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Beauty web site TotalBeauty.com has identified the cities with the best worst conditions for hair.
Best Hair Cities
Santa Barbara is a great city for hair.
Are you having a good hair day? You probably are if you’re living in one of these cities. (And, ahem, you’re probably not if you live in one of these 13 worst-hair cities”>. We looked at humidity levels, pollution, rainfall, average wind speeds, water hardness, demographics and the number of beauty salons per capita to find which cities have the best conditions for healthy, stylish hair.
1. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Why is this city the best in America for your hair? Because it has it all: clean air, near-constant weather, a young population and not much rain or wind. No wonder celebrities like Oprah, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi have homes here, on what’s been called the “American Riviera.”
2. Honolulu, Hawaii: Beach-y hair like the Victoria’s Secret models, anyone? This city has clean air, soft water, lots of salons and practically the same weather — a nicely un-sweaty 77 degrees — all year ’round. Come here and say “aloha” to gorgeous hair.
3. San Diego, Calif.: San Diego’s lack of seasons means it’s always 70 and sunny — hair doesn’t have to adjust to changing weather. Pair that with minimal wind and rain (it’s in the top 10 for least-rainy cities”>, and lots of salons per capita — pretty much should look just about perfect here.
4. Anchorage, Alaska: You may be freezing your butt off in the second-coldest city in the country (first is Fairbanks, Alaska”> — but your hair is in heaven. The city’s lack of pollution and wind, plus the soft water, keep hair healthy and looking fabulous.
5. San Francisco, Calif.: San Francisco is no stranger to rain, but it’s the No. 1 city in the country with least weather variety. So since the weather doesn’t change frequently, you’ll have great hair once you get used to the climate. The soft water, lack of wind and high number of salons also mean that the odds are strongly in your favor for having good hair days.
6. New York, NY: The summers can be hot and humid and therefore tough on hair, but New York’s perfect-for-hair water makes up for the three months of hair-challenged weather. Plus it holds six of the top 10 ZIP codes with the most beauty salons in the country.
7. Miami, Fla.: Miami is hot and humid, that’s for sure, but it’s also one of the least-polluted cities in the country (and we all know what pollution does to hair — it’s been linked to balding, gray hair and dullness”>. It also has very little wind and many salons to help keep your hair in control and stylish.
8. Los Angeles: Angelinos have the advantage of weather that hardly changes through the year, meaning their hair conditions stay constant and are easier to manage. The lack of rain means a very low likelihood of frizz, and low winds also keep hair easy to manage.
9. Denver: OK, so while the mile-high city may have hard water, the lack of wind and low humidity (just 67% — lower than desert cities Reno and Flagstaff”> — not to mention the large number of hair salons — help give residents an advantage in having healthy, stylish hair.
10. Boston: Boston also has a large number of salons per capita, plus it has soft water, which means your hair isn’t stripped of shine, color and moisture with every shampoo — all good news for your hair.
11. Chicago: Chicago has a young population with an average age of 22, plus an unusually high number of beauty salons per capita. So despite its wind and low temperatures (which can dry out hair”>, the odds are strongly in your favor here to have great hair.
Worst Hair Cities
While Corpus Christi, Texas, has its charms, it’s not the best place for hair, according to TotalBeauty.
There are a number of factors contributing to frustrating frizz and dried-out strands, but as it turns out it, they could all be due to the city you call home. From looking at national averages of humidity/wind/rain/sun, water-hardness, pollution levels and even the number of salons in the area, Totalbeauty.com has located the worst cities for your ‘do. Did your city make the list?
1. Corpus Christi, Texas: Everything is bigger (and more humid”> in Texas … coming in at no. 7 for most humid cities, “The Sparkling City by the Sea,” also has hard water and only a handful of hair salons.
2. Olympia, Wash.: The rainy days and off-the-charts humidity will surely give your hair the blues in this capitol city. If you live here you are also most likely getting your hair cut by the neighbor’s kid, seeing as though there are only 25 listed hairstylists in the city.
3. Pittsburgh, Penn: It’s not called the “Pitts” for nothin’. As the most polluted city in on this list, your hair will be calling Green Peace on a daily basis. Pollution has been known to cause premature balding, graying and dullness.
