Super-Hair.Net
Cutting-Edge Hair News, 2023
When we've tracked hair at "beauty pageants" through the years, it's been a common complaint: the women with short hair never win. (Which isn't true; check the current Miss Universe.) Yet the 2024 Miss France contest turned that complaint upside-down, snd sparked an iunternational debate. Eve Gilles, who won the crown, displayd a short cut with bangs sweeping across her forehead. That apparently was a first. Yet to some viewers, that was wrong. Critics went to social media (as they often do) to claim Gilles's look was too "androgynous" overall - with some even calling out her cut with the controversial classification "woke."
A Hair Fan on X/Twitter brought this issue to us. With no "long look" of Gilles available for comparison, we decided to place her alongside the outgoing Miss France 2023. Whose style would win a Super-Hair War? Our one-week question ended with Gilles topping Indira Amplot by a 62% margin (5-3).
Since no one dared to leave a comment, we'll offer a couple. Our Crown Awards always have had categories for both the Best Long and Short Hair. As the French used to say, "Vive la difference." And to the politician who said men have no right to comment on women's hair - you may not be woke, but isn't that sexist?
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It was a change that was five years in the making - and when she made it, everyone in the capital of Alabama probably noticed it. Amanda Curran cut 10 inches of her hair for a children's wig charity in December 2022. But the Montgomery, Alabama TV meteorologist and City League champion didn't seem fazed by the change at all. Her style has stayed practically perfect on the air - and despite the grumbling of some Hair Fans, she's remained on our Top Ten Tresses list.
Curran did a "one-year checkup" on her style on social media in December 2023, asking if she should keep growing it out. Our voters in a one-week poll said yes, but it was close: 57% perfer Curran's cut longer (4-3), down 67% with longer locks a year earlier. Oh yes, about that grumbling. One voter told us: "Either way, her time in the top 10 should be done... So many better heads of hair out there!" As long as Curran's station doesn't send her to present the forecast on the seventh-floor balcony, as she mentioned on X/Twitter during the week, she may be hard to remove. But that leads us to ask - why does a TV station in Montgomery, Alabama have a seventh-floor balcony, anyway?
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Right photo courtesy InStyle
The 2009 Crown Awards ceremony ended with a big surprise. The Best Long Hair title which Bonnie Bernstein had dominated for three years went to someone else - British actress Kate Beckinsale. She won even though she finished fifth out of five women for Best Brunette. That tells us Becksinsale's color was not the key to her victory. So it appears she feels free to experiment with other colors. Yet it was a surprise on 6 December to see Beckinsale with a big change: not only was her long hair cut to shoulder-length, but she was bright blonde. Stylist Dimitris Giannetos combined "blonde" with a "bob" and called his creation a "blob."
Never mind the fact that The Blob was a classicly bad movie - what do you think of Beckinsale going lighter? Our voters were not impressed, with 83% of them preferring a brunette "Becks" in our week-long poll (5-1). No one left a comment - but with Beckinsale turning 50 during the British summer, maybe this is her way of subtly disguising gray hair. Yet we agree with Giannetos in another one-word description of this new look: "hotness."
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She was in and out and in again at CNN. Then she went to "Newsy," which became part of Scripps News. But as 2023 ends, we're not sure if Natalie Allen is anchoring news anywhere. The photos she's posted on Instagram have her touring Europe, and not as a correspondent. Yet if you never saw Allen on Newsy/Scripps News, you may be surprised by what she's done with her hair in the last couple of years. It's grown out to bust-length, after rarely going below the shoulders during her early years at CNN.
Is Allen, well, nattier in her appearance with the long look? Our voters believe so; 71% supported the change in our week-long poll (5-2). "Love the longer hair, looks great!" one voter enthusiastically wrote. Another asked, "Not in HOF?!" Actually, she is in the Hair Fan's Hall of Fame. We could have identified her that way, in addition to being part of our Ultimate 50. Not many women can say they're in both of those areas. And also, not many can match the near-perfection Allen has shown with her hair for decades.
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For a lacrosse goalie, a goals-against average of 12.7 is middle-of-the-pack. It means opponents are beating you about three times a quarter. Maria Mancuso had that average at Ohio's Ashland University in the spring of 2023. But she seems to have something else that no one can beat - above-average mid-length blonde hair. She's your choice for the outstanding style from our Best Manes on Campus "Elite Eight Week!"
Our weeklong contest with the first eight BMOC's of the season ended with Mancuso grabbing 60% of the votes. Smaller schools dominated the voting, as second place was a tie between Olivia Donovan of Southern Indiana and Rebeka Fucka of Fairleigh Dickinson (formerly of Coastal Carolina) at 20% each. As for the other five candidates... you had a full week to gain support. We'll have no Florida State football excuse-making here.
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Right photo courtesy Country Music Alley
It was a question ripped from the entertainment headlines, and one we hoped woud get attention. In the first season of American Idol, we asked who had better hair between the two finalists: Kelly Clarkson or Justin Guarini? Clarkson won both here and on TV, springing her forward into mega-stardom. (We'll let you explore Guarini's career and curls on your own.) Clarkson has gone up and down with her hair over the last 21 years, changing colors more than once. But for the end of 2023, she's doing something we've never seen fromn her before. Bangs were added for the shift of Clarkson's talk show from Hollywood to New York.
Has Clarkson hit klondike gold again? We expanded this question to 10 days, but apparently our voters were uninspired both ways. The poll ended in a draw (3-3), with one skeptic writing: "The bangs are a little thin." ("Wispy," the fashion websites said.) We agree with that. Maybe it says something about Clarkson's overall head of hair at 41 - or maybe it's to match the "tiny waist" one website said she's displaying these days.
