Super-Hair.Net
Cutting-Edge Hair News - 2026
She came from South Dakota, so she probably knew about one form of "ice." But Kristi Noem became known by critics as "ICE Barbie" during her time as U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary. Perhaps that was because of her makeup. But more likely, it was because of her long hair. Is it all really hers - or has she resorted to extensions? It turns out Noem has won Crown Awards at two different lengths. A short sidepart won the 2010 award for Best New Original Style (which now is retired). Then she won for the Best Hairstyle in Government/Politics in 2023.
We don't know exactly when Noem went longer - but our voters want her to go shorter. The older look won 62% support in opur week-long poll (5-3). "Without the extensions," one voter wrote. DHS soon will be without Noem, as she was fired/moved/shifted from her cabinet-level position days before our question. She'll now oversee the "Shield of the Americas" - and if she wants to partner with our next "Cup of the Americas" in 2027, banner ads are now available.
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The Weather Channel has led three women to our Hair Fan's Hall of Fame - Kristina Abernathy, Kelly Cass and Heather Tesch. Tesch entered on the strength of winning five Crown Awards in seven years, including the top-level Best Short Hair prize in 2006. It was a rare day when Tesch's blonde hair dropped below her shoulder. But after taking a curious career turn and leaving meteorology for a podcast about "Near Death Experiences," Tesch's tresses have made a big change. She's grown them out well below the shoulders - sometimes letting them sit within a glasses frame of collapsing in her eyes.
While Tesch styled her short hair in several ways, which length overall is better for her? Our voters like it longer - as 86% of them approved the change in onr one-week oll (6-1). No one left a comment, but we're certainly in the minority here. It's as if Tesch seems to barely care about her hair. She's absolutely asking for a drop. And if we binge enough on her podcasts, we might actually see it. Now that would be dramatic - practically an "NDE" for Super-Hair!
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Left photo courtesy KNTV
Few sports events have the potential to put Hair Fans on the edge of their chairs like figure skating. Especially if it's the Winter Olympics, and female performers dare to have loose, risky styles. Dorothy Hamill stunned the world with the "wedge" there. Linda Fratianne's short cut impressed us there. In recent years, pinned styles have disappointed and dominated. But at the 2026 Games in Italy, Alysa Liu broke that custom in many ways. Not only did her high-risk hairstyle wind up with a gold medal, but she developed hair as colorful as a skater's outfit. She called the look "halos" (others compared it to raccoon stripes) which involved bleaching sections of the hair to be blonde instead of her natural brunette.
Hamill's wedge became a worldwide hair trend, but should Liu's look do the same thing? Our week-long poll which began on the final day of the Milano-Cortina Games ended with 83% of Hair Fans liking Liu's halos. No one was impressed by the old brunette look, while one voter chose "try another approach" without suggesting what it should be (5-0-1). Her current hair has fallen during performances, so it's not officially "Super." But if you want to look like Liu, we'd leave it to the professionals. She had to find a stylist in St. Louis to make the hair exactly the way she wanted.
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She could have been a Best Mane on Campus - and perhaps she still could be. Millie Bobby Brown enrolled at Purdue University, and according to Wikipedia is taking online health courses. But celebrity-watchers know Brown better for acting, especially in the series Stranger Things She's also won awards for her acting in the teen mystery series Enola Holmes. Six years after it first appeared, Netflix plans a third season - and teased it in January with a vidcap showing Brown with long wavy hair. But Brown apparently isn't keeping it that way. She accepted a Joy Award in Saudi Arabia in mid-January with a much shorter bob, and she's gone up and down several times in recent years.
We didn't plan it that way, but we used the week of Brown's 22nd birthday to ask you which look is better. We're not sure Hair Fans were thrilled by either one we posted, but the long style won 75% support (3-1). No one left a comment, but this is no mystery for us: we'd want to get our hands on Brown's long hair. It seems well-protected and even a bit mysterious behind her ears. Can it hold under pressure - especially without exposing how she tucks the hair back? We have a Style Profile section devoted to this, but few women nowadays seem to keep their tuck-backs in hiding. Young Hair Fans can see it all, and to us that reduces the drama.
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Since fiance Travis Kelce didn't have the spotlight at Super Bowl LX, Taylor Swift was free to use that day to make her own news. She released the new music video Opalite, the name of a wonder-working spray (we'll let you watch it to understand). It's inspired all kinds of interpretations, including comparisons of one section to the TV series Friends. But Hair Fans watching the video probably didn't do that kind of analysis. They simply noticed Swift's hair was different - as she went brunette for her role, instead of her usual blonde shade.
Is a darker color something Swift should do all the time? Our voters say no; 71% of them preferred her blonde in our week-long question. Only 14% like Swift as a brunette, while another 14% suggested an alternative: "strawberry blonde!" (5-1-1) We suppose that means an "in-between" color, but that still would be blonde to us. We're now left to wonder what hair color Swift will display at her wedding later in the year - not to mention whether she'll perform at Super Bowl XLI, which might depend on whether Kelce retires from football.