4. Las Vegas, Nev.: While it may be a blast to have a debaucherous weekend in the “City of Sin,” it’s certainly no fun for your hair to live in this desert climate. Forget repenting for your gambling habit, you’ll be too busy praying for your sun-damaged hair. Take a cue form Nick Cage and LEAVE Las Vegas.
5. Phoenix, Ariz.: Phoenix has the most extreme climate in all of America and hard water to boot!
6. Pensacola, Fla.: White beaches might lure you to the peninsula but as one of the wettest cities, an umbrella will constantly cover your head. Not to mention it might be difficult to find hip style advice around town, seeing as it’s a top destination for retirees.
7. Fresno, Calif.: California dreamin’? Let’s just say FresNO. It’s the 7th sunniest city in the nation and is in the top ten for most polluted cities, which means a nightmare for your hair.
8. Houston, Texas: The biggest city in Texas does big damage to hair. Houston is hot, humid and has some of the hardest water. Frizz will be your BFF here.
9. Tucson, Ariz: Here is another “Sunshine Factory” city. If you haven’t noticed already, too much sun is a no-no for your hair. Don’t believe us? Stop by the University of Arizona for some basic math classes: sun damage + hard water = dry, brittle locks.
10. New Orleans, La: Ok, so Mardi Gras is worth a trip, but living here wouldn’t be a party for your hair, seeing as it ranks as the 9th most humid city and 8th wettest.
11. Cincinnati, Ohio: It’s the 7th most polluted city in the U.S., but here is the real kicker, Cincinnati has only eight hairstylists listed on yellowpages.com … No comment necessary.
12. Albuquerque, NM: Dry, sunny and has hard water. Hop on a raft and take the Rio Grande out of town.
13. Eugene, Ore.: It’s nicknamed “The Emerald City,” and is also known for being extremely humid. No one wants frizzy pigtails, so pull a Dorothy and click your heels — hopefully you’ll find yourself in no place like Eugene.
Susan Boyle
Sure, her curls are less than perfect, but you can expect the styling team at “Britain’s Got Talent” to take care of that in no time flat.
We’re just proud to count Susan Boyle, the singing sensation from rural Scotland, among our own. The 47-year-old wunderkind — sporting somewhat unruly curls — took the world by storm Saturday night on the British show, which is similar to the U.S.’s “American Idol”.
An instant Internet sensation, Boyle stunned and thrilled the audience and judges with a heavenly voice that belied her nervous demeanor and frumpy exterior.
While a style makeover is most likely in the works for Susan, we hope they choose to enhance her curls rather than flatten them!
Participating donors from Londonderry High School in New Hampshire show off their hair donations at a pep rally donation drive.
Pantene Beautiful Lengths has reached its most impressive milestone since its hair donation campaign began nearly three years ago. This week marks the receipt of more than 1 million inches of hair donated to make free, real-hair wigs for women who have lost their hair due to cancer treatment.
That’s a lot of hair! In fact, it’s enough to:
- Stretch beyond the height of 66 Empire State Buildings!
- Cross the Golden Gate Bridge nearly 10 times!
- And most importantly…it’s enough to help thousands of women get back something that cancer has taken from them and help them fight this devastating illness.
Pantene is grateful to the survivors, communities, families, schools and you for supporting this cause.
Hair loss can strike an especially crippling blow to women fighting cancer. In fact, a recent study revealed that nearly 60 percent of women consider hair loss the most dreaded side effect they face when undergoing chemotherapy. Eight percent of these women are at risk of avoiding potentially life-saving treatment. Real-hair wigs can cost as much as $1200 and are often only partially covered by health insurance.
Donating your hair is a heartfelt and life-changing act of women’s cancer and breast cancer support.
To fill this need and help people transform their healthy hair into a heartfelt gift, Pantene partnered with the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF”> to launch Pantene Beautiful Lengths, a campaign that encourages people to grow, cut and donate their hair to create free, real-hair wigs for women who’ve lost their hair due to cancer.
In addition to providing wigs for free to women in need, Pantene has donated more than one million dollars to the EIF’s Women’s Cancer Research Fund, a program committed to saving lives by raising funds and awareness for millions of women and their families affected by cancer.