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As we asked on X/Twitter: What does it say about the 2023 Country Music Association Awards when most of the hair comments involved Morgan Wallen - a guy? That's the way things went in Nashville, on a night when several famous country heads of hair didn't even show up. With no Miranda Lambert and no Carrie Underwood, the door was open for an underrated veteran to be the style star of the show - and Mertina McBride did.
The two-time Crown Award winner came out in the final "rush hour" as a presenter with almost mid-length layers, and wound up winning two-thirds of the votes in an expanded eight-day contest. Rising star Megan Moroney, who struck us as the "blonde" successor to Kelsea Ballerini, came in secons at 22%. Wynonna (Judd), who had some people wondering about the way she opened the telecast, was third at 11%. And thankfully, no one mentioned Wallen as a write-in candidate.
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Right photo courtesy Daily Mail
The pressure often seems to be on "First Ladies" in the U.S. to have great hairstyles. (Except for the current one, it seems.) But how often do the daughters of national leaders get a good look? People of a certain age will remember the perfect blonde hair Tricia Nixon had when she became married at the White House. Chelsea Clinton... well, not so much. Now one of the two daughters of Barack Obamas has hair-watchers talking. Malia has become a Hollywood writer, so she is in the view or paparazzi. And in October, Malia was caught changing colors. Long brunette locks were replaced by a red shorter style.
Is Malia more "buena" joining what seems to be the "cherry cola" trend? Our Hair Fans shook their heads no. They prefer their Obama original, with the brunette color winning unanimous support in an eight-day question (5-0). No one left a comment, but apparently we are in the minority. Red seems more attention-getting and attractive to us. But we wish someone in the paparazzi would explain those photos of the other Obama daughter, Natasha, holding moving boxes. Is a scandal lurking there somewhere?
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How real are those "Real Housewives" on cable TV, anyway? The Bravo series have developed a reputation for extravagance and cat fights. In Real Housewives of Potomac, Ashley (Boalch) Darby is a mother of two and failed restaurant co-owner who is going through a divorce. She also displays natural curls that fit what you would expect from a former Miss District of Columbia. But for her own "fall premiere" in October, Darby dared to make a big haircut. She went ultra-short and borderline 1920s-era "flapper," declaring while dancing on Instagram that it "certainly brings out my wild side."
Did Darby leave our Hair Fans feeling wild or mild? Well, they certainly were not dancing with delight - as 88% of them in an extended nine-day poll called for the long look to come back (7-1). But one comment was skeptical even about that: "Longer, assuming that's her real hair." It might not be, as most of the photos we found in an image search have her curls stopping at the shoulders. (Some "Real Housewives" are famous for extensions, too.) But with a divorce on the horizon for her, Hair Fans can focus on one big Darby curl - assuming they can straighten it out somehow.
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Really now - aren't almost all of us "Dua Lipas?" As in: we have two lips? Well, that's NOT where the British disco-pop star got her name. Her parents actually have the last name "Lipa." The Dua means "love" - and that brings us to what Lipa did recently to her hair. She's apparently a natural brunette, but she doesn't love it so much that she refuses to change it. Lipa has been blonde more than once - and in mid-October, she switched to deep red. One fashion magazine compared it to "Cherry Coke."
Maybe it's really for a soda endorsement deal - but should Dua do it all the time? Our one-week poll seemed to leave a lot of Hair Fans supporting some kind of change from brunette. Half of them like the red look, while the other half called for another color (0-2-2).hrugging their shoulders. "Auburn," one suggested - apparently a bit brighter than Cherry Coke, but not all-the-way Kool-Aid red. Rihanna may have claimed that shade already, anyway...
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Left photo courtesy The List
We're not sure if every performer on The Bold and the Beautiful is required to be both bold and beautiful. But actress Annika Noelle has done a few things in recent years that lean so much toward the "bold" side, we wonder why they're not part of her storyline. She became pregnant twice while unmarried - only to lose both babies to misciarriage. Then she split from her fiance. And during September, Noelle took perhaps the boldest step of all - cutting her long hair. She called the chop from medium-long to neck-length the start of her "Meg Ryan era."
Ryan won the Super-Hair title in 2000 with a short style. Can Noelle match that success? Maybe so; 63% of our voters in a one-week question said they like the shorter look better. The comments were divided as well. "Horrendous cut," one wrote. "She went from having the best hair on the show to... so disappointing." But another said Noelle's length "just hangs limply." We lean toward short based on a thicker look - but we hope someone goes after the new look of "Hope" her character with a high-drama approach.
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Does the right kind of hair inspire some women to perform better? For instance, does added curl give some women the courage and strength to face any challenge and succeed? If there's any place where that could happen, it's the world of professional wrestling. Yet what WWE star (does anyone call them "divas" anymore?) Chelsea Green did with her hair in late September seemed to be exactly the opposite. After winning the women's tag team title for the second time, Green switched her hair color from blonde to brunette. "She's back" was all Green said about it on X/Twitter.
Does the darker shade make Green more "on fire" with you? Our voters said yes: 71% of them prefer her as a brunette. Another 14% preferred blonde, while 14% said she shold try another color (please, not green). "Chelsea doesn't care what you think!" one voter commented. That doesn't really surprise us; that's how "divas" operate. But then, maybe we'd better not pursue Green's thick long locks at all. After seeing the "hair flip" she gave another wrestler during our poll, she might have "Super-Hair" that knocks us cold.
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With a last name like "XCX," you might think she appears in adult movies. But Charli XCX is a British pop music star who gained fame through MySpace (some of you may remember that). Her most recent album Crash made the top 10 on the U.S. album chart and #1 in Britain. And through most of her career, XCX has performed with hair that's mostly straight. But during September, she decided to show off full curls which apparently are natural. "Finally feels like the real me," she wrote on social media.
