. But we were surprised by the picture posted by the University of Southern Mississippi. It shows a long-looking style, with only some teasing above the right eye preventing the hair from falling. For her, this is a downright dangerous look. But knowing her, she'd probably find a way to keep it in place no matter what. It never collapsed at MSNBC, as far as we know.

It's sad to say Allen has disappeared from view again. But she made a comeback before, and we're rooting for history to repeat itself.

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2004 Update

The Allen absence ended on television in the middle of 2003, when she guest co-hosted the weekend edition of "Extra." Then in 2004, she returned to cable as a freelance anchor/reporter for MSNBC -- doing some hair experimentation. A long straight look with blonde highlights actually was opposed by Hair Fans in a Cutting-Edge Hair News poll. Even when the hair was darker, it looked limper, weaker and nearer defeat than ever.

But at the anchor desk in October, Natalie was back to a more cautious short style -- the one that seems virtually undefeatable. Through it all, Allen remains unbeaten -- and received well-earned admission to our Hair Fans' Hall of Fame in 2003.

While the Allen fan club has folded, you can follow her style's progress at the place where we do -- TV Heads, which provided our latest pictures.

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2002 Update

It's hard to guess how many people were disappointed when CNN let Natalie go. Yes, we were among them. Her strong style can't be found on TV anymore. Our photo is from one of her last magazine photo shoots, for a Southern publication called "Jezebel."

Natalie went with former network colleague Bobbie Battista early in 2002 to start an Atlanta consulting firm called Atamira. Here's an ad for it, which was posted on a television news web site. It indicates Natalie actually might be tucking hair back behind her right ear these days, which she seldom had to do at CNN. But sad to say, our latest check of Atamira's site found no sign of her. We're not sure why.

Some of the most disappointed people at Natalie's departure belonged to a Yahoo group of Allen fans -- many of whom openly admired her marvelous hair. Many pictures still are stored here, to remember the variety of styles showing the hair at its finest.

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