Donating your hair is a heartfelt and life-changing act of women’s cancer and breast cancer support. To find out more, go to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths web site.
NaturallyCurly named one of the “Top Five Hair Websites” in May 2009’s “Lucky” magazine.
Dusty Simington loves working with curly hair.
I love cutting it, I love finishing it, I love everything about it,” says the celebrity stylist, who owns Salon Gregorie’s in Newport Beach, Calif., the largest independent salon on the West Coast.
Dusty Simington
Simington’s passion extends to all hair types, and has resulted in his creation of Kronos, a new product line designed to revitalize hair.
“Being in the business for 25 years, I’ve worked with every product under the sun,” says Simington, who has cut and styled the tresses of stars such as Tiffani Thiessen, Jenny Garth, Ryan Secrest and LeAnn Rimes. “A lot of my clients shared the same problems with their hair, and they were using products that temporarily masked the situation but didn’t address the main problems.”
The seven-product Kronos line, which took Simington three years to develop, uses “t-sfere technology” to repair the hair. Simington says he was in a bidding war with several large companies for this technology, and was able to acquire it because of Kronos’ ability to bring it to market the fastest. T-sfere technology allows the encapsulation of multiple active ingredients into a single microscopic sphere for a deeper delivery into the scalp, follicle and hair shaft. Each product contains a blend of active ingredients to moisturize, strengthen and protect the hair, says Simington, who was a national educator for other product companies before developing his own.
For curls, he recommends Hydress Hydrating Shampoo and Conditioner. Another standout is Liquid Theory, a one-spray-does-it-all detangler that conditions, smoothes and detangles.“Many leave-in conditioners can make the hair feel greasy and heavy,” Simington says. “You can spray on an entire bottle of Liquid Theory and you’ll still have volume and shine.”
Kronos Phyx
And the superstar of the line is Phyx, a deep-conditioning overnight treatment that strengthens, rebuilds and repairs hair. It corrects damage, breakage, split ends and dullness.
Simington says he also has a mousse in the works that is perfect for waves and curls.
Simington became a stylist by accident, he says. It was the late ’70s and his five sisters dragged the 15-year-old surfer to get his first haircut at a salon to cut his long blond locks. They took Simington to the hottest salon in Newport Beach. Although he wasn’t so hot on the perfectly coiffed shag he received, he was completely in awe of the cool-looking hairstylists, with their Porsches and beautiful clientele.
“The atmosphere was so exciting,” recalls Simington. “I come from a long line of developers, and I was supposed to take up the family business. Instead, I had to tell my dad I wanted to go to beauty school.”
Simington says his father still refuses to call him a hairdresser, instead opting for “barber.”
The salon’s owner allowed him to come in and observe, and he began cutting his own hair. He discovered he had a keen eye for balance, and soon was cutting his sisters’ hair. He went to beauty school at 22, and has never regretted his decision. Eight years ago, he opened his salon, which now has 70 hairdressers, 25 assistants and 10 full-time receptionists.
“It was a dream come true,” he says.
In 1997, the father of four was named Master Stylist of the Year by the North American Hairstylist Awards. It is considered the most prestigious honor that can be bestowed upon a hairstylist.
One of Simington’s favorite parts of his job is teaching other hairstylists.
“Not only am I sharpening my own skills, but I get to watch others get excited,” Simington says. He has an advanced facility that teaches four different programs, including one that focuses entirely on curly hair.
“Once you really know how to work with curly hair, you have a curly clientele for life,” he says. “As far as cutting curly hair goes, you have to know its spring factor. You have to know how it will react when you cut it.”
A model shows a Simington/Kronos style.
Simington says he’s developed his technique through years of trial and error. He likes to take sections horizontally and cut niches away in a brickwork fashion, creating volume where it’s needed.
“When cutting curls, you want to create an even balance of density,” Simington says.
Styling is one of the most important parts of working with curls. Simington has what he calls a fool-proof method for styling curls that provides curl formation and volume on top.
“One of the biggest mistakes curlies make is to bend forward when styling their hair,” he says.
