"I guess you just go through different phases in your life. I was pretty much at the point where I needed the change and I needed to focus my energy on more productive arenas. I was putting too much into my appearance and I needed to make this about growth and going to the next stage of my life. I felt like I was being distracted by something as simple as hair."

Solange reveals that it's not the first time she's cut her hair, and she's always changed her hair and gone through different phases:

I remember when I was 13 I went through my 'I-am-Miss-Natural, incense-burning, Bob Marley-playing, only-vintage-shop-wearing Solange.' So of course that included cutting my perm off, being a Vegan. I didn't quite understand yet that my hair did not define me. Then I remember being 16 and being like 'Okay, I can still be smart and I can still have the same beliefs that I have, but I did not have to have red Rasta braids. I can do that with straight hair. I can do that with a 'fro. I can do that with a weave down to my butt.'

But Solange seems to know that hair is a complicated issue — for everyone; not just black women.

"As a society we equate beauty with the images that have been placed in front of us since we were little kids. Every Disney movie, every fairy tale, every pop star typically has a certain aesthetic and look. I think that anytime we see something different, it freaks us out. The more people warmed up to it, and they saw more images of me with it and dressed up with my earrings and a little something, something on my face, I think then people were more willing to conform and accept it. Now, it's interesting how the first day I had it, I had nothing but negative, evil, cruel things in my inbox and then yesterday [after Oprah aired] I had 300,000 people saying 'Oh my God, you looked amazing, so beautiful, and you made us proud.'"

The entire interview is highly recommended: Solange spills on being a mother and about what kind of parents she has: "It's interesting that people think that my dad is the one who's all strict," she says. "They build up quite a character with that guy, and at the end of the day it's my mom who's going to give you the neck roll."

Plus, check out her response when asked "Five words to describe yourself?":

Water, blood, melanin, bones, and ... vajajay.

Solo in the City [Honey Mag]

Earlier: Solange Chops Hair, Is Called "Insane"

Oprah & Chris Rock Talk Good Hair

Oprah went into her own "hair history."


Chris insists that men don't give a shit about hair, and that women put themselves through the torture of weaves and relaxers for the benefit of other women.


Solange Knowles—who recently chopped off her own hair after being fed up with upkeep—stopped by to discuss her feelings on the matter.

(In reference to this Onion article.)

Philosophically speaking: where did Lady Gaga have to go, besides Elizabethan Papagena in community production of Phantom?


So we gotta ask...


Who wore it better?


If this is Jennifer Lopez's comeback, I'm confused about its direction.


The sad thing? Beyonce's slash and burn is sweet and demure in this company.


Whatever people think about Kanye stealing her thunder, Taylor Swift had already scored a total triumph: continuing her reign as best-dressed star under 25.


Alexa Chung, per usual, does her gothic Lolita hipster shtick, and pulls it off.


See, normally, you'd think, 'wow, Jade Cole looks like a preposterous 1991 hot mess.' But tonight? This was, like, the dress code.


Miranda Cosgrove demonstrates the finest in disco ball chic.


And Alicia Keys shoes its manifold creative possibilities...


Kristin Cavalleri, meanwhile, demonstrates the worst in disco ball chic.


Kristin may have The Hills, but this round goes to L.C.


Leighton Meester continues her case as a serious fashion player.


Stephanie Pratt's nightie doesn't seem that bad...and then you reach the shoes.
Apparently she's been walking through a Medieval marketplace?


Tyson Ritter's the frontman of All-American Rejects. Which really makes this too easy.


Whitney Port, now a designer with her own tent show, has obviously gotten too big not just for her britches, but for her bustier-crinoline-Chicago-costume.


Cassie's...getup brings to mind the immortal words of Heidi Klum: "This looks like I sewed it. And I can't sew."


In the 19th century, Whitby, North Yorkshire, was known for its fine-quality jet carving.


Nikki Hilton: your dress offends me. It is ugly and, worse, it is boring. I think disappointing me is punishment enough.


Isn't Amber Rose's outfit elegant and beautiful?


In case you're not sure, here's a back view!


Normally I don't love cape-backs, but Amerie's mini is starting to look really good right about now.


Keri Hilson should really overcome her inhibitions.


Rose Byrne totally wears this oversized floral - not easy, to which many a starlet can attest.


Solange Knowles' scrollwork mini is one of the few actual fashion risks on this R.C.


I'd look sullen too, if my boob was coated in industrial-strength epoxy and I knew in a few hours I had to rip it off.


As Adrienne Bailon proves, two wrongs never, ever make a right.

[Images via Getty]

[New York, September 10. Image via Splash.]

Straightening hair has been perceived as a way to be more acceptable to certain relatives, as well as to the white establishment…

In the face of cultural pressure, the thinking goes, conformists relax their hair, and rebels have the courage not to. In some corners, relaxing one's hair is even seen as wishing to be white.