"I'm the girl with THE hair," XCX also wrote on Instagram. OK - true or false? Our voters agreed with her, and they had no doubt: a one-week poll ended with unanimous support for Charli's curls (4-0). "If her hair is naturally curly, she needs to go natural!" one voter wrote. Ooooh... but if she does, how many Hair Fans will want to try to straighten it out, some way or another?
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She's considered one of the steamiest actresses around. But who expected Megan Fox to turn "red hot" with her hair? She did in early September, perhaps to beat the changing autumn leaves. But that's not the only change Fox made with her mane. Her famous long locks got the chop from stylist Dimitris Giannetos - all the way to her shoulders. The change was so drastic that Giannetos felt compelled to add the social media hashtag: #NotAWig.
Of all the magazines, Cosmopolitan called the new Fox look "shocking" in a headline (but not the article). Ths "red velvet bob" certainly didn't make our voters throb: 71% told us in a one-week poll the hair should stay longer (5-2). "Terrible," one voter simply wrote. Yet we're wondering - would some spray on this style (which Giannetos seems to use in one photo) actually make Fox's hair hold better? Enough to one-up boyfriend Machine Gun Kelly?
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Members of royalty ought to have the kind of Super-Hair that makes everyone else jealous. After all, they probably have handlers preparing them for every public moment, including what trials their styles might face. Princess Catherine (Middleton) of Britain has impressed on a regular basis since entering the spotlight dsuring the 2000s - especially since she wed Prince William in 2011. But "Princess Kate" really turned heads when she went to France to watch England in the 2023 Rugby World Cup. She displayed what might be described as long beach waves.
Catherine's cuts have tended to be shoulder-length or a bit below with a tighter curl. So is longer better for a princess? Our Hair Fans said no, with 62% preferring the shorter approach in a one-week poll (5-3). No one left a comment, but we agree with the online hair-watchers who say the princess looked years younger at the match. The style looked a lot riskier as well. But careful royal viewers probably noticed Catherine growing her hair out in recent months. If she gets to the waist, that will make royal headlines.
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When Jennifer Love Hewitt was voted into your Hair Fan's Hall of Fame, it was 2006 and she was only 27. A medium-long style with bangs led to the honor. But if you check her Hall of Fame page, you'll find one of the photos has a bob. Hewitt has not been afraid to change lengths through the years - and she did it again in August. Hewitt already had brightened her shade. Now stylist Nikki Lee took her dark red with a chin-length cut, with Hewitt declaring on social media: "Ready for fall."
But are Hair Fans ready for Hewitt with this cut? They clearly are not, as 75% of them in our week-long poll preferred Hewitt's hair longer (6-2). "The new cut is God awful," one voter declared. Our voters apparenrly were not alone; so many people raised questions tht Hewitt released a statement during our poll. "So many people said I look different," she wrote. She denied she had a brow lift, but admitted having "microblading" done. "Be good. Be kind. Spread love," Hewitt added. OK - so can we kindly ask for a lift in the hair around the crown? We love it more when Hewitt's style doesn't flop in her face.
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For TV viewers of a certain age, Bob Barker may have been the best game show host of them all. Through five decades hosting Truth or Consequences and The Price is Right, he had a quick wit, a good sense of humor - not to mention teeth which could have inspired the "Guy Smiley" puppet on Sesame Street. Barker's hair usually looked flawless, too - and he survived a "no more dye" moment on the show. Yet Barker's death in August 2023 may have led Hair Fans to think about the women he helped make famous. "Barker Beauties," as they were called, often had perfect hair as well - making viewers wonder what sort of "Showcase" might knock them out of place.
As a tribute to Barker, we asked you which model on TPIR had the best hair. After a week of voting, we had something the game show never would have... a THREE-WAY TIE! Anitra Ford, Holly Hallstrom and Janice Pennington (left-right above) deadlocked at 25% each. (We can have a tie-breaker, if there's interest.) The tight contest was followed by Dian Parkinson and write-in Brandi Sherwood at 12%. That left Kathleen Bradley with no votes - which is curious, because she was high on our Ultimate 50 list. We think her cut lasted longer, but she wound up going over the game-show "cliff.".
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Right photo courtesy Rozhair
As the strike by Hollywood writers and actors drags on, what can stars do without walking picket lines? Some of them may be going back to coronavirus thinking from 2020. They make news by changing hairstyles - only in 2023, they don't have to do it at home. For Emma Stone, it meant a trip to see the founder of Rozhair. Mira Roszak turned Stone's iconic red shade into late-summer blonde. She also trimmed Stone's hair into a bob, which one website called one of her shortest lengths ever.
Stone reportedly received "15 individual extensions," so her scalp does not get damaged. But what about that color? Our voters want that to be temporary as well; 80% in our week-long poll said they preferred Stone red (4-1). Stone made a similar switch in late 2017, which also did not thrill our voters. But here's the big surprise - Stone is naturally blonde! She says a darker shade helped her get her first movie role. So our voters may not be traditionalist, after all - they simply know stardom when they see it.
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You'd think the summer of 2023 would find Phildelphia in hair heaven. After all, TV reporter and LaSalle University alum Kerri Corrado was voted into the Hair Fan's Hall of Fame. But when we went for a browse around X/Twitter, we actually found some turmoil in Philly. The reason involved a TV anchor at Corrado's competition. On 11 August, Alex Holley decided to let her mid-length mostly-straight style go all the way out - with braids almost to her waist. It wasn't a "casual Friday" one-day special, either; the braids came back throughout the following week. "It's actually about culture," she X'ed in response to one skeptic.
We wondered what our Hair Fans thought of Holley's adjustment, which we've noticed other Black TV anchors doing during spring and summer. Our one-week poll ended with 62% of them supporting the long look (5-3). "Longer is more natural," one voter commented. While some people might suspect Holley has extensions, braid-centric websites will tell you it's all hers. Another voter looked at Holley's hair and declared, "Corrado must be p****d!" Now hold on - before the battles start, the current City League champion in Philadelphia is someone else.
