JerkyFlea: September 2000

If you watched the broadcast, then you probably noticed, as I did, there was not only very little hair news, but most celebrities didn't do very much different with their hair anyway.  Patricia Heaton just wore hers plain and straight, Jennifer Aniston wore a ponytail, and Halle Berry styled her flippy crop the same as she has for the past several events she's attended.  All in all, not that much worth writing home about.  Or a column for that matter.  Admittedly, there was certainly one rather significant piece of hair news and you can find a little tidbit on that later in the column.

The most important thing this month is the the new partnership between JFCHS and nifty fashion site FashionDish.com.  How does that affect you, the home reader?  Well, Anne-Marie and the fine folks over there are making their excellent stock of celebrity pictures available for the column and, thus, your eventual viewing.  The end result should be minimally some better photos of some celebs and at best some pics that otherwise we couldn't have gotten our hands on as easily.  Overall, as Martha Stewart would say, it's a good thing.  Make sure you stop by and visit to show your appreciation.

And finally, continuing an odd and unintentional trend I started when coming back from my hiatus, the cover girl this month, REESE WITHERSPOON, isn't in the column anywhere.  I just thought it was good picture of her and in it, as Anne-Marie of FashionDish pointed out, she bears a frightening resemblence to a young Sally Struthers.  And that can't be good.  

On to the good stuff...

Since it's Olympics time again, let's start with that theme.  Figure skater MICHELLE KWAN, who cut her long hair short a year or so ago, has been growing it back out lately.  And, yes, I know she's in the Winter Olympics and this year is the Summer Olympics, but cut me some slack.  Geez.  Anyway, it's currently about shoulder length, with razored, flippy ends.  Actually, it's much more attractive than it sounds, as you can see from the picture.   Still trendy, but also simple.  A good rule, there by the way: complicated is not always better.

Another former Olympian with longer locks is swimmer JANET EVANS.  If you are like me (and if you aren't, don't you wish you were?), you not only remember Janet for winning more swimming medals that any woman in history, but also for her really cut short 'do.  Since she's not longer swimming competitively, she doesn't have to keep the short style anymore (though Summer Sanders always refused to cut hers short, but that's a different story), she's let it grow.  It's now one length and several inches below her shoulders.  Suffice it to say, she should dig up some of the pictures of her winning the gold and take them to her stylist.  If she does nothing else, she at least needs to get bangs.  And soon.

And finally, returning to the exciting (cough) world of figure skating, I had to make a quick comment on OKSANA BAIUL, who has essentially been a continuous hair disaster.  From the stiff puff of bangs she had in the Olympics (bad) to the platinum blonde pixie (also bad), she has a seriously bad track record.  Her current entry into the Hall of Hairstyle Hell is the dark blonde with chunky streaks layered bob from the Jennie Garth School of Cosmetology.  As with Jennie, the cut is fine, but the color looks like a L'Oreal hair swatch sample display.  And I don't mean that in a good way.

Well, the inevitable has happened.  JENNY MCCARTHY is once again a blonde.  Jenny had been lamenting the fact for a while that once she went brunette for a recent role, she was stuck because she kept getting work with her locks a darker hue.  She, however, had grown tired of it rather quickly and longed to go back to blonde.  Well, it appears she got her wish as Jenny is once again sporting a blonde streaked mane.  Not sure about style or true length due to the 'do, but I figured the color was enough to report on.  As I said previously, though I liked Jenny as a brunette, I thought the black was just a bit too harsh on her and could have been lightened a bit.  Basically, it never quite looked right, as if the mere appearance of Jenny with dark hair caused a hairline fissure in the space-time continuum.  Fortunately, she's back to blonde and cosmic disaster has been averted.  So, we've got that going for us.  Which is nice.

KIRSTEN DUNST has had long hair for, well, ever.  The length had varied, but, before now, had never risen above her shoulders.  Ok, except for when she cut her curly wig short in "Interview with the Vampire", but that doesn't count.  Anyway, for her role as a rebellious teenager in her currently filming movie, "At Seventeen" (I think that's the title), she figured the conservative look wouldn't cut it.  So, she has lopped off her blonde locks into a short, messy shag; a cut that works surprisingly well.  With her round face, Kirsten either needs to stay long or go short in a style that is fuller on top and potentially keeps a bit of length without being too full on the sides.  This 'do fits the bill nicely.  I still like her hair longer, but if she stays short, she's definitely picked a look that flatters.

