Super-Hair.Net

Cutting-Edge Hair News, 2008

Trisha Yearwood has been missing from country music awards shows almost as much as her heartthrob, Garth Brooks. But both made special appearances at the 2008 Academy of Country Music awards - with Brooks embarrassing himself a bit by referring to Reba McEntire as "Miss Yearwood." Trisha did not embarrass at all, with well-built long straight hair which was voted by Hair Fans the best of the show.

Yearwood wound up in a tight race with a surprise entry, Poppy Montgomery from the CBS series Without a Trace. Yearwood prevailed by 44 to 32 percent, in a vacation-lengthened two-week poll -- but Montgomery was praised by one voter for being "the cream of the crop from these options." Then came a three-way tie at eight percent between host McEntire, Karen Fairchild of the group "Little Big Town" and write-in candidate Jewel (whom we left out because her hair clearly was pinned).

And if you're wondering where Carrie Underwood stood - well, she didn't. She sang at the top of the telecast, but long bangs brushed horizontally across the forehead drooped into her eyes a couple of times. This time there was no question about it - and was a rare slip for Underwood in a concert like this.

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We admittedly considered the TV comedy Girlfriends an African-American ripoff of Sex and the City. It had four attractive women encountering all sorts of things in a big city (L.A. vs. N.Y.). But when we stopped to take a closer look, we found some of the L.A. ladies had hair which could challenge the "New York dolls." So with the CW not bothering to shoot a finale episode due to the writers' strike (shame on them), we conducted our own "finale edition" and asked which Girlfriend had the best style.

Our nine-day poll was never close -- as the straight, loose and oft-messy style of Persia White dominated, with 88 percent of the vote. One voter actually seemed unhappy that the look is straight: "Persia's hair used to be curly like the BMOC Brittany Bell. She straightened it for some odd reason." Perhaps it was to stand apart from the effervescent curls of Tracey Ellis Ross, who once made our Top Ten Tresses list. Imagine our surprise to find she received NO votes, while Golden Brooks and Jill Marie Jones received six percent each. No, we were not the ones who voted for Brooks to keep White from a perfect score.

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Right photo courtesy Heat World

Kylie Minogue is a big international star. But sister Dannii Minogue also has enjoyed music success, especially in her native Australia. So when she makes a style change, the British commonwealth tends to notice. Dannii's 'do these days has bangs added to her medium-long locks.

Trouble is, Hair Fans sped away from Dannii's new look faster than Kylie's "Loco-motion." Our one-week poll found a whopping 88 percent of the voters against the change (15-2). Even an admitted bang-lover was unimpressed: "Her bangs just hang, and she lost body and the slight waves she used to have." (Keep in mind the left photo was taken at some big celebrity event, so the hair could have been "glammed up" a bit for it.) We agree that Dannii could use more oomph on that forehead; either find a way to thicken the bangs, or split them to the sides and make us wonder a bit about them.

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Courtesy Reporter Caps

We thought fall was supposed to be the season for women to add protective bangs to their styles, to guard against troublesome winds. But we've made a couple of discoveries of celebrities adding bangs for spring. Headline News anchor Richelle Carey never was afraid to place hair near her eyes. But now angled bangs seem to have the left eye surrounded -- and we wonder if some kind of product is added to lock them in position.

Has another "Carey" carried off a good change? Our one-week poll was close again, but the bangs win a 53-percent majority (10-9). One voter felt the bangs make Carey look "'meaner' or menacing. Without the bangs is much softer and gentler." Perhaps it's because that key area around the left eye has to be "toughened up" a bit for hold -- but sometimes tough tresses can be the most interesting to watch in action.

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At the Grammy Awards, Carrie Underwood hinted at it. Then at the 2008 CMT Awards, she confirmed it. No, not those romantic rumors - but the addition of curved bangs to a hairstyle which our voters already admired a lot. Four Crown Awards in two years speak for themselves. But could this change put Underwood in the running for even more - including the Best Bangs category?

Our one-week poll found Hair Fans quite split about this. Opponents of the bangs wound up ahead, but only by a 52-percent margin (13-12). "She is so pretty without them hiding her face," wrote one voter. "The bangs make her look less sophisticated, and look awkward on her small forehead," explained another. But a bang-backer said the change "help show the softness and thickness" of Underwood's hair. And they still give close watchers of Super-Hair something to examine closely - because it appears a flick or two at those bangs to straighten them out might drop them in her eyes. Could one wrong turn on stage be its undoing?!