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For once, it appears we got one right - at least on part of the website. In the wake of her Crown Award for Best Hairstyle in Science/Meteorology, we added Stephanie Mead to our Top Ten Tresses list in June. Her impressive styles on Detroit television (and before that in Indianapolis) sllowed her to move up quickly, reaching the top of our list as our annual "Who's #1" contest began. The voters backed our decision, and declared Mead #1 in the world in 2023!
We didn't bother to mention it, but this year's vote was filter-free. We don't know if Mead's fans noticed that, but she wound up with 50% of the votes from our one-week question. Second place was a surprise: university researcher and part-time actress Suzan Fakhoury, at 45%. Photos of her have become so hard to find that we'd considered dropping her.
Adriana Diaz of CBS News was third with 8%. And that was it - as no one else in the Top 10 received a vote. Perhaps the biggest surprise in that was Kerri Corrado. She was inducted into the Hair Fan's Hall of Fame during the vote - yet she struck out here?!
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Photos courtesy E! Online
Blonde to brunette? Brunette to blonde? Those color changes for celebrities are standard; we've seen plenty of them do it, even in 2023. But a more subtle color switch still can get your attention. Emily Ratajkowski did that for summer, by trasitining from brown hair to red. Not as red as the model's lipstick is at times, but what Glamour magazine called "glazed amber." There's apparently a "go-to" stylist for this color; Jenna Perry has prepared it for other stars.
Has "Em-rata" embarrassed herself with this switch? Actually, Ratajkowski's red may have been too hot for our poll to handle! It went in and out during a week of voting, but seemed to be on long enough that every voter who made a choice approved of the glazed amber look (4-0). We should note Ratajkowski has a history of style changes; our voters said no to a blonde change in 2020, after she toyed with a bob in 2017. Since she's told people off in the past for "telling women what to do with their hair," we will NOT email these results to her - good though they are.
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Are some members of the NCIS cast jealous of their former colleagues? Or are they simply thnking alike? As we asked you about a hair color change by former star Emily Wickersham, a current star on the show unveiled one of her own. Katrina Law is quite well-named for the program, even though her character has the last name "Knight." Law turned her hair from dark-as-night to summer daylight, calling it on Instagram "Barbie hair." (Somneone forgot to tell Law to pose in pink.)
Did Law wear it better than Wickersham - or is it a better color at all? Apparently our voters liked it, because every vote in our one-week poll supported the blonde color (3-0). Our results page went in and out for some reason during the week, which may explain why no one left a comment. But for someone whose character supposedly can hold her own in a fight, Law lets her hair drop in her eyes with ease; check her "Twitter" or "X" account for proof.
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It may be one of the longest cliffhangers in TV history - and with a strike in Hollywood, it's only growing longer. Emily Wickersham's character on NCIS went away on an "undercover mission" after eight seasons. She has not returned in two seasons. If you believe Wickersham's social media, she's gone for good by her own choice. But some fans of the show are wondering, after a change she made to her hair in July. Wickersham showitched from brunette to the look she displayed on CBS for years - or as she put it: "Back to blonde programming."
Since Wickersham played an analyst on NCIS,we asked for your analysis of this change. It didn't help that both Instagram photos of her came away from a soundstage. "It's flat either way," one commenter said; "needs some body." Another agreed that she "never looked this bad on the show," suggesting someone hire her for a new project "that has a hair person" strike or no. OK - but we were asking about the color. That ended in a one-week tie: half for blonde, half for brunette (3-3)... with no one suggesting navy blue.
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Fresh from Elton John ending his final tour, we have Chloe - but we have our doubts Chloe Grace Moretz was named after his song. After all, the actress says she was brought up in a southern Baptist home. But Moretz has appeared in some secular roles over the years - most recently the TV series The Peripheral and the animated Nimona. Moretz had medium-long blonde hair in the 2022 episodes of the live-action series. But while waiting for future episodes (and perhaps waiting through an actors' strike), Moretz made a change. She cut her hair to a neck-length, sometimed slicked-back bob.
Stylist Gregory Russell wrote on Instagram what's become a cliche of these changes: "Chop chop." Our voters cut the change down to size, as 60% of them preferred Moretz's mane longer in our week-long poll (3-2). But here's what makes this change curious: it's actually a summer rerun. Moretz made a similar cut in 2017 (in fact, we used the same "long" photo in both polls). The margin was much larger for the long look before. Naybe Moretz needs to lay off the styling gel. As they said on TV well before her time: a little dab can do ya.
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Photo courtesy People
Fresh from Canada winning our 2023 Cup of the Americas, we have Nina Dobrev. Well, she may consider herself Canadian because she grew up in Toronto - but she was born in Bulgaria. The way we do things, that made Dobrev the only Bulgarian ever to win a Crown Award for the movie Dog Days. She showed strong bangs in that film, but then they went away. You won't see any in her new NetFlix movie The Out-Laws. But on the red carpet at the premiere, Dobrev's bangs were back. A simple "chop chop" announcement on Instagram indicated what stylist Mark Townsend was doing.
Has Nina become a perfect "10" with the return of the bangs? The vote wasn't a perfect score, but our voters support the change; 71% of them preferred fringe in our one-week poll (5-2). While no one left a comment, these are thick bangs that would tempt some Hair Fans to reach for them and test their strength. Too bad her Instagram feed presents a step-by-step display of the process - complete with hair in her eyes. Some things when it comes to Super-Hair can be kept mysterious...
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There was a time when Katy Perry was good for one update a year in this section - sometimes two. When she wasn't changing lengths, she was changing colors. That's what happens (we guess) when you're a pop star always needing something new to keep fans interested. But Perry has calmed that down in recent years, perhaps due to an endorsement deal with GHD hair products. Perry joined the bang trend for the final few weeks of judging American Idol, but with a twist. She displayed "micro-bangs," stopping a few inches above her eyebrows so they barely budge.