A quick update on one of the women on our Hair Growth Watch, PRISCILLA GARITA.  Priscilla had her very long, dark mane hacked into an ultra-short pixie a couple of years back, much to the shock of her "Sunset Beach" fans.  Not only did her fans not like it, but Priscilla was less than enamored with it herself (which she said in a couple of interviews) and immediately began growing it back out.  As in, I don't think there was even a second cut to trim up the pixie.   Now, it has grown back to below her shoulders and she is wearing it in a mostly one length style with some very long layers and some razoring on the ends.  Basically, an updated version of what she started out with.  And even though she went the LONG way around to get to this point, I think she's hit on a very attractive style.  Check it and her out on NBC's cheesy primetime soap, "Titans", this Fall.  Between Pricilla, Yasmine Bleeth, and Josie Davis, the hairstyles promise to be much more interesting than the dialogue.

There appears to be a growing trend afoot in the modeling world: The Return of The Bob.  Starting with the angled bob of Kate Moss that I reported on last month, to the newly bobbed tresses of KIRSTY HUME, CARMEN KASS, and BRIDGET HALL.  Kirsty and Carmen both had waist length blond locks shorn into bobs, with Kirsty getting the short end of the scissors.  Bridget's brunette mane (I'm running out of synonyms for hair) was snipped into the same type of heavily layered shag/bob that Kirsty adopted, with Carmen going the more traditional route. 

Kirsty Hume

Bridget Hall

End result?  No improvement for any of them, in my humble opinion, and furthermore, an amazingly bad call for Kirsty.  Bridget seems to pull it off the best and Carmen just looks, well, plain.  If you are going to bring back as style, why something as mundane as the bob?  At least the shag looks different to some degree on each individual, because almost by definition it has to be customized for each person.  Not that I terribly dislike the bob, since it can look absolutely stunning on the right person, but it is much more restrictive on face shapes (round faces need not apply).  I guess any sort of ubiquitous, one-size-fits-all hair trend goes against my philosophy of choosing the most flattering style for someone's face, lifestyle, and personality.  Hey, where did this soapbox come from and how did I get up here? =)

CARLY  POPE of The WB's "Popular" has cut a boatload of layers into her long, wavy dark hair, resulting a much choppier, shaggier 'do, while retaining most of the length.  It still falls below her shoulders, but it's a marked departure from the essentially one-length style she sported on the show last year. 

I'm kind of torn on this, because I loved her hair before (so much so that she is in the running for the Best Hair on TV list, whenever I get around to putting it together).  However, if I had seen her with this style from the beginning, I would have liked it as well.  Comparatively, though, I have to go with last year's look as superior over this one, if for no other reason than it made her look more like the high school student she's supposed to be on the show.

Oh, and as long as we are talking about "Popular", don't you think that for someone who has publicly stated on numerous occasions that she hates being a blonde, LESLIE BIBB seems to have spent the summer moving about as far away from her natural brunette as is chromatically possible in the world of hair color?  Maybe she should have waited to go swimming until after they were done shocking the pool. 

Reese Witherspoon picture courtesy FeatureFlash, Michelle Kwan, Janet Evans, and Oksana Baiul pictures courtesy FashionDish.com; Jenny McCarthy pictures courtesy Reuters and FashionDish.com; Kirsten Dunst picture courtesy Hollywood.com; Priscilla Garita pictures courtesy NBC; Kirsty Hume, Carmen Kass, and Bridget Hall pictures courtesy Vogue and Harper's Bazaar; Carly Pope and Leslie Bibb pictures courtesy Reuters

Next Page >>>

If you want to talk more about this or other hair care articles on HairBoutique.com or anywhere else, please post a message on  HairBoutique.com's Hair Talk Forums.

For additional hair care articles, tips and product information check out the following links:

• Hair Boutique Tips & Articles section.  Check out the over 10,000+ different hair care and styling tips at HairBoutique.com