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Courtesy Rolling Stone, Hollywood Life

To borrow from her hit song, we "Don't Know Why" she made the change. It couldn't be due to Norah Jones's new movie, because the look is long and steamy in My Blueberry Nights. Perhaps a voter was right for guessing, "Someone just gave up!" Whatever the reason, the style which put Jones in our Top Ten Tresses list on two occasions (and even outlasted that other Norah with amazing hair -- O'Donnell) is gone. She's recently been seen with a close-cropped short look, as if she's ready to spend a long hot summer down south.

Do Hair Fans like this big cut? It was close for a while, but the final decision was No to Norah. A nine-day survey ended with 64 percent of the voters against it (16-9). "Her face isn't that beautiful frankly," one critic said bluntly. "Why draw more attention to it?" From watching Jones for years, we know she'll try to keep any look off her face and in place. (The picture at left was simply a fun photo shoot.) But the long look certainly provided a style with more drama, and displayed more impressive work to control. At least she has a "Handsome Band...."

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Courtesy CBS Sports

This moment in a 2006 National Football League game helped spark a 2008 debate. Troy Polamalu was returning an interception for Pittsburgh, and Kansas City running back Larry Johnson pulled on his famous long hair to make a tackle. The league had ruled hair-pulling legal (making it surprisingly rowdy, compared to pro wrestling). But the "growing" appearance of long hair on more and more players brought a more conservative proposal -- to ban it during games, supposedly so player names and numbers would not be obscured.

We don't ask questions about men's hair very often, but this became a hot topic on sports talk shows. So we asked Hair Fans about it for seven days, and seven out of ten said long hair in games should be out of bounds. The absence of comments and dearth of votes suggests to us many more visitors might not even care. But we see dramatic athletic scenes like the one above, and wonder what would happen if the genders were reversed. Is there some head of Super-Hair you might dream of pulling -- perhaps even down to defeat?

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Right photo courtesy Off the Rack

High School Musical made Vanessa Hudgens a cable TV star. A romance with Zac Efron made her a tabloid star. But can a little trimming make her a Super-Hair star? Hudgens was spotted with bangs on the long side, at an appearance in March. But our voters were as divided as the hair across her forehead.

Our one-week poll ended with the bangs winning, but only with 52 percent of the vote (16-15). "With bangs it's harder to do the butt cut," one supporter commented. (Now wait -- isn't her part actually a bit off-center?) But an opponent argued Hudgens has "one of the cutest faces in Hollywood; why cover it up more?" We say the bangs will help Hudgens keep her hair from collapsing in that face (which it does regularly) -- and we dare to suggest she go further, and cut a few inches all around. Her look is too spaghetti-stringy for our liking.

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The rumors of her daily talk show being canceled: apparently false. The tabloid stories about her divorce: we don't know, and don't really care. But reports that cooking star Rachael Ray has trimmed her hair are true. She showed her new chin-length look on some daily shows in early March, then had fun with it at the "SxSW" festival in Austin, Texas.

Has Ray cooked up something special here? Our one-week poll found Hair Fans resisted this change faster than some people resist lima beans -- with 83 percent against it (24-5). "She generally has good hair," one voter told us. "The look now is simpler with less body and no highlights. It looks OK, but I miss the lighter color with highlights and more body." We think that assessment is a bit generous, when it comes to the old style. It often seemed limp and weak to us, as if hair wasn't a big deal for Ray. With a bit of care, the shorter look might hold up through hours of cooking (though it was loose in the picture we found from Texas).

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Courtesy TV Heads

We're pleased to say this web site discovered Christina Brown before NBC News did. She was nominated for Super-Hair Wars in 2005, when she was a journalist in Las Vegas. Eva Mendes crushed her easily then, but perhaps Brown could do better now. The anchor of Early Today changed her longtime shoulder-length locks into a short bang-filled cap early this year - and our one-week poll found Hair Fans like it.

Brown's new look was preferred by 64 percent of our voters (14-8). "Cuter" was a word used by two different supporters of the change. But beyond that, there was disagreement: one claimed Brown's cut "makes her look younger" -- while another contended, "The new cut makes her look older...." We're personally torn on this one. The longer style is more tempting to us, and a higher-risk look to stay in place. The short approach is even more undefeatable, but not as thrilling - and part of us wonders if she's trying to copy morning TV competitor Robin Roberts.