Is Perry on to something with baby bangs? Our voters roared no (get it?), with 80% of them rejecting the change in our one-week poll (4-1). "Not a good look," one voter said. But maybe Perry was up to her old style tricks, as reports indicate the bangs were missing when she attended the coronation of King Charles III. Hair Fans probably were more focused on Princess Kate that day, anyway.
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What changes more often with Jennifer Lopez - her husbands or her hair? Admittedly, that question doesn't sound nice. And it's tricky; if we understand Wikipedia correctly, Ben Affleck is her fourth husband with two weddings canceled at the last minute. Lopez certainly changes hairstyles a lot, from long to short and straight to wavy. Her latest hair move apparently is something new for her. "Bang bang," she wrote abut it on Instagram. She gave credit for it to stylist Lorenzo Martin, who has handled several of Lopez's photo shoots.
Are bangs better for Ben Affleck's bride? Our voters were split for most of our one-week poll, but ended as 60% bang-backers (3-2). One voter may have explained the skepticism: "Does anyone believe they're seeing JLo's real hair? Ever?" One critic on Lopez's Instagram feed dared to call it a "wig from the 70s." Well, she has a line of beauty products. And several companies offer Lopez wigs - so we suppose a merger cannot be ruled out.
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If you remember the science-fiction series Orphan Black on BBC channels, you might recognize this face. It's Tatiana Maslany, who won an Emmy Award for the starring role of Sarah Manning (and clones). The Canadian actress has displayed a wide range of hairstyles for performances on stage and screen. These days, she's She-Hulk: Attorney at Law - and while we will not try to explain that, the role led Maslany to New York as a presenter at the Tony Awards in June. Our voters then made Maslany the overwhelming choice of Hair Fans as the best style of the night.
Maslany's curly pageboy (which reminded us a bit of Jennifer Grey in her prime) took home 63% of the voters in our one-week poll. British actress and Tony winner Jodie Comer was second with 25%, followed by Crown Award winner Lea Michele with 13%. But one voter wished for a "none of the above" option, with another explaining: "Nothing really super." If Maslany keeps this style in "She-Hulk" fight scenes, we might discover how truly "super" her curl is.
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If we asked Hair Fans which TV network has the best stable of hairstyles from top to bottom, CNBC likely would get plenty of votes. Its first Crown Award winner was Erin Burnett in 2010. She was followed by Courtney Reagan winning the Makeover of the Year title in 2012. Burnett has moved on to CNN, of course - but Reagan remains, as the business channel's Senior Retail Reporter. Could Reagan be attempting to copy Sam Boik, as a two-time Makeover winner? A Hair Fan alerted us to Reagan growing out what traditionally has been a shoulder-length cut. It's now several inches below the shoulders, with varying degress of wave.
We can think of another famous "Reagan" who had two terms of success - and based on your votes, Courtney could copy that as well. A one-week poll on the longer look found everyone backing it (10-0). "Love the way it frames her face and feathers at the ends," one voter wrote. Considering Reagan returned to work in mid-April from maternity leave, we suspect she was developing more than a baby over the past several months - and the one that she's showing is healthy and well.
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Only a few women received a Hair Watch from us - a day-by-day style check over several weeks. One of them was Robin Meade, during her years as morning anchor at HLN (formerly CNN Headline News). Meade won three Crown Awards between 2005-07, then ws voted into the Hair Fan's Hall of Fame by our Vetersn Committee in 2021. But in all our years of admiring Meade's mane, we've never seen it like this. A Hair Fan pointed out how Meade has gone hyper-curly since CNN derailed the Morning Express. It's certainly a less formal look - but is this the right look for her?
Unlike our last poll (below), our voters indicated natural curls are not for everyone. A large 78% majority want Meade to keep the styles straight (7-2). No one left a comment, but we agree with the straight side. Meade seems to need that look to avoid hair collapses in the TV studio. We haven't heard anything about Meade returning to TV, by the way - but is she subtly telling that Knoxville station to stay away?
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On 3 April, Tabitha Bartoe posted what turned out to be an ominous tweet: "We need more #GirlsWithCurls in the media! Natural curls are beautiful and professional." Bartoe was a TV meteorologist in Knoxville, Tennessee at the time. But by early May, Bartoe says she faced an ultimatum. After months of pressure, she had to "soften her curls" or lose her job. The hint was that the managers wanted Bartoe's hair straight. Bartoe wound up fired for a style that "isn't aligning with the company and the company policy," she was told.
A Hair Fan brought this matter to our attention - so we asked whose side you're taking in this dispute. We offered the best style comparison of Bartoe that we could find, and our voters left no doubt. A one-week poll was unanimous for Bartoe being curly (6-0). No one left a comment, so we'll offer a couple of thoughts. We're surprised that other "curl advocates" in the news media (hint: one is a Top Ten Tresses member) have not spoken out in Bartoe's defense. And we can't help wondering how Bartoe has straight bangs while the longer hair is curly. Both are equally attention-getting, and both seem equally impressively strong.
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Which U.S. TV news network has the best hairstyle lineup, from top to bottom? If you asked us in spring 2023, we'd easily say it's CBS. There's evening news anchor Norah O'Donnell on top (see below). There's Top Ten Tresses member Adriana Diaz (who replaced Christina Ruffini there). Morning co-host Gayle King is an Ultimate 50 member. But don't overlook hair veterans such as Chief White House Correspondent Nancy Cordes. She once was in the Top 10 herself, while at ABC News. And she still shows strong attractive control during live reports outside. But Cordes may have followed others in getting a cut for warmer weather. We noted her in May with a quite short cut for her - ends scraping the shoulders, where she once had several more inches.