Instead, he suggests getting out of the shower with your hair soaking wet and leaning to the side horizontally and scrunching sections with a towel. Then apply product — curlies need to use a lot of product, he says — and use the same sideways scrunching motion. Then, either air dry or dry hair with a diffuser.
“I could talk for three days about curly hair,” Simington says.
Get the BeautyFix Makeup Bag with eight products, including Kronos Haircare, for $20 off – a 40% discount – when you click here.
TAMPA, Fla. — Troy Polamalu has an air of greatness and hair of greatness.
He is the NFL’s Mane Man and many fans’ favorite player in football. At USC, he was one of the Men of Troy. He is the Troy of men with Pittsburgh.
He’s got down-to-there hair.
Polamalu, who starred in Sunday’s Super Bowl against the Phoenix Cardinals, could star in the musical “Hair.” Fans wear wigs to games honoring the Somoan. Cardinals fans don’t do that for Fitzgerald.
“This is the end of the road, where you want to be, what you play for all year,” Polamalu said. “Everybody talks about us needing to win to break the tie with the Cowboys and 49ers for most Super Bowl titles. That would be great. For me, though, I just want to get to 2-0 in the Super Bowl.”
Polamalu speaks so softly you would think somebody pushed the mute button on his TV remote control. He doesn’t carry a big schtick. He’s genuine as a natural pearl. He’s nice as your favorite elementary-school teacher, as much a family man as George Bailey. It’s a wonderful life.
Polamalu was born in Garden Grove, Calif., as Troy Aumua, but his mother, Suila Polamalu, raised her five children alone. All four of his siblings spent time in jail. Troy was fearful of the gangs and the drugs, and when his mother took him on a trip to Tenmile, Ore., to see relatives, the son begged her to let him remain behind.
Eventually, Suila returned to her native Samoa, and Polamalu was “raised by a community of relatives.” Several played football. He became the best. At Southern Cal, Polamalu was an All-American, and the Steelers traded two draft choices so they could grab him 16th overall in 2003.
Polamalu, who once visited his mother’s homeland and officially changed his name to honor her, understands his role on and off the field.
“There’s a duty among all from different cultures, especially for pro athletes who are in the limelight, to be a good influence for young people. I try to be.”
His air and his hair, and his football skill, are uniquely rare.
Larry Fitzgerald
After Sunday’s Super Bowl Game, Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald actually had better locks.
Polamalu-Fitzgerald. Who has the advantage on the field? Who cares.
Fitzgerald’s dreadlocks are more tamed and under control than Polamalu’s hair. Fitz usually wears his hair in a rubberband or hair tie, letting it droop from beneath his helmet as he dives to make spectacular catches.
Fitzgerald can be tackled by his hair legally, after the NFL deemed long hair part of the uniform. That’s minus points for Fitz because it’s gotta hurt having a 250-pound linebacker yanking on your hair trying to pull you down.
In a March 2006 NaturallyCurly article, we asked Polamalu about his hair:
Polamalu said he last cut his hair in 2000 at the request of one of his football coaches at the University of Southern California. Luckily for admirers of his hair, he has no plans to cut it again any time soon.“It’s become like a fifth appendage to me,” Polamalu said.
The fact that his hair stays in great condition despite his active lifestyle as a professional athlete is no accident. A few days before the big game, Polamalu talked about the routine he follows to keep his curls looking great — which includes some tips quite familiar to regular readers of NaturallyCurly.com.
Polamalu shampoos daily and conditions every other day. “When I condition, I make sure to comb the conditioner through it.” Favorite product? Pantene’s Hydrating Curls.
He’s got the potential to be a product junkie. “As you know, you have to rotate your products and use different shampoos and conditioners,” he said. Polamalu switches up every two weeks.
Polamalu doesn’t seem to experience too many problems with tangles, which could be due to the fact that he rarely wears his hair loose when he’s not playing football.
Off the field, he’s a soft-spoken and introspective family man who’d rather spend a quiet night at home with his wife, Theodora, as opposed to the stereotypical wild life of a professional athlete.
Fitting of his off-field personality, the private Polamalu usually sports a ponytail or a bun.
Polamalu admits he didn’t figure all of this out on his own. He credits Theodora, who also has a head of beautiful and healthy curly hair, with helping him find the right hair care regimen.