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Some women with curls are skilled at the fine art of control. They can turn the volume up and down for a situation, the way the rest of us do it with radios -- only with curls, the job seems a lot more complicated. Colombian pop singer Shakira has seemed inclined to turn the curls up, during her career. So when a Hair Fan sent us the photo at right, we were surprised - and as impressed as the person who wrote us. Wild waves which can shake into Shakira's eyes often were smoothed down, as if she's turning into a business executive.

Do you like this new look? Our ten-day, hacker-lengthened poll found 73 percent of Hair Fans do (24-9) -- although one declared she's "soooooo sexy" either way. Curl-lovers could find much to appreciate (and try to unwrap) with both approaches. But the smoother style offers potential for longer-lasting hold, which might be more appealing for lovers of Super-Hair to pursue.

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Samantha Harris was a reporter for "E! Entertainment Television" before she hit the big time on Dancing With the Stars. So she knows a bit about red-carpet glamour - and she brought plenty of it to the 80^th annual Academy Awards. In fact, Harris upstaged the "stars" enough in the eyes of Hair Fans to steal our prize for the best hair of the show.

Rain in Los Angeles put the pre-Oscar festivities under a canopy, enclosed from the weather. But humidity couldn't conquer Harris's waves, as she took 30 percent of the votes in our one-week poll. She narrowly led a field with several admired styles, holding off a late rush from singer/actress Amy Adams with 27 percent.

Then came Katherine Heigl with 20 percent -- and one cynical comment suggesting she was trying to copy Marilyn Monroe, with a slightly upswept short style. (We thought more of Charlize Theron when she was named Best Actress.) Laura Linney had 17 percent, and a defender who thought our vid-cap didn't do justice to her "great color, body and style." And Kristin Chenoweth received seven percent, for hair looking much longer than the photo which earned her Crown Award nominations.

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To our knowledge, only one college student made the 2007 Crown Awards ballot -- a soccer player at a small college in Shreveport, Louisiana. If Michelle Williamson could do that, she probably would be the favorite in an all-college competition. And sure enough, Williamson led our "Elite Eight" (this year expanded to nine) of Best Mane on Campus styles for 2007-08.

"Too many good choices," one voter wrote during our one-week poll - and indeed, the voting was wide-ranging. Williamson led comfortably, despite claiming only 27 percent. Then came the Midwestern logjam - as Danielle Dewitt, Keri Feller and Liz Tusler (all with Wisconsin connections) all were tied with 14 percent. Behind them were Alexandra Bagi, Ali Nellis and Lynnsey Showers with nine percent, and Sydnee Lincoln at five percent. It only proves what we've said for years - plenty of great heads of hair are roaming around college campuses, large and small.

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The issue at the 2008 Grammy Awards turned out not to be which style would win - but whether she was qualified to win. Carrie Underwood came to our "best hair" poll as the favorite, mainly because other contenders took themselves out of the running for being ill (Faith Hill), wearing pins (Alicia Keys) or having hair drop in their eyes (Beyonce). And the country star scored one of the biggest awards show runaways in our history, but not without some controversy.

"Underwood's hair fell into her eyes many times during her performance," one voter wrote while she sailed to a 70-percent majority. "She should be disqualified under Super-Hair rules." We watched her song very closely, since her hair was placed very close to defeat - but we honestly thought the style held, and she escaped a fall. A supporter argued: "To disqualify her would be like disqualifying the US from the Summer Olympics. The rest of the field wouldn't be proving much." Another called for Underwood to do shampoo commercials, hair in the face or not.

For the record: Miley Cyrus was far back in second place with 22 percent of the votes, followed by presenter Roselyn Sanches and "other" with four percent.

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There's no doubt about one thing -- Megan Henderson has fans, and they're not merely Hair Fans. We found one survey rating her the best-looking TV reporter in Dallas-Fort Worth. She's the longstanding City League champion of the metroplex. And now for the second time, Hair Fans have alerted us to Henderson making a style change. In the U.S. summer of 2006, she was slightly longer with added bangs. These days, Henderson is clearly going longer -- and the bangs seem to be gone in our picture at right.

Has Henderson improved her look again? The voting was narrowly in support of a change two years ago, and it's narrowly in favor this time -- with 53 percent supporting the longer look in our one-week poll (18-16). "It's a tough call," one voter admitted, but added: "It loses somebody with the length." Henderson also probably needs to bring back the spray she used with a shorter style a few years ago -- but she's proven she could do that with great success.

