Source: WENN

Since Kenya Moore’s debut on Bravo’s hit reality TV show, Real Housewives of Atlanta, some ladies have been dying to know whether or not her gorgeous locs are enhanced by extensions or a gift from genetics. On several occasions she let it be known that for the most part, she doesn’t wear weaves or extensions. In a recent interview with Longing for Length, she did, however, reveal that she’s flattered by many people asking if her hair is real.

“I  think it’s a compliment. I have healthy hair and people pay for extensions to look like my hair. I interpret that to be flattering for the most part.”

The former Miss USA went on to reveal that she is in the process of a launching a hair care line, in an effort to help other ladies to attain beautiful, healthy and luscious hair.

“I am working on my own hair care line and it’s a culmination of all of my favorite products and ingredients that I have come to love. I ‘m very passionate about hair care and love shiny, healthy hair. My products will first help to repair hair and then strengthen it so it will grow longer.”

In an interview with Untitled Flow late last year, Kenya stressed the importance of healthy hair and discussed being a “natural girl.”

“I think weaves and wigs are perfectly fine. My product line is basically to promote healthy hair. You can wear weaves or wigs if you want to, but you can wear your own hair as well. I’m very serlous about healthy hair. I do have my own hair. It is just hair. I don’t live and die by my hair. I’ve worn weaves for a movie but in my every day life when you see me on the RHOA, it’s all my hair. I don’t have fine textured hair. I have very thick hair. I don’t perm it. I don’t’ relax it. I’m wearing color in my hair right now but I don’t put any chemicals in it other than color. I wash it, let it air dry and flat iron it in small sections and use roller sets. As for everything else, my fans who’ve known me for a long time know that I’m a natural girl.”

But of course, these days it appears that it is nearly impossible for one Atlanta “housewife” to venture into an industry without one of her co-stars on her heels. It has also been announced recently that Porsha Stewart is in the process of launching a line of hair products as well. Last month she tweeted a photo of her younger sister with a caption announcing her upcoming product launch.

Judging by the photo, it seems that Porsha will be launching a line of hair extensions, as opposed to actual hair care products, but I suppose we’ll have to wait and see to know for sure. Maybe she’ll do both?

Source: Instagram

What do you think ladies? Would you purchase hair products from either of these reality TV stars?

Follow Jazmine on Twitter @jazminedenise.

Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP

Besides stirring up emotions on R&B Divas with her blunt style, Syleena Johnson has been building her business brand. Add her to the list of celebrities with hair product lines. Johnson has just announced her hair extension and wig line. The ”True Diva Collection by Syleena Johnson” hair will hit stores in Spring 2013, and sold exclusively at Renown Premium Hair.

According to a press release, the line will feature wefted hair for weaving and U-Part, lace-front wigs. The hair is full-cuticle and can be washed, blow dried, curled, flat ironed, and colored. Johnson herself is a fan of extensions and says she wears them for protective styling, versatility, and convenience.

It was actually while wearing Renown Premium Hair that Johnson approached company founder and former celebrity publicist, Toi Troutman. Johnson had perfect timing. According to Troutman, the brand was looking to create a celebrity line. “[W]hen she reached out to us, we knew that she would be perfect for it,” said Troutman in a press statement.  “Syleena Johnson fully embodies our brand. Definitely a true diva, Syleena has sophistication, beauty, talent and class, yet she manages to keep her personality and image relatable to every woman.”

Johnson seems eager to get the line launched. “My True Diva Collection is not only quality hair but its affordable, and accessible to anyone who is looking for amazing hair that will last,” Johnson said in the press release.

Johnson, who is in the studio working on ”Chapter VI: Couple’s Therapy,” has other business ventures as well. She recently launched her own fitness brand, SheLean, with a workout DVD. A “Mommy’s Got Soul” DVD, featuring her own original music, to soon follow.

In Hollywood, changing hair is like changing clothes. Celebs want to be able to perfect and tweak their hair on the daily and with the use of weave, it’s plenty possible. Though you only seem to hear about black female celebs and their amazing weaves, here are 14 white female stars who have some notable weave game.

Daniel Tanner/ WENN.com

Kim Kardashian

It’s no surprise that Kim’s luscious locks aren’t completely her own, but she does rock some good weave.

Each year, African American women spend millions of dollars on hair extensions and hair care products, contributing to the multi-billion dollar bottom line of a market that is 90 percent owned and operated by Korean businesses.

In recent years, there’s been an outcry by the African American community calling for an investigation on the Korean domination of the market and many media outlets including Madame Noire have tackled this issue in the past.