Oh, and in a statement that should forever endear him to many NaturallyCurly.com supporters, Polamalu said he’s never had the desire to straighten his hair.
Chris Rock
When Chris Rock’s daughter, Lola, came up to him crying and asked, “Daddy, how come I don’t have good hair?” the bewildered comic committed himself to search the ends of the earth and the depths of black culture to find out who had put that question into his little girl’s head!
Director Jeff Stilson’s camera followed the funnyman, and the result is “Good Hair”, a wonderfully insightful and entertaining, yet remarkably serious, documentary about African-American hair culture that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this month. An exposé of comic proportions that only Chris Rock could pull off, “Good Hair” visits hair salons and styling battles, scientific laboratories, and Indian temples to explore the way black hairstyles impact the activities, pocketbooks, sexual relationships, and self-esteem of black people.
Celebrities such as Ice-T, Kerry Washington, Nia Long, Paul Mooney, Raven Symoné, Maya Angelou, and Reverend Al Sharpton all candidly offer their stories and observations to Rock while he struggles with the task of figuring out how to respond to his daughter’s question.
What he discovers is that black hair is a big business that doesn’t always benefit the black community and little Lola’s question might well be bigger than his ability to convince her that the stuff on top of her head is nowhere near as important as what is inside.
While the flick is “loaded” with Rock’s “wisecracking humor,” he reportedly takes a grave and honest look at the cultural pressures and identity issues that come with having “black hair.” Rock explains: “I have daughters, and I’m really dealing with them and their hair a lot, and my friends have daughters, and we talk about our daughters’ hair issues.”
In a Reuters Q&A, Rock adds: “I had no idea of the business of hair. I had no idea that it was as organized as Apple or Microsoft or General Motors. I had no idea the chemicals could be scary and damaging.”
The film, which is being produced by HBO but may get a theatrical release first, shows “neighborhood salons, businesses dealing in hair-care products and the streets of India, where human hair is a huge export industry for hair weaves.” In addition, Rock examines why some African-American women feel they need long, silky, straight hair to fit into white society.
Executive producer Nelson George says: “It’s this whole thing about approval. That approval is not simply, ‘I want white people to love me.’ It’s like, ‘I need a job. I want to move forward, and if I have a hairstyle that is somewhat intimidating, that’s going to stop me from moving forward.”
Who will style First Lady Michelle Obama’s hair?
Hair salon owner Barry Fletcher sent Michelle Obama a 17-minute DVD about himself. Hairdresser Keith Harley uploaded his resume to President-elect Barack Obama’s Web site. And salon owner Nicole Cober-Blake plans to get her name in by sending a welcome basket with bath gels, hair products and a robe.
There are plenty of unanswered questions buzzing around the Obamas’ impending arrival, but one has hairdressers on the edge of their styling chairs: Who will be chosen to do Michelle Obama’s hair?
Rather than venture out for hair appointments, the First Lady typically invites beauticians to the White House. Some of the region’s black salon owners hope their experience with African-American hair could give them an edge over those who coifed the likes of Laura Bush or Hillary Clinton.
Fletcher, the 52-year-old owner of The Hair Palace Salon in Mitchellville, Md., cites his experience in international hairstyling challenges and working with actress Halle Berry and singer Mya, a D.C. native.
“I’m going to be doing her hair!” Fletcher said, if he has anything to say about it. “This would pretty much validate all of my hard work and effort to get to a level where I could handle a powerful queen like the First Lady.”
Not that it’s all glamour for the stylist. Bernard Portelli, who briefly styled Hillary Clinton’s bob back in 1993, recalled working in a simple room in the White House with a shampoo basin, two chairs and plenty of outlets for blow dryers and flat irons. He’s not necessarily eager to go back.
“You have all kind of last-minute phone calls, which is extremely hard for someone who has a large clientele in a salon to drop everything and go,” said 57-year-old Portelli, who owns Georgetown’s Okyo Salon.
Still, if Obama’s hairstyles dazzle the public, having her as a client would be a public relations coup for any salon. Nuri Yurt of Georgetown’s Toka Salon attracted attention after he began styling Laura Bush’s hair in 2005. Earlier this year, Vogue magazine called him one of the country’s best colorists for brunettes.