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If you came here hoping to see that picture of Dana Jacobsen - the one where she's holding a liquor bottle - sorry. You simply can't see her hair well in that photo. The fact that you could see the liquor bottle at an ESPN roast was one of many factors which led to the cable channel suspending her. But that opened the door for us to ask about a style change we noticed several months earlier. Jacobsen's short angled look from late 2005 has turned into a bang cut, which appears slightly longer. The left look was popular on our search engine for awhile - but is the current approach even better?

Alas, Hair Fans in our six-day poll said no - as 83 percent want the bangs to go (24-5). "I like bangs," one visitor wrote, "but she looked like she used a T-square to cut her hair." (All the better for precision?!) Another critic declared: "With bangs, she looks like the logo for the Dutch Boy Paint company" - only without the protective hat, obviously. That person added: "Of course, her hair is the least of her problems at this time." May Jacobsen learn valuable lessons from all she's been facing - from that roast to this poll.

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Right photo courtesy Ultimate News Babes

Very few women who win the Super-Hair Wars title as "Champion Hairstyle of the Year" go on to change their championship style. But 2006 champion Natalie Morales did at the end of 2007. Hair extending a few inches below the shoulders was trimmed to shoulder-length. It's probably much easier to manage for a workout during the Today Show (as shown at right) -- but is this the right decision overall?

"Noooooooo," moaned one Hair Fan in our comments section during an eight-day poll. And 73 percent of the voters agreed, giving Morales's "lesser look" the thumbs down (30-11). They said they admired the old style for "lovely waves" that looked "softer and gentler.... more distinctive." They went on to call the shorter approach "a blah look.... She has lost a lot of beauty...." (The good news for them is that Natalie seems to be growing the hair back out now.) And one voter dared to ask: "Was Natalie drunk when she made the decision to chop away at her great hair?" Sadly, that might be the next person on our list....

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Courtesy Entertainment Weekly

Her real name is Valerie Waugaman. She runs a restaurant in Cleveland called the "Octane Café." But dining is not making her famous these days -- it's fighting. Waugaman goes by the nickname "Siren" on the new NBC version of American Gladiators. And a head of hair which she defines on her web site as "wild red" is strong enough to be declared the best among the regular defenders on the show.

A one-week poll which was interrupted for breaking news about a much more sedate sport (see Kelly Tilghman below) ended with Waugaman receiving 34 percent of the votes. She edged the brunette "Crush" with 29 percent -- then came "Stealth" and "Venom" tied at 19 percent. "Red heads rule!" one voter attracted to the "Siren song" declared. But it's more than color which would have given her our vote. She's a body builder, who has some double-tough body in her hair to match. It appears well-teased and permed to keep her style not only away from her face, but able to hold and bounce through the most challenging fights. How many Hair Fans quietly want to take on this woman - with or without jousting sticks?

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Courtesy YouTube

This was the picture of Kelly Tilghman which The Golf Channel showed, moments before she put her foot in her mouth. She was suspended from the cable channel two weeks, for a comment about Tiger Woods and younger golfers which we will not repeat here. Some civil rights leaders wanted Tilghman fired completely -- so before they came our way, we asked you if we should join in suspending Tilghman from our Top Ten Tresses list.

Our six-day "breaking news" poll found Hair Fans rallying around a Super-Hair veteran -- with 64 percent opposing any suspension (21-12). "This is a hair site, not a political or social policy site," wrote one voter. "Tiger said he accepted her apology." So we hope everyone does. May we all learn a language lesson from this moment in Hawaii -- and in a strange way, we're thankful to have something to replace the star-starved Golden Globe Awards.

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Left photo courtesy Bob and Tom show

Tanya Memme was a mystery to us, until a Hair Fan wrote us about her. But she apparently has years of history in modeling and reality shows, most recently the A&E; program Sell This House. The Hair Fan seemed concerned Memme had sold out, by having her long locks trimmed to above the shoulders.

Hair Fans overall agree with that concern. Our one-week poll found 59 percent of you want Memme to stay longer with her look (20-14). "Unforgettable in long, forgettable in short," one voter explained. But another wondered how Memme's new style would look when it's dry -- and that's our question, too. It might actually be a sturdier style -- or she might be using mousse to keep it that way.

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We thank all of you who take part in our polls! And we welcome any news tips you have on changing celebrity styles. Reach us by e-mail: superhair@gmail.com .

Review other Cutting-Edge polls: 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002

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