Are you in accord with Cordes, on a change that looks like she's matching Bonnie Bernstein? While our voters like O'Donnell's hair shorter, it's the opposite here: two-thirds preferred the longer approach in our week-long poll (4-2). No one left a comment, but we'd think Cordes faces an even tougher challenge now to keep her hair in line. But if she can do it without resorting to her ears, she'll show how Super her style really is; only a rare extra-windy day has brought it down.
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If anyone qualifies as a "legend" of Super-Hair, it's Bonnie Bernstein. The long-time sports reporter won 24 Crown Awards in our first decade, including five wins for the top-of-list Best Long Hsir award. Bernstein backers even lobbied to have her "icon" on our Ultimate 50 list changed, because it showed a shorter style from her early ESPN years. But now that her age is above 50, Bernstein may be having second thoughs about her length. As she tours the country promoting her She's Got Game podcast, Bernstein is showing a style that might touch hit her shoulders if she leans to one side.
Has Bernstein shown brilliance my shortening her look? It's a rarity when she gets voted down, but it happened here. Our Hair Fans preferred the longer style by a two-thirds margin (6-3). "Awful," one critic wrote; "Was the person who cut her even paying attention!!" Other commenters seem to turn back the clock, remembering the time when Bernstein was all alone in our Hair Fan's Hall of Fame (yes, that happened for a year). "Actually glad she's back," one said. "Bonnie was bad for the site then and worse now," another replied. To use sports language, it appears Bernstein has lost her mane momentum - although we imagine it's still very hard to muss.
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Kayna Whitworth calls herself on Twitter a "peasant who married a Prince." People who have seen her on ABC News in recent years might conclude the opposite. Her attractive blonde hair moved with her from Boston television and has endured numerous tests in live reports. But more recently, Whitworth has spent time at the "digital" anchor desk - and we wonder if that led to a shortening of her style. She might not need a ponytail at Western wildfires anymore, as the hair barely goes beyond her shoulders.
Is Whitworth more wonderful with shorter hair? Not at all, our Hair Fans say. They shouted down the short cut by a 90% margin (9-1), with one wondering: "Did she thin it out too or did she have extensions..." We seriously doubt the extensions part; it appears the look on the right simply reflects added waves. Another voter pointed out that Whitworth "used to work with Kerri Corrado and Victoria Warren in Boston. That TV station is a feeder network for Super Hair." Yes, we know - because you should search for some of the less successful hairstyles we've found there through the years.
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Monthly reports from one tracking service show one woman regularly leads in visits to our website. Not the Hall of Fame members or the Crown Award winners - but CBS News anchor Norah O'Donnell. Hair Fans apparently love to marvel at the short pageboy she displayed for years at NBC News, which we made into a Hair Watch.. Since she moved to CBS, O'Donnell has had flings with taking her style longer. It appeared that way to us in April - with big curl at the ends and the ends touching her shoulders.
We thank a Hair Fan on Twitter for reminding us of how long O'Donnell might go - a vidcap from a CBS Morning News program several years ago. Should she do this again? Our voters said NO to Norah by a two-thirds margin in our week-long poll (8-4). No one spoke out either way, but the longer approach allows O'Donnell more style variety - even if she risks a drop, which still doesn't seem to happen often.
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In some parts of the U.S., spring seems to be coming late this year. Late-April days are unusually chilly in some places, while other spots have snow. But Britain's Cara Delevingne made a dramatically summer-like move with her hair in mid-April. The two-time "Model of the Year" at the British Fashion Awards trimmed her mid-length style into what one beauty writer called a "voluminous layered bob." We're not sure where she got the "voluminous" part, but it's certainly wavy from top to bottom.
Does Cara carry your support, for what some consider a traditional summer cut? Our one-week poll ended as split as a center part: half the Hair Fans like Delevingne's new look, while half do not (3-3). No one spoke up on either side, but we lean toward the long and softer-looking approach she had a few years ago. The shorter style (along with that stare) actually reminds us a bit of Delevingne's biography on her Instagram page: "thick knuckles and a juicy spine."
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If someone asked you to name the most fabulous Julia Roberts haistyle moment, what would come to mind? We'd say her role in The Pelican Brief, with plenty of waves at risk and in motion. Other movies have shown her with different looks, of course. But can you think of a time when Roberts had bangs above her eyes? We couldn't - so that makes a change she made in late March surprising. Veteran stylist Serge Normant filled her forehead with fringe, which even seemed a bit red before the cameras, when she appeared at an event promoting luxury watches.
Has the "Pretty Woman" made a change which makes her even prettier? The bangs had it, for most of our one-week poll. But the final outcome was close, with 57% of voters preferring Roberts with bangs (4-3). Since no one left a comment, we'll admit we're leaning against this change. The bangs seem heavy and forced on her forehead - although we'll admit it could simply be a matter of our being surprised by the change. At least Roberts is living up to another of her movies: Something to Talk About.
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Even casual followers of country music probably know the name "Kane Brown." They may know him best as part of a rising group of minority artists, as he's multiracial with a Black father and white mother. But how many people knew Brown was married - and his wife can sing, too? Kaitlyn Brown had her live TV debut (to our knowledge) at the 2023 CMT Music Awards in Austin. They shared the top "Video of the Year" prize from Facebook voters for the song Thank God. And our voters went farther, giving Kaitlyn the most votes for the best hairstyle of the show.
We thought the three-hour program had a lot of great hair contenders. But the week-long vote came down to two women. Kaitlyn Brown won two-thirds of the vote, while oc-host Kelsea Ballerini with her bounce-filled long hair took one-third. Maybe one commenter summed up the mood for many: "Too many center part cuts... and a hat?" Well, many country singers over the years have worn hats. And if the hair was still on full display, we considered that OK. That works best for western-style hats, though; one singer wore a ball cap, which didn't impress us at all.