“It’s permanent advertising, if you will, for the salon,” Portelli said.From the stylists’ perspective, Obama doesn’t need much help — they describe her hair as classic in style, healthy and free-spirited.
For election night, Michael “Rahni” Flowers of Van Cleef Hair Studio in Chicago — Obama’s stylist since she was 18 — did her hair. And for the Democratic National Convention, Obama turned to Chicago-native Johnny Wright of Frederic Fekkai’s Los Angeles salon.
If an out-of-towner gets the assignment, it would disappoint locals like Cober-Blake, lawyer-turned-owner of D.C.’s Soul Day Spa and Salon. The 37-year-old said she’s excited about the possibility of having Obama experience the services at Soul, where she said they “treat everyone like a Michelle Obama.”
Harley, of Keith Harley Hair & Scalp Clinic in Arlington, Va., submitted his resume a month ago.
“It would be the highlight of my career,” said 39-year-old Harley, who styles such high-profile Washington women as Debra Lee, chief executive of Black Entertainment Television. “It would be an honor.”
And like her fashion, Obama’s hairstyles probably will be scrutinized, as has happened with other first ladies.
“The thing about being the first lady, you’re only as fashionable as your last picture,” said Dennis Roche, 58, of D.C.’s Roche Salon, which has African-American-hair experts he said could style Obama. “This is kind of risky because of the fact that we all have bad hair days.”
“I want to teach [my kids] about all religions [and culture], and I’m trying to find a way to do that. And when it comes to the subject of adoption, like when my daughter, who’s African, wants her hair to look straight like mummy’s . . . and I look for a Barbie that’s African, and the African Barbie has straight hair! And you know, why has Disney never made a film with an African-American princess?”
The singer’s real hair is a curly mop, as revealed when she made a rare appearance without her trademark wig.
Winehouse was pictured in the doorway of her north London home as she brought cheese on toast for the waiting paparazzi.
The 25-year-old has sported the towering beehive for the past couple of years, save for a brief spell when she dyed her hair peroxide blonde and wrapped it in a Dot Cotton-style headscarf.
She once admitted: “I’m quite an insecure person. I’m very insecure about the way I look. I mean, I’m a musician, not a model. The more insecure I feel, the bigger my hair has to be.”
The most frustrating thing that people with curly hair experience is that once you put on a hat, helmet, hair band or any other hair accessory, you are committed to keeping it on. Otherwise, you will have a style disaster on your hands.
Unfortunately, hair sprays, waxes, pomades and polishes are not effective for fixing curly hair styles. Tweek is specifically developed to rebuild broken hairstyles for these conditions. As no two curly heads are the same, the techniques needed for success with Tweek will vary from one person to the next. Tweek is effective on all categories of curly hair. Because of this, it is essential to understand how Tweek works and how it will work for you.
For fine curly hair, it is all about rebuilding or “tweeking” your hairstyle, starting at the root area. Curly heads know that more movement will result in more volume. Tweek has a non-greasy formula that will allow you to apply it in small amounts to the root area and slowly create movement where needed to create volume. The focus is at the root area. Once you have dealt with the roots and worked Tweek into your hair, squeeze the rest of the Tweek through to the ends with your hands. It helps to flip your hair over forward to reach the scalp.
Thick curly hair does not usually require extra volume. In this case, Tweek will control flyaway hair that pops up at the end of a day or on day two or three. At this stage, rub Tweek in between your hands and smooth onto the outer layer, flattening and controlling flyaways. For extremely thick hair use a generous amount and squeeze through to the ends as if you were going to make a pony tail, then let go and allow your hair to settle on its own.
Other scenarios where you can use Tweek:
Wearing hats, helmets or hoodys: These are among the greatest offenders that will flatten curls and hairstyles. Make sure to have open fingers, use a large amount of Tweek and drag your fingers through the scalp area. Once at the root area close your fingers and make a tight grip at the scalp. Use a little bit of movement and you will immediately lift and fix your hairstyle.