Michelle Morant (background) and Kendra Austin

In spite of higher-than-normal barriers of entry to entrepreneurship in the black hair care and weaving industries, veteran companies like Carol’s Daughter, Dudley’s Q and newcomers like Huetiful and curlBOX are working feverishly to reclaim ownership of the brown beauty conversation.

Joining those ownership ranks is Amizade Hair, a new hair extension company founded by friends Michelle Morant and Kendra Austin that launched this past August.

According to Austin, the company provides “quality, affordable, and luxurious virgin hair extensions from around the world, in a range of textures, styles, and lengths,” and hopes to become a go-to brand among extension loyalists who may have traditionally purchased products from a non-black owned company.

We recently caught up with Morant and Austin to learn more about how they launched Amizade Hair, discuss industry obstacles and where they see themselves in the marketplace.

We see them on TV, and on the movie screen. We hear them on the radio. We follow them on Twitter. Our fave celebs are creating all kinds of buzz and blazing trails in everything they do. These business-savvy celebs have launched some lucrative ventures worth checking out. Take a look…

straightfromthea.com

Jennifer Hudson

It seems that just about everything JHud touches turns to gold. First, it was her Oscar-worthy role in Dreamgirls. Then it was her Grammy-award winning debut album. Now it is Weight Watchers. JHud wowed us with her phenomenal weight loss reveal last year, and now she hopes to influence people in her native Chicago to do the same. JHud became the first celebrity to have a Weight Watchers center when she opened the Jennifer Hudson Weight Watchers Center in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood last fall.

What’s next for JHud? A launch of her new clothing line, the Jennifer Hudson Collection on QVC this fall, as well as recurring role on the hit NBC show Smash, where she’ll take on the role of Broadway star Veronica Moore.

Source: Vibe Vixen

“Virgin hair” is a term synonymous with premium weave, and in recent years, the growing trend has been to precede the term with an exotic location. Peruvian virgin hair. Brazilian virgin hair. Mongolian virgin hair. Filipino virgin hair. Cambodian virgin hair. Pick a country and you can find someone peddling hair from that region, giving it the mystique of being the ultimate premium virgin hair that has the perfect texture and luster to match the textured hair of black women. But what does any of this really mean?

Well, to be quite honest with you, there are no hard facts about where any of this hair really comes from. For the most part, you are simply taking the word of the particular vendor you are purchasing your hair from or whatever your favorite YouTube guru has endorsed you to purchase. However, with the abundance of exotic virgin hair (and people saying the following: “ooo im mongolian and i did not ever know we did hair extentions!”) and the latest advent of Russian virgin hair on the market, one does have to scratch their head and wonder if this is simply anything more than a marketing ploy.

First, the term ‘virgin hair’ denotes hair that has not been processed at all aside from washing it and sewing it on to a weft. So that Peruvian loose wave you are thinking about buying, let’s think about that. Is there a tribe in Peru that has loose wavy hair who just happens to be walking into factories to have their hair chopped off? I’m serious. Where in Russia are people trading in their luscious locks for some quick change? And who really ventured out to Mongolia to find some hair?  And though some people unethically sell the hair of women who cut it off for religious purposes, that doesn’t mean that when you get it, it was kept in its virgin form. All it really takes is a quick Google search to identify that most of the countries, the people, generally speaking, do not have natural hair textures that are similar to the weaves we are purchasing. Have you seen a Mongolian woman lately?

The breakout star of the exotic weaves was Brazilian virgin hair, and the majority that people buy has been debunked as being from anywhere but Brazil. While Brazilian hair does exist, it is extremely hard to find and extremely expensive at that. The one reputable vendor I knew of, closed a few years ago because of lack of supply and the costs of acquiring the hair. Brazil has one of the most booming, emerging economies in the world. I promise you there’s not a far off favela where women are desperate to give away their hair for monies. If anything, many are rising out of the favelas to start hair salons that are set to break into the American scene.

Unless you are willing to fly out the country and visit the factory to ensure that the hair is virgin and from that exact location, the best way to go about purchasing ‘virgin hair’ of quality is to let go of the ‘virgin’ title. Most hair has to be processed, either steam-processed or chemically processed, to achieve the wave/curl pattern and luster that will blend with textured hair. The bulk of the hair on the market is coming from India or China, although Southeast Asian countries are emerging on the extension scene. While Indian tends to be the more cultivated premium hair, it’s not so much about where the hair comes from as it’s about how it’s processed and the end results. Look for reputable vendors that have minimal complaints of shedding and bulky wefts. The hair needs to be evenly distributed on the weft for a good install. Take note of luster, as shiny hair is harder to blend, and understand that ‘low luster’ is most definitely processed and it’s not a bad thing. Low luster hair blends better for women with highly textured kinky hair. And lastly, you want hair that feels like real hair and is soft to the touch. These are all things you can find out with a little bit of research. Google is a girl’s best friend.