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Photos courtesy People
Lily Collins finally won a Crown Award in March for Emily in Paris - but her idea of "French Girl Bangs" cover the forehead. Other people clearly have different views. Actress Olivia Wilde put hers on display at the Fashion Trust U.S. Awards, two days after our Crown presentation. They're longer than Lily's, shaped carefully with curl to go around her eyes. Her stylist, Mara Roszak, described them on Instagram as "a very light long bang... giving a flattering sculpted shape around the face."
Maybe Wilde is a future threat to Collins in the Best Bangs race, but our voters liked them. The "French Girl" from New York City won 86% support for the change in a six-day poll (6-1). Some people had a different name for Wilde's new look: "curtain bangs." One voter wrote: "Not a big fan of the curtains." If we could get close enough to Wilde to flick at them a bit, we absolutely would be.
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Singer Tori Kelly brings back several memories for us. We were introduced to her during the 2013 Academy of Country Music Awards - as we were moving to a new base location and scrambling to find any open internet access we could. Kelly's big blonde waves impressed our voters, as she became an undefeated champion in Super-Hair Wars and lost only to eventual champion Lea Michele. But while Kelly has had some musical success, she's largely fallen out of view and sound in recent years. So perhaps she decided after turning 30, 2023 is time for Tori 2.0. Her new project Missin U has a steamy cover look. And surprisingly, Kelly has turned her hair brunette.
Is the dark side better for Kelly? Our voters are "missin'" her blondeness. In a six-day poll, the vote was unanimously for the old shade (5-0). The 2013-era look certainly was a lot more playful. Unpinning her latest do's would take a lot more work, asnd we're honestly not sure it's worth the reward.
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Kelly Ripa went to the 95th annual Academy Awards on business. Her Live talk show with Ryan Seacrest (although not for much longer) did backstage interviews with Oscar winners on a Sunday night for a Monday morning program. But Ripa seemingly came ready to do business on another level - the hair level. Her blonde hair was as big and wave-filled as we've ever seen her. So even though Ripa wasn't part of the show, she was a red-carpet must for our hairstyle race - and Hair Fans narrowly chose her as the best look of the night.
A poll extended to nine days by internet issues ended with Ripa receiving 38% of the votes. But we apparently posted our ballot too soon - because Jessica Chastain came out late in the show with stunning long red hair, which earned two "write-in" votes in the comments section worth 25%. Julia Louis-Dreyfus had 13%, tying her with write-ins Ana de Armas and Nicole Kidman. But we wonder: was Chastain helped by standing alongside Halle Berry? Berry was the talk of Twitter for having curls covering her left eye. Several wrote about reaching to move those curls. Wouldn't a lot of Hair Fans love to do that...?
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Photos courtesy People
Charlize Theron has appeared in a lot of guises in the movies. In fact, you might be surprised to learn her IMDb biography calls her not only an actress, but a "costume designer". Theron was a "Lady" with shoulder-length permanent curls in The School for Good and Evil. Her head practically was shaved in Mad Max: Fury Road. And for several months in 2022, Theron was a brunette in real life - displaying what one magazine called a "mullet." But in February, Theron went back to a signature look for her: a short blonde sidepart. The shade was reminiscent of her look portraying Megyn Kelly in Bombshell.
One magazine said Theron made the change for Paris Fashion Week - but we suspect the real target date was Oscar night, since blonde is her most familiar "red carpet" color. (So much for our theory; she was nowhere in sight.) It's what our Hair Fans prefer as well; Theron as a blonde received unanimous support in a one-week color contest (6-0). It all leaves fans wondering something, though - what is her true hair color?
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Was Susan Kelechi Watson one of you as she acted in the TV series This Is Us? Her years in the Pearson family earned her a couple of award nominations for acting. And while her hair may not have been as closely-watched as Mandy Moore's, her long braided looks had admirers. But that series is now over, and Kelechi appears ready to move on to other things. That included a February haircut - with her medium-long style trimmed to a bouncy chin-length cut.
As Kelechi Watson wrote on Instagram, her "bob is bobbin and the neck is neckin." It gained more than 16,000 likes on social media. But our voters were not as thrilled: two-thirds of them prefer Kelechi Watson's hair long (4-2). "Shorter looks like someone tried to shave a divot into her forehead," one critic of the change said. It actually leaves some space for "butterfly" layers to flex curly muscle. That can be fascinating to watch in motion - but Kelechi Watson had better be careful about pushing it into her eyes for effect.
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Have you wondered if the greatest heads of Super-Hair test their looks before taking them public? Super-model and Ultimate 50 member Cindy Crawford does. She gave it away in early February on her Instagram feed by posting a photo of what she called "not exactly trauma bangs." Crawford noted it was only a test, but she didn't reveal what she did for the test. Did she have clip-in bangs hiding in a closet somewhere?
Perhaps a better way to look at this idea is to compare Crawford with her 21-year-old daughter. Model Kaia Gerber's bangs are real, as far as we know. Should Crawford follow her daughter's example? We asked you that during her birthday week (unplanned). Our voters overwhelmingly said no: 86% said she should stay bang-free (6-1). No one commented, but we're simply saddened that the "test bangs" had a strip covering her left eye. Her one-time effort toward hair perfection has fallen sharply.
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To mix Dutch and English, she clearly made a "Zee change." The bigger puzzle is exactly why Ginger Zee did it. An Instagram post from the ABC News meteorologist 27 January said: "I'm calling them 'flu bangs'... Life is short, cut bangs." So sickness may have led to a cut in her long hair. But Zee added: "I may or may not have watched all three seasons of Emily in Paris..." - as in the bangs of Crown Awards nominee Lily Collins. Zee even added some flips in February for "some shag." (We've seen no conspiracy theories connecting the cut to the rumored tensions at ABC News surrounding Amy Robach.)