We've covered this issue many times, as has the Times, and the discussion is ongoing. Frankly, the debate does get tiring. Saint Louis writes that many people of color ask: "Why can't hair just be hair? Must an Afro peg a woman as the political heir to Angela Davis? Is a fashionista who replicates the first lady's clean-cut bob really being untrue to herself?"

But a quote from Noliwe M. Rooks, the associate director of the Center for African American Studies at Princeton, struck me as as close as we're going to get to an answer. She was asked about what it meant when the hair of Sasha and Malia Obama was sometimes pressed straight, and said: "There's a complexity to who we are now. There wasn't an easy answer to why."

Black Hair, Still Tangled in Politics [NY Times]

Earlier: Weaves, Extensions & "Creamy Crack": Chris Rock's Good Hair Trailer
Chris Rock's New Documentary Explores "Good" Hair
Solange Chops Hair, Is Called "Insane"
The Flesh-Eating Phonies Also Known As Lace-Front Wigs
Why Is Straight Hair The Epitome Of 'Style'?

[Tokyo, August 10. Image via Getty]

Yesterday evening, Solange was the number three trending topic on Twitter. For cutting her hair.

The Daily Fail accused Solange of "doing a Britney," even thought Britney shaved her head right down to the scalp and Solange has a close-cropped, natural haircut.

The piece by Donna mcConnell read:

[Solange] once playfully said she would 'go crazy like Britney' if people kept comparing her to her sister.

And it seems she might finally have flipped as she hit the streets of Los Angeles in a new shorn hairstyle yesterday.

A Daily Fail commenter added: "She is trying to copy the newest black icon Amber Rose… I think she looks terrible."

A reporter for MTV News wrote: "The motive is still unclear, but considering how gorgeous her mane was, it's not a great style choice."

On trashy site The Hollywood Gossip, Solange's decision to crop her 'do was called "batshit insane."

So. It's not "batshit insane" for a black woman to wear a flesh-eating lace-front wig, or to glue a weave to her head, or to process her hair to be unnaturally silky and straight. But it is crazy for her to cut it off? Got it.

As for Solange, her Twitter reads:

listen. if. i. wanted. to. make. a. statement. i. would. have. twitpic'd. photo shoot. ect. i. was. simply. taking. my. son. to. school.

stupid. paps. took. pic. ive. had. my. hair. cut. like. this. for. two. weeks. i. was. NOT. inspired. by anyone. but. my. self.

i. have. done. this. twice. in. my. life. i. was 16. i was 18. did. not care about your opinion. then. dont. care. now.

dont. need. your. attention. or. your. co-sign. i am #3. trending topic. before. IRAN. &. some of you cant even locate it on a map. its sad.

dont. want. a. edge. up. or a perm. because. im not trying. to make this "a style" or a statement.

i. just. wanted. to. be. free. from. the. bondage. that. black. women sometimes. put. on. themselves. with. hair.

this. phase. of. my. life. i. want to spend . the time. the energy. and the money. on something else. not in the hair salon.

ONLY reason i responded to this i have is because i was disappointed to see my name more talked about than #iranelection

we. gotta. do. better. people.

Word.

Solange Shaves Her Head [JustJared]
Beyonce's Solange Knowles Does A Britney... As She Shaves Off Her Locks [Daily Mail]
Solange Has A New Haircut And Underrated Videos [MTV News]
Solange's New Bald Haircut: Hot or Not? [The Hollywood Gossip]
Solange Knowles [Twitter]

When Dita von Teese is in full deco mode - well, there's simply no arguing! She's Nora Charles fab.


Audrey Kitching is, apparently, a "Model, Hairdresser and 'Scenequeen'" and if her goal was attention, her confectionary coif is achieving it!


Margaret Cho manages to look adorable in the face of considerable sartorial opposition - including a jacket that looks like it was borrowed from a member of the original Princeton a cappella group, "the Tiger Tones," whom I once saw perform "Goodbye My Coney Island Baby" at a summer program.


Mayte Garcia is stunning, I adore the shape of this skirt and the "Think Pink!" esprit of the whole shebang. But there's something oddly peasant-blouse-y about the bodice, and I'd love to see a different shoe.


Jewel does realize she's standing next to Perez Hilton, right? Or does she just think he's a dude with a love of Cross Colors? Either way, love the fixed deer-in-headlights smile.


Relief! What say you about Jewel's cross-cultural melange?


Solange Knowles: My Man Godfrey on top, Studio 54 on the bottom!


Jodi Lynn O' Keefe's getup may be sweet, but she's not messing around! Backing...away...slowly.


This is Dita's original cocktail, the "Cointreau Teese:
4 cl (1 1/2oz) Cointreau
2 cl (3/4oz) Apple juice
1,5 cl (1/2oz) Monin violet syrup
1,5 cl (1/2oz) Fresh lemon juice
Frost ginger around the rim of the glass


[Images via Getty]