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One is a country music legend, and a member of the Hair Fan's Hall of Fame. The other is a young singer with what Wikipedia calls an "indie pop band". Only the Grammy Awards could bring such diversity together on the same program - and, beyond that, land them on the same ballot for their hairstyles. Reba McEntire and Maria Zardoya battled to a time-limit draw, for the best hair of the 2026 show.
This was a show where an unusually high number of women had hair drops. Sabrina Carpenter and Lainey Wilson looked good, but missed our ballot by wearing hats. Yet "Reba" and "Maria" (her band The Marias is named after her) stayed calm and steady. They split the voting at 50% each, which meant three women whiffed with our voters completely. Karol G and Charli XCX apparently had "F" grades, while Chappell Roan's red earned no "cred." And we're going on the theory that Kendrick Lamar left a pick in his hair on purpose - but we'll leave the meaning of it up to you.
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Perhaps we're in the minority, but we thought Anne Hathaway was a good host of the Academy Awards. It was co-host James Franco who didn't seem to know what he was doing on that night in 2011. Hathaway already had won a Crown Award for her hairstyle in the movie The Devil Wears Prada. And our left photo shows her long hair was nice on-stage. Will things be different in Hathaway's upcoming film Mother Mary? A vidcap from the trailer indicates Hathaway's hair is.. well, at least it's blonder than her regular brunette color. It looks two-toned, with brunette around the edges.
We wondered if Hathaway should change her shade for good. But our voters quickly said no - as 70% of them preferred her hair brunette in our one-week question. Only 20% like it blonde, while 10% suggested an "auburn" (we presume reddish) color (7-2-1). One voter stated the obvious, that Hathaway's look in the movie is "wiggy." We'd note she plays a pop music star in the movie, not that other famous "Mother Mary." So we suppose a color change could happen during the film.
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Ayo Edebiri's voice is all around show business, even if you don't see her hair that often. She has roles in animated productions such as Spider-Man films and Big Mouth on Netflix. But she's best known as an award-winner for The Bear, where she plays Chef Sydney. That first brought Edebiri to our attention at the 2024 Golden Globes, with a Hot List mention for a careful short cut. Edebiri has gone up and down with her style since then - longer at the Emmy Awards, but shorter again at the 2026 Globes for a sidepart stopping at the brink of her eye.
Which length is more outstanding for Edebiri? Our voters say the short cut has it, by an 80% margin (4-1). One explained it's "most likely not extension." Probably so, but Edebiri's latest look at the Globes shows even a shorter style can be every bit as daring to keep in place. If the hair would get in her "big mouth," it definitely would be a warning message.
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For someone who manages a "farm," Jennifer Garner certainly knows her way around Hollywood. But if you're in the know about celebrities, you reaize that's misleading. Garner appears in ads mentioning her Once Upon a Farm foods for children (in addition to her credit card endorsement deal). Yet her acting career goes back to the TV series Alias 25 years ago - and that alone qualified her to be on stage for the 2026 Golden Globe Awards. Garner's daring mid-length hair took it from there, as she won your vote as the best style of the show.
On a night when several women placed their styles at the brink of collapse, Garner narrowly escaped a drop. That put her on the ballot, and she gained 60% of the votes. K-pop pioneer LaLisa Manoban (or is it "Manobal"? The Globes showed her with an L, and we're seeing both spellings) was second with 40%. But there might have been some confusion, as we were on a road trip on awards night and the wrong photo for "Lisa" might have been showing. Three other women on our ballot gained no support at all - and Julia Roberts appeared on stage too late for us to make a last-minute change. We leave that for the dresses of host Nikki Glaser.
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The entries in your Hair Fan's Hall of Fame are completely up to you. But is there arisk in inducting someone at too young an age? That question arises when we consider actress Jennifer Love Hewitt. She entered the Hall in 2006 at age 27, helped by her TV series Ghost Whisperer. She won a Crown Award as well. But about 20 years later, Hewitt entered 2026 with a quite different style. The bangs are gone - and her brunette shade especially is gone. Hewitt turned red as she joined the cast of 9-1-1, then unveiled a bright red color on Instagram with the turn of the year.
Hewitt calls it a step to "freshen...up" her hair for a new year - a step beyond the old "sunset lover red." But our voters were not very positive and encouraging toward "J-Love," preferring the brunette look by an 83% margin in an expanded 11-day question (5-1). "The red just isn't natural or right," one voter wrote, while supporting a longer style. Another ssked: "Red or burnt orange?" Come to think of it, Hewitt hails from Texas - but from Waco and Baylor, not U.T. and Austin.
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If you're not distracted by the theme parks and activities around Orlando, you might discover the area has some women with outstanding hairstyles. The area has had three City League champions, as well as one who moved there from Georgia for a time. While Martha Sugalski never has won the local title, she's lasted in Orlando television for a long time. The first time we saw her around 2010, the hair was attractively a bit below the shoulders. Now at a different station, Sugalski let things go long in 2025 - down to a bit below the bustline.
Has Sugalski improved her look through the years? Our voters don't think so; the shorter look was preferred by two-thirds of them in our nine-day question (4-2). No one left a comment, but we'd think the shorter style would be easier to keep in place and under control. Given central Florida's reputation for heat and humidity, a "Sugalski summer" might be better off with ponytails and buns.
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