Super-Hair Q&A: Kelly Cass

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Q&A

March 2020: Hall of Fame member Kelly Cass

Many women want their hair to look their "Sunday best," for worship services or other activities. But one owman has made a habit of having hair at its best on both Saturday and Sunday mornings - and she's delighted Hair Fans with it for years.

KELLY CASS is a 20-year veteran of the Weather Channel, best known as a weekend morning co-anchor. She became a Super-Hair favorite in the 2010s for seemingly flawless styles. Cass won Crown Awards for the Best Hairstyle in Science/Meteorology five times in six years, including four in a row from 2015-18. It culminated in her induction into the Hair Fan's Hall of Fame in 2019.

A Hair Fan wanted us to talk with Cass for a long time. It seemed like her bosses were blocking us. But then that Hair Fan somehow intervened, and the door amazingly opened for questions. Cass took our call at the end of a Sunday morning work shift in suburban Atlanta:

SUPER-HAIR: As you may know, you're now a Hair Fan's Hall of Fsme member....

KELLY CASS: (Laughs) Thank you.

S-H: You're welcome. Thank the people who voted for you. What did you think about that, when you found out you were voted in?

KC: I went straight to the makeup room and thanked my hairstylists. (laughs) I shared it with them. And I also shared it with the salon where I get my hair cut and highlighted. It was kind of fun. I think it was Mike Sidell, my fellow meteorologist, who first pointed it out to me that I was winning so many times in a row.

S-H: So apparently, people are watching us at the Weather Channel. That's nice to know.... Who is your hairstylist? We'll give that person a shout-out here.

KC: It's a salon in Buckhead. It's called Vis-a-Vis.

S-H: And your personal stylist is....

KC: Celena.... Katie's the color. I should probably mention her.

S-H: How would you describe the hairstyle you have right now?...

KC: I like that it's versatile. I like to wear it straight sometimes. And we also do the big curls, the wavy curls. It's just the kind of hair that... in fact, all the makeup artists that we have here at the Weather Channel - we have quite a few freelancers - they all agree that my hair's probably the easiest to do, because it just cooperates. Whatever style they're trying to achieve, it just - I don't know what it is, but it just behaves the way it's supposed to.

S-H: Still around the shoulders?

early 2000s KC: Yeah. I like to leave it kind of long. I like it below the shoulder. Every once in a while... back in the nineties, it was up to the shoulders. But it's been longer in recent years.

S-H: What's the longest you've ever had your hair?

KC: All the way down to my waist. I used to do some modeling in South Korea during my college years, and I used to keep it really long back then.

S-H: And the shortest? Ever had it above the shoulders?

KC: As a matter of fact, I didn't have any hair until I was two. My mother used to tape a bow to the top of my bald head, because she was sick of people asking if I was a boy or a girl. (Laughs) And then finally, when I was two, it came in very fine. So my mom would keep it really, really short until about third grade. I always had short hair. So I was a tomboy, and I blended in with the boys with my short hair.

S-H: Did they ever find out why your hair didn't come out until you were two years old?

KC: No. It was the same thing with my teeth. (laughs) I have no idea why.

S-H: What are your typical hours? I know you work Saturday-Sunday mornings.

KC: Yes. And I work tomorrow and Tuesday; I'll do the early show as well. During the week, it's a little more flexible. It just depends on the need for filling in. But my weekend, I'm always off Wednesday-Thursday.

S-H: And what sort of time do you come in? And how early do you have to get in, for the stylists to do what they do before you're on...

KC: I usually give it about 40-45 minutes for them to do hair and makeup before the show.

S-H: You're on, usually - what, four hours, on Saturday-Sunday? Or do you go longer?

KC: During the week, we start at 5:00 a.m. On the weekends, we start at 6:00. So I typically come in a couple of hours before the show to review scripts and look at my weather data, all the information. And then the makeup artist usually has about 45-50 minutes.

S-H: What is the biggest challenge you have with your hair, in terms of keeping it looking good and in shape all the time?

KC: It can get kind of heavy. Sometimes the front of my hair can kind of sag down. Today, as a matter of fact, it was starting to sag down over my right eye. So fortunately, we have a brush and hairspray behind the scenes that I can use to paste it back up again (laughs) and keep it from falling on my face.

S-H: The good news for you is, you're not on the air constantly for four hours. I guess, unless there's extreme weather or something like that.

KC: Right. During commercial breaks - usually range from a minute to two minutes, to as much as three-and-a-half or four minutes. So there's plenty of time for me to go touch up and make sure everything looks OK.

June 2016 S-H: When we think of your hair, there's one thing that comes to mind, which was when you were in a hot van, I think it was - showing the effect of summer heat... How many hours were you in that van?

KC: I wouldn't say hours. It was more minutes. (laughs) I would have died. But yeah. It was basically to demonstrate how quickly someone can succumb to heat exhaustion while inside a car with no air conditioning on. So it was an experiment to show everybody how serious it is. And I had a medic on hand, who was taking my vitals and making sure that I wasn't passing out or anything like that. But yeah - the heat, the humidity, all that definitely has an effect on, not just your skin, but your hair.

S-H: But it didn't do a thing [to] your hair, we saw that day.

KC: Yeah, it held up pretty good. It did OK.

S-H: What would you say is the worst hair day you've had? And what made it that?

KC: Well, you know, the dog always needs to walk. (laughs) When I walk her outside, I'm walking her in the rain. Or the wind, especially, gets my hair blowing all over the place. So I've definitely seen some bad hair days.

S-H: What advice would you give someone who wanted to emulate you, and have Hall of Fame hair like you?...

KC: For one thing, I don't really use any expensive products. I use Suave or whatever, whatever's on sale in terms of shampoo and conditioner. I don't really fall for the expensive stuff.

But I usually do put a lot of moisturizer, like, conditioner in my hair. Because especially since they do my hair every day, there's always heat, like a flat iron or a curling iron, on my hair. It's very important to keep my hair from breaking. So it's so important to have, not just conditioner, but a leave-in conditioner after washing.

S-H: The Weather Channel is known for a lot of women with great hair. We've had several in our Hall of Fame. You were not the first. Kristina Abernathy was there, Heather Tesch was there. Who would you say has the best head of hair you've seen, I guess lately? At the Weather Channel or elsewhere?

KC: Probably Jim Cantore. (both laugh) Liana [Brackett], who's on the air right now - looking up at her on the monitor - she's got beautiful hair. Felicia [Combs], one of our newer OCMs [On-Camera Meteorologists] - she's gorgeous. In fact, I think she does her own hair. So she's definitely beautiful. I work witrh some great people, not just scientificially - they all have that look, too, which is great.

S-H: Do meteorologists have to make some changes when they come to the Weather Channel, in terms of how they do their hair? Did you have to make any adjustments?

KC: Sometimes. We do have a consultant, who sits down with us all. And we review footage and video - not only can we improve our on-air presentation, but they do go over our style guidelines and tell us what we should wear, what we shouldn't wear, and suggestions for our hair as well.

S-H: Anything you'd like to add that I didn't ask you about this morning?

KC: I'm just very flattered. I think it's great that people take - it's funny, because whenever they do suggest changing my hair, I tell them: but wait, I have award-winning hair! (both laugh) So that part's kind of fun.

CONCLUSION: We're not sure who would dare tell Kelly Cass to change her style. But she's shown she can make adjustments successfully. And she's proof not everyone is "born" with Super-Hair. Sometimes it takes a while to show up. But when a strong and weighty hairstyle shows up, Hair Fans want to watch. Maybe Kelly continue to thrill us - and even take the chances that prove what Super-Hair is all about.

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