When you think of Ms. Patti LaBelle, naturally her one-of-a-kind voice comes to mind first. Then perhaps you recall her kicking off her shoes during her epic performances. You may even think about the fact that she’s one of the last true divas we still have left these days. But when you talk about Patti LaBelle, you cannot neglect to mention the hair. One of the first black women to rock the “big hair, don’t care” look, Patti has never been afraid to experiment with her tresses. Check out some of her hairdos over the years.

Source: Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images via Essence.com

TWA 

Before Patti and her group members Nona Hendryx, Sarah Dash and Cindy Birdsong went extra extravagant with the wigs, bejeweled hair and the spritz, she kept it relatively simple. In this picture from the early ’70s, before Patti and the Blue Belles decided to take on a more flamboyant stage look, Patti rocked a short afro under some of her conservative performance wigs.

Apparently, rapper E.V.E. is trying to get her Diana Ross on with this big hair. Judging from this leaked picture, I don’t know if she succeeded.

There’s still hair on the couch, so maybe it’s not finished.

Head over to StyleBlazer.com to check out more photos, get a description behind all of this…

Are you feeling the new look?

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When I went home for Thanksgiving break last month, flying Southwest for the low-low, when I went through customs I thought I was fully prepared. I’ve held many folks up in my early flying days so now that I’m seasoned, I try and wear the bare minimum (but still be VERY covered) to get through the process faster: zip-up combat boots, exercise tights, a camisole, scarf, and a jacket. Jewelry was kept to a minimum, no belt, and on my head, I had my hair two-strand twisted and covered with a colorful cloth I obtained in Nigeria. Nothing too big or fancy, just the old Tupac way (tied in the front, but nicely). After I walked through the metal detector and was all clear with that, I was surprised when the TSA worker said, with a big smile on her face, “Bend your head down, please.”

What? Oh, okay…

So I did, and she quickly and softly touched around my head. While I had heard on the news about women who had their hair “checked” before flying and took it personally, I thought it was just a random occurrence that unfortunately happened to moi. But I could be wrong: it looks like it’s about to become the norm from TSA workers. I wasn’t really sure how I felt about the patting down of my hair, especially since my afro wasn’t even out, but I just assumed it had to do with the cloth on my hair…? Either way, I laughed about it and got on my plane to go home. It was kind of funny in a way–me hiding some ish in my hair…

But when I told my sisters and my mom, they didn’t find much humor in it. In fact, my older sister, coming from Houston, said they had patted her hair as well (an afro pulled into a large puff) and she wasn’t a fan of it. My other sister, whose hair is natural but usually pressed (shout out to the Egyptians), didn’t find it cool at all either that we were hair checked and had that, “I wish they would touch my hair!” look on her face. While they didn’t go into depth with why they were P’Od about it, other than the fact that it didn’t seem like it was something they were doing to EVERYONE, I was the only one in the kitchen on Thanksgiving saying, “I don’t know, I didn’t think it was that big of a deal.” One of my co-workers, who wears locks and had her hair patted during her Thanksgiving travels agreed. But psych MY mind and make my booty shine, I guess we were wrong.

Don’t you just love it give when celebrities give Hollywood’s beauty standards a major side eye? In a world where straight hair has become the norm, big hair has all the reason to stand out more. From super kinky coils to looser curls, these ladies put the fabulosity in all we know big hair to be.

First up…

A fun part of having hair for black women is changing it up and trying new things. A lot of the inspiration folks get from the styles they dare to try come from the celebrities we see on television, in magazines, and on and on and on. While I personally love my own bountiful mane of hair, there are a number of celebrities out there with natural and relaxed hair that I always find myself being impressed by. My hair idols don’t do the absolute most with their styles (well, not all of ‘em at least), but what they do manage to do all the time is keep their hair looking healthy, strong and beautiful. I don’t know about you, but the women on this list have a good head of hair. Which celebrities hair do you love?