Our voters are split by what Zee did. A one-week poll on the bangs found 69% of Hair Fans support them (9-4). But the people leaving comments were skeptical. "What a mess those bangs while be while Ginger is reporting in windy weather," one wrote, "or she'll always wear a cap." Another wondered if Zee's selfie showing off the new look included extensions: "No way her hair grows that fast." Zee apparently was ready for the critics, becuse she responded strongly to one on Twitter. "I like it and so do lots of other folks. And it’s hair. It changes and grows, falls out & grays… it doesn’t define who we are." Except here, of course. Here, it might...
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Adele once told Vanity Fair, "I laugh at every big thing that happens in my career." She said that because she doesn't really consider herself a singer. But at the 2023 Grammy Awards, Adele may have had more tears than laughs. She met Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in person. She reportedly got drunk with Lizzo. She even won an award for Best Pop Solo Performance. And this may top it all - Adele's deep midlength sidepart is your choice for the best hairstyle of the Grammys.
Adele could have had it all (hey, that would make a great song title!) - but she must settle for the most support from our voters. The one-week post-show poll ended with Adele capturing 71% of the votes. Sheryl Crow, who sang during the memorial tribute, received 14%. So did "Other" without a comment. And that leads us to wonder. Did someone really like the Shania Twain look on Grammy night - with the bright red hair that some people on social media compared to a Wendy's restaurant logo?
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TV reporters and morning hosts are supposed to talk about celebrity scandals - not become part of one. But that's what happened to Amy Robach. After several years at ABC News, she was suspended and eventually discharged when news leaked that she'd cheated on her husband with GMA3 co-host T.J. Holmes (who also cheated on his spouse). The fact that Robach wrote a book with her husband about marriage in December 2021 obviously did not help her. But as we examined this, our issue with Robach became different. She quietly grew out the style which made her the only woman to win the Best Short Hair Crown Award three years in a row.
Is a cut at the shoulders or below better for Robach? Our one-week poll found the answer is yes; 75 percent of our Hair Fans chose "longer" in a one-week poll (12-4). Robach turned 50 as out poll ended, so a longer look in "middle age" may go against common thinking. Whether the hair led her to "part" with her husband... no, we'd better leave it at that.
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Photos courtesy E! News
If all you know about Idina Menzel is from the movie Frozen, you clearly don't pay attention to Broadway. She won a Tony Award in 2004 for the musical Wicked. Her medium-long brunette hair could be, well, "Wicked good" at times - almost daring you to move toward it when waves are added. It's a style that Hair Fans wish could be, well, frozen in time. But Menzel decided in January it was time for a big chance. As she wrote on Instagrsm, she went "scissor happy" and had all the length cut away. The result: a wavy bob not even touching Menvel's shoulders.
"So cute, sister!" Frozen co-star Kristen Bell wrote in response to the cut. Our voters almost completely disagreed, as 89% of them preferred Menzel's mane longer in our one-week poll. One was blunt about the cut: "The new look is dumb. What a waste of gorgeous hair." (How many of you would like to know where that trimmed hair was stored, for at least a souvenir?) Another asked: "Did she just put her hair in a ponytail and chop most of it off?" Actually, no - a celebrity stylist did it, then showed it off. It's a middle-aged Menzel look, we suppose - but the beautiful tension over perfect strong hair is over for now.
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Right photo courtesy Wireimage
When we look for timely and interesting quotes about hair for our homepage, we sometimes come across puzzlers. Take this one: "I always had long hair. When you lose it, you realize just how important it is to your identity." It was especially startling, since it came from Delta Goodrem - the singing star who represented Australia in our 2013 AAA Cup and finished second to Egypt. Wait, what?! When did Goodrem lose it? Goodrem cut her hair in early 2020, even a bit shorter than the photo we found from that year. One website called her neck-length summertime cut "radical."
Which look of Goodrem is "gooder" to you? It was close, but our week-long poll ended with the short cut gaining 60% of your votes (3-2). Comments were restored to our "Edge poll" during the week, but none were left. We're personally glad Goodrem grew the cut back out to reclaim her "identity", because we think the long look actually is easier for her to control.
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Do an image search for Claire Danes and you might get a surprise. The actress has adjusted her blonde hair slowly and successfully over several decades. It was below the shoulders and a dangerous sidepart during her years starring in the drama Homeland. That look won a vote here for the best hair of the 2012 Emmy Awards. In the miniseries Fleishman is in Trouble, Danes displays a shorter chin-length bob that's even more dangerous. Yet Hair Fans clearly still are impressed with her - because she took that shorter style to the 2023 Golden Globe Awards and won the best hairstyle vote again.
Danes adjusted her mane as she presented an award, barely keeping it out of her left eye. That work paid off, as she won 56% of your votes in our five-day poll. The rest of the field clashed for second place: Angela Bassett, Ana Gasteyer and Michelle Yeoh tied with 11%. So did an "other" - and to our diappointment, Sparklit would not allow a comment to be left with that name. In fact, it apparently hadn't allowed comments for weeks. We're asking about that - and hoping our own comment gets through.
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She may have the most admired set of bangs in fashion magazines today. Yet when it comes to our Hair Fans, Dakota Johnson might as well be in the middle of North Dakota. The actress and model never has been nominated for a Crown Award. Yet the cameras love her - perhaps all the way to the boundary line. Instagram photos in December showed Johnson no longer a typical brunette. In fact, the bangs were brushed back and a bit hard to spot. Johnson had turned what skeptics might call a "bump-it blonde."
Is Johnson's hair better on the brighter side? Our eight-day question turned into a struggle among our voters - but the blonde look prevailed with 63% support (5-3). We should note that the photo was for a movie Johnson is shooting called Daddio. How many Hair Fans wish they could be her dad, with rights to play with her hair all day long?
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