Ponytails : Curlyheads have a tendency to stretch their curls out when pulling their hair back into a pony tail. This weakens the curls, especially around the face area. In this case, apply Tweek throughout the full strand of the hair. Straight sections will require more attention. Squeeze your hair in your palm and hold for a couple of seconds, allowing time for the curl to reform. Hang your head over forward and squeeze the curls into place. This will give you the curl and style you are looking for. For extremely flat and overstretched hair, you will need the help of our Roller Jaw Clamps to reform your curl. Dampen your hair or the Roller Jaw Clamp and proceed with the Tweek application to create lift and support at the root area and fix your style.
Asha Mandela hopes to set a Guinness record for dreadlock length.
If you think it’s been a long time since you’ve gotten to the salon, Asha Mandela has got you beat, according to an article in the NY Daily News.
Mandela, of Davenport, Florida, is hoping to win the Guinness record for the world’s longest dreadlocks. It will be the first entry into a new category. To win, Mandala must have her three longest locks measured by a Guinness official and verified by witnesses. The final measurement: 8 feet 9 inches.
But Mandala will have to wait several weeks to find out if her hair is record-breaking. Guinness officials will investigate anyone else who claims to have the longest locks. Mandala says she’s especially nervous about the Rastafarians of Jamaica stealing the title from her.
But with hair that’s longer than she is tall, that won’t be easy to do. Mandala insists that it would have been 11 inches longer had she not stepped on a strand and broken it off. Just in case people don’t believe her, she carries the broken lock in her purse.
So how — and why — does one cultivate the longest dreadlocks in the world? Twenty years ago, Trinidad-born Mandala decided to stop relaxing her curly hair and cut it all off. As it grew back, she twisted it into curls and eventually into dreadlocks, which she liked so much she decided to keep growing.
But not everyone is so awed by Mandela’s locks.
“[My mother] said, ‘I took such good care of your nice curly hair, and this is what you are doing with it?’ ” Mandela tells the Orlando Sentinal. “She called it a mop for five years.”
A mop would probably be easier to care for. Her locks require a bottle of shampoo and conditioner each and every time she washes her hair, which isn’t often.
“I used to wash it three times a week. Now I do it once a week. It’s very tiring,” she says, “Sometimes I don’t have the energy.”
When she does soap it up, it’s an all-day affair. She wrings out her eight feet of hair like a towel and must wait hours for it to dry completely. If the weather is humid (as it often is in Florida”>, she says her hair might stay damp all day long.
“I try not to have any errands that day,” she laughs.
But despite the hassle, Mandala admits that she couldn’t easily part with her long hair.
“As much as I love it, I get frustrated with it,” she sighs. “But then I realize I’d feel naked without it.”
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Ever wonder how Beyoncé goes seamlessly from straight hair one day to curly the next and back? The gossip is that Beyoncé spends $2 million on wigs.
“InTouch” magazine reports the singer has professionals make her wigs and use real hair. Each wig costs thousands of dollars. A friend of Beyoncé’s told “InTouch” that “The wigs are magnificent and well-made. You don’t notice them because they seem so real and are a big part of the singer’s image, which is one of perfection. She takes them with her and uses different ones depending on what she is doing . . . a concert and a party doesn’t call for the same look, and she knows that.”
That’s why her look is always changing and surprising. One day she has long, straight, darker hair and the next she has blond highlights and curls. Her real hair is short and very curly. According to her own mother, Beyoncé may have ruined her hair when she was younger trying to color it blond many times.
Curly nicknames. It’s one of those things that bond us together. These names were the bane of our existence growing up. Now, we take this opportunity to celebrate them.
We asked you to tell us some of your favorites. Although it was hard to choose, we selected 10 of your answers.