More on Madame Noire!

• Unforgettable Underground Films: 8 Black Cult Classic Movies We Love (And May Not Want to Admit)
• Figuring Out Fake Friends: 6 Signs That Your Friends Might Be Green With Envy
• Weekend Wrap Up! Willow Has Something to Say to the Critics! Brandy Wants to Babysit Blue Ivy + More
• Don’t Hate Me Because I’m Beautiful: Do You Have Pretty Girl Problems
• Almost Doesn’t Count! Celebs Who Never Quite Made It Down the Aisle”
• Baby, Bye! Celebs Who Took Their Baby Hair Too Far
• Thirsty Much? Bathroom Sink Photos & Other Sexually Charged Cries for Attention

From StyleBlazer.com

Wigs and weaves have come a LONG way, haven’t they? Remember when you’d walk into your grandmother’s dressing room and to your horror you discovered her patchy scalp and a big ole piece sitting on top a wig head? Or the super shiny hair extensions that never even tried to match the wearer’s own color and texture?

For the most part those days are far behind us. So much so that it’s hard to tell if someone is wearing a wig or a weave. So we’re putting YOU to the test, StyleBlazers! Scroll through the gallery and tell us: WEAVE or WIG! 

For the photo gallery, visit StyleBlazer.com

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• Nip & Tuck: Women Who Slipped Their Plastic Surgery By Us
• There Goes the Neighborhood: 8 Ratchet Things You See When The Temperature Rises
• Convenience or True Love: Which Is Your Relationship Made Of?
• MAD MEN: Male Celebrities Who Always Look So Mean!
• Real Love: Weird Signs Of A Good Relationship
• You Can’t Handle The Truth! Things Men Lie About To Spare Our Feelings
• 7 Ways to Encourage Yourself
• Watch Your Mouth! Things You Should Never Say To Your Man

About This Episode

We tapped the award-winning hair stylist Anthony Cherry to host “Weave Wisdom,” our mini-series on getting and maintaining a fabulous weave. In this first installment you will learn what to look for in a good weave and best installation practices as demonstrated on a client.

Check it out and let us know what you think!

About Anthony Cherry

You only need to look at Anthony Cherry’s celebrity client list to understand just how good he is at his craft. Having worked with with the likes of Lala Vasquez-Anthony, Evelyn Lozada, Claudia Jordan and Paris Hilton, the St. Louis-bred, Los Angeles-based stylist has been working his hair magic for over 10 years. Along with his celebrity styling duties, Cherry also works as an ambassador to the packaged hair company, Sensasionell.

Want more Madame Noire Hair Videos….check out links below:

NATURAL HAIR

• Noire Naturals – The Natural Twist Out
• Noire Naturals – Maintaining Your Twist-Out Style
• Noire Naturals – Creating A Sophisticated Elegance
• Noire Naturals – Accessorizing a Sophisticated Updo

RELAXED HAIR

• Relaxed & Real – From Daytime To Evening
• Relaxed & Real – How To Prep Your Hair Before A Relaxer
• Relaxed & Real – Protective Styles For Working Out

WEAVES

• Weave Wisdom – How To Prepare For A Good Weave
• Weave Wisdom – How To Install A Hair Weave
• Weave Wisdom – How To Maintain A Hair Weave

by Mary Worrell

Most small businesses hope to stay in business after a year with growth plans limited to things like an additional product line or a storefront. But Latonya Saunderson was different. She started her own small hair salon after moving to Atlanta in 2008 in a bit of rented office space and has since grown the business not only to a storefront, but to 10 salons in three states with more franchise locations on the way.

Saunderson opened The Weave Shop with its signature service – a $50 sew-in weave. Compared to the usual prices of sew-in weaves, often times between $200 and $400, The Weave Shop has created a niche with affordability without sacrificing on service, Saunderson said. This has been the key to the company’s exploding growth.

Originally from New York, Saunderson moved to Detroit to pursue a career in the music industry before close friends and her daughter’s desire to get involved in modeling lured her to Atlanta in 2007. A licensed cosmetologist, she quickly found a job in a salon. ”I found a big demand for weaves in Georgia and was inspired to start my own business focusing on extensions,” Saunderson said. “I decided to open my first small location in a 400-square-foot office space with just a braider and myself.”

After some advertising in the local newspaper, Saunderson began to see a steady flow of clients and it became clear she was growing out of her small space. ”After five months, we were overwhelmed in the small space – it was a fire hazard,” Saunderson said. “I had to break the lease and move to a full store front. We decided to open a sister location in Lawrenceville three months later and the Buckhead location three months [after that].”