For an interesting discussion of the movie "Good Hair", see Anthea Butler's review. Here is an excerpt;

Apart from being a good film, Good Hair had a religious subtext that is important to look at within the context of the study of religion. You see, most of the “weave hair” ... comes from the practice of tonsure, or ritual haircutting, in Hinduism. The sacrifice of hair to the gods is the source of much of the human hair business in the United States. In fact, Rock’s documentary informs us that the hair cut for temple sacrifices is now the number one export out of India. The fact that tonsure, a religious act, has turned into a profiteering scheme is remarkable. But there also exist unscrupulous people who are stealing women’s hair, either while they sleep or in movie theaters where their braids or hair hang over the seats; while a woman is enjoying the latest from Bollywood, someone is cutting her hair and exporting it to be sold in Los Angeles.

The marriage of Hinduism and black hair care is fascinating—and troubling. The fact that hair willingly sacrificed to the gods is then sold to American women—not only black women now, but anyone who wants a shock of human hair as enhancement—is disconcerting to say the least.

Also see the movie trailer here.

Wow, how many units of the Celebrity Styler will have to be sold to pay Paris Hilton for this glowing review of the flat iron/rotating curling iron product? See the video below.

Here are some good tips for how to choose a hairstyle based on your face shape. There are four basic face shapes; round, oval, square and heart shaped.

Here's a clip from the new film "Good Hair" where Chris Rock asks African-American women "What's in Your Hair Right Now?" It seems weaves are very popular. "The flat hair business is a nine billion dollar annual business."

Here's a great instructional video for how to create three different types of ponytails. The first is the most casual style, the second is a more formal, elegant style and the third is side-swept. Check out Fabio's great ponytail tips;

Here's an informative video about the foods you can eat to get shiny, healthy hair and nails.

Tyra Banks shows us what her hair looks like without weaves or wigs. We only see the 'just out of the shower' wet look in this one minute video - before the fuzz sets in, but still this is very brave of her. She has been wearing hair extensions since she was 17 years old.

Bunchofpants tried on some different hairstyles and hair colors at the Clairol Try It On Studio website. Here's a few of the different looks.

There's a good article in the New York Times this morning about recent discoveries on the causes of gray hair. Whether one gets gray hair prematurely or late in life doesn't seem to have anything to do with a stressful or stressless life but is mostly due to genetics.

It's also interesting that scientists have looked, but have not found a link between going gray and real aging in the body. People who get gray hair earlier than their peers do not die any sooner. Gray hair (and baldness) has very little to do with premature aging.

Check out Unlocking the Secrets of Gray Hair.

Photo via ClareMarie

Here are four long hairstyles for spring by Vidal Sasoon. Model Lee Hyori shows off the “purely straight,” “preppy straight”, “candy wave” and the “go-go wave”.

Via PopSeoul.

Congrats to Katie at Before and After TV. Her video tutorial on how to wave your hair to get the Britney Spears look was featured on the official Britney Spears channel.

Katie tells us she's had thousands of views since last night when her video was posted on Britney's official website. It feels glowingly surreal to have a celebrity-inspired makeover tutorial endorsed by the actual celebrity - and in this case the most popular and top-searched internet celebrity of all time!

Congrats Katie.

Hair extensions can lead to permanent baldness. Recent research published in the British Journal of Dermatology concludes that this problem may be much more common than has been reported.

According to the Daily Mail;

Dermatologists say the extensions, which are attached to a person's real hair by glue, weaving or braiding, put such tension on follicles in the scalp that they can become inflamed causing hair to fall out - a condition known as traction alopecia.

Last night, hair experts called for a ban on the popular accessory...

See more of the story at The Daily Mail.

The photo above is by dno1967 at Flickr.

Here's a video tutorial showing how to get Christina Aguilera's hairstyle. Katie Stiles shows us how to curl hair with a ceramic flat iron on this beautiful friend who looks like Christina Aguilera.

Dorothy is a natural dark blonde, but her dyed hair was becoming more and more blonde with each visit to the hairdresser.

A few days ago she decided to switch to brunette. She prefers her new look and makes some interesting anthropological observations about how men and women now treat her quite differently.

Read her Blond to Brunette story here.

The unrelated blond photo here is by nyki_m

More women are cutting and coloring their hair at home in an attempt to save money.

Procter & Gamble has seen a 20% increase in sales of their home hair coloring product Nice-n-Easy and double-digit sales growth for its Head & Shoulders brand.

Some women are ditching their $120 haircuts and trying out $15 cuts at Supercut. See the story at the Los Angeles Times.