- “When I was in grade school, there was an older girl in the advanced ballet class that always used to taunt me with “natural curl girl.” This phrase was said all sing-song-y and in a super snotty voice. (Scary that many many years later I can still hear her very clearly in my head.”>”
— Rubycakes
- “In college (back in the early 90’s”> I was dubbed “Poof Pup”. All the girls on each floor of our dorm had different names, ours all ended in “pup.” It was not by MY choice mind you! — Discobug
- “I was “Frizzle Face” for many years in elementary school. It was painful at the time, but I love thinking now about how successful “Miss Frizzle” from “Magic School Bus” has become, and also that I, too, became a teacher! — RebeccaK
- “When my mom finally let me have my own way with my hair (about 7th grade”> I chose to wear it down and curly instead of up and in a pony tail and a braid. We were studying mythology at that time so the kids would call me Medusa. I didn’t appreciate that at all because I thought they were essentially saying that I turn people into stone with my gaze. — Elissad
- ” ‘Mushroom Queen’ — I had a short bob, and my hair is pretty thick, so at times I had a mushroom head!” — CoxPlus2
- “Last night I was laughing about something and my boyfriend said “Laugh it up, fuzzball.” (from Star Wars”>.” — Trixie
- “My mother said this to me so many time in my life that it feels like my nickname — WILL YOU PLEASE DO SOMETHING WITH THAT HAIR!?! She still says it and it makes me laugh.” — Jeepcurlygirl
- “My “little” sister used to call me Fuzzy Wuzzy, and taunt me with “Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear.” It hurt all the more because my mother had me scalped on a regular basis (1″ pixie cuts”>, whereas my sister was allowed to grow her hair. When I graduated from nursing school, my family started calling me “Nurse Beth Fuzzy Wuzzy.” — MorganAdcock
- “My best friend would always call me Sideshow Bob! It was funny to me because it was fairly accurate. Especially since I had these roaring red highlights at the time. My whole head glowed when I was in the sun.” — Miss_Rae6357
- “I divided mine into categories:
Things you buy at the store
– Brillo Head – Q-tip – Cotton Bald (I have thin hair that shows scalp if worn certain ways”>“Celebrity” Comparisons
– Bozo the Clown – Krusty the Clown (my FIRST short cut ever — very encouraging”> – PuffyMovies & Mythology
– Medusa (I never minded this one. I had some snappy comebacks for it”> – Curly Sue (not bad at all, really”>Just Plain Silly
– Oingo-Boingo – Pube Head (a bit inappropriate — and that came from 13-year-olds!”>National Geographic
– Cave Woman – Wildebeast – Wild Thing (what my SO calls me now as a term of endearment”>”— MickeyB603
Several readers remembered being called Bozo.
“Medusa” is apparently another popular nickname for curlyheads.
Marco Simoncelli
When Marco Simoncelli clinched the 250cc MotoGP world motorcycle championship in Malaysia, fellow racer Valentino Rossi told him to cut his shaggy, trademark curls.
“Well done, Marco, but now cut your hair,” Rossi said.
“He has been fantastic. He has grown up and surprised me. However, he is horrendous without a helmet.”
Simoncelli is unmistakable off the track, with an enormous mound of curls springing up whenever he removes his helmet.
Rossi once sported a curly afro haircut similar to Simoncelli’s, but in 2007 opted for a short, cropped style.
As of October 13, Ouidad’s West Coast devotees have had the opportunity to celebrate the”Queen of Curl” at the opening of the Ouidad’s first official California outpost.
The stylish new Ouidad Salon is situated on Montana Avenue in the heart of Santa Monica. Like the 57th Street Ouidad Salon in New York, the new salon will cater to curly-haired clients, with staff sharing Ouidad’s curly hair techniques with patrons to help them embrace their curls. Created with a boutique feel, the space has four chairs, providing treatments, products, cuts, and color for ringlets, waves and textured hair.
The Santa Monica salon is a dream come true for fans and followers of Ouidad who have been making personal sojourns to New York to see the curl experts.
“My California clients are constantly in New York for work and play and have been begging me for years to come to L.A.,” Ouidad says. “I am thrilled to open this salon and to call Santa Monica home once a month in order to see my existing clientele. I’m excited, too, to touch many more curls that haven’t yet enjoyed and indulged in the Ouidad signature experience.”
Whether Ouidad herself is at the new salon or back in New York, a full staff of qualified Ouidad stylists will on hand to take care of California curlies.
Dedicated to curls for the past 25 years, Ouidad is the hair expert who women, men and kids turn to for advice on caring for curls. Her expertise, authority and passion truly make her the “Queen of Curl.”
Sign up to win one of three Ouidad haircuts at the new Santa Monica salon.
For additional information on the new Ouidad Salon, call 310-393-3542.
