Oprah Defends Her Hair: "This Is Not A Weave!" (PHOTO, VIDEO)

At the end of Friday's episode of "Oprah Fridays Live," the talk show host addressed two pressing questions from all of her "Tweeple."

First was "Am I tweeting myself or is my assistant writing for me?" The talk show host clarified, "I tweet myself, that's why you haven't seen that many tweets. I can't tweet all day, okay?"

The second topic was even more enlightening. "Am I wearing a weave? Everybody's like, 'Oprah, we love your weave.' This is not a weave, this is my hair," Winfrey announced, before putting up a photo of herself with pre-pressed and pre-curled hair. Best friend and Friday co-host Gayle King yelled "Yowzer!"


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Comments

[eaglman]

12:16 AM on 05/11/2009

Millions of blacks in this country are not pure Africans. They come in many different shades and hair textures due to mixing with whites and Native Americans.

[creekside1109]

10:34 PM on 05/04/2009

I will NEVER understand the shrine that is Oprah - and WHO CARES about something has as trivial as her hair? Well it IS as big as her ego:)

[Rishonda Pruitt]

02:29 AM on 04/30/2009

Thats her hair. I get sick and tired of people asking me if my hair is mine.Its 100% home grown.I never cut my hair ever since i was a child.AESTHETE,you are 100%right.Most African Americans from the deep south are mixed with Native American blood.My 2xgreat grandmother was Irish,my 2xgreat grandpa was Cherokee Indian on my mothers side, that makes my great grandmother half Indian and half Irish.Grandma Indian ,Black, Irish.My mother Black,Indian,Irish.Grandma married my grandpa who was darkskin African American.My fathers side,SLAVES.Mother married my father who also was darkskin and my moms complexion caramel.My brother and I are dark.All that blood line mixed together is why my hair is very long.The women in my family have very long thick hair just like Oprah
Black women of today need to stress to thier daughters to leave thier hair alone and let it grow.I got laughed at for not having super straight hair as a kid,My mother would wash it,braid it,send me on my way.Now im a grown woman and im so happy she taught me the lesson of not following what society tells you what is exceptable.Who's laughing now? This is a pic of me with an afro near the bottom of my page as a baby at 3 with as much hair as oprah.Why are people so surprised that im dark and have all of this hair.

http://www.blackplanet.com/courtneyR/

[BlueCornMoon]

12:36 AM on 05/02/2009

There's some mixing in my family as well & most women in my family have a lot of hair. I had a head of hair similar to yours when I was a little kid. I'm about Oprah's complection...but a bit older .... & a brown skinned girl with a head of big hair back in the late 50's & 60's was often an object of envy. One reason I had long hair was that mom didn't press it til I was about 8 or so. Just wash it apply oil & then braid it. Many little girls got their hair pressed several times a week & it broke off.Black girls & women can & do grow long hair if they don't mess it up with braids too tight,too many perms,etc starting at a young age. I'm going back to a natural afro after years of curly perms.

[ForeverHopeful]

02:43 PM on 04/29/2009

Whether it's her hair or not, big deal, and, she looks beautiful without makeup. God bless her for being comfortable enough in her skin to be photographed without it. Go O!!

[Yeahbut]

12:22 AM on 04/29/2009

People, get real... Oprah's Della Reese hairstyle is so fake it is ridiculous! I cannot believe that so many people bought that garbage that the hair she sports is real... come on! It is fake and a bad one too. That Diana Ross hair she shows as "natural" is ridiculous to say the least. Want to see Oprah's real hair? Check her out in the movie The Color Purple... Nuff said! And because Oprah said so, doesn't mean it is the gospel truth...Oprah can say anything...she's human. African hair (and other groups )thin with age. It does not get thicker! And Diana Ross and Della Reese sports "real" hair too...Right! Nice try Oprah!!!

[damali]

09:20 AM on 04/29/2009

Color Purple was TWENTY FIVE YEARS AGO.

Newsflash: Hair grows.

[Aesthete]

02:26 PM on 04/29/2009

Oprah's hair is not totally African. Oprah is part Native American. The African-American population is overwhelmingly of mixed-race stock so all kinds of hair is possible. Just as our skin colors run the gamut from Nordic ivory to subSaharan ebony, there are also extreme variations in hair thickness, texture, and quantity. Black hair is not "one type fits all." Did you not notice the abundant heads of hair on the young Obama girls? While many do lose hair as they age, my late mother retained a full head of thick hair , similar to Oprah's unprocessed locks, until the day she died at 82. Ditto for my great-grandmother at 109. Having styled the hair of friends, both black and white, for fun, I have concluded that each head of hair is personal and unique to its owner regardless of race or ethnicity. I do believe Oprah's hair is for real because I've seen it in my family at all ages.

[coollbreezz]

05:38 PM on 04/27/2009

Its not a weave.. When she won the Miss Black Nashville and Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant, while she was attending TSU, she had hair almost to her waist. Its good to see her expressing her true self.

[coastalcarla]

04:56 PM on 04/27/2009

WOW that's a lot of hair! And she looks great even without makeup. Hope my skin looks half as good when I'm 55.

[RhymeAndReason]

04:08 PM on 04/27/2009

It's really not that big of a deal! Now days people have fake fingernails, fake lashes, fake tans, fake butts, and often fake the look long legs with stiletto heels and flat stomachs with spanks. It really is ok. Do whatever makes you feel good but don't be a slave to it. I say Kudos to Oprah for having the nerve to show her pre-prepped self to the world!!


As a side note, there are early photos showing Oprah with hair longer than she has now--so I'm willing to bet it isn't a weave; besides for a woman who has been so forthcoming about her personal business, would she really lie about something so benign? And I agree with all the others who have commented on how young she looks in the no makeup picture for a 55 year old!

[MichelleDenise64]

04:08 PM on 04/27/2009

Wow I don't believe you people are so stuck on her hair. He have an economic crisis, millions of americans out of work and a possible flu pandemic, but you are whining and debating about someones hair and makeup. *Ssigh* wake up people

[SerenityStar]

05:44 PM on 04/27/2009

Hair is a very important issue for black women in general.

If you don't get it, then you don't get it...but please don't try to underestimate the importance of this for black women. Just because we're interested in this topic doesn't mean that we're unaware of the economic crisis. The two subjects are unrelated.

[Pathophile]

09:04 AM on 04/28/2009

A little beauty lifts everyone's day!!

[benne]

03:56 PM on 04/27/2009

I'm not sure why it matters whether it is a weave or not. It seems old-fashioned to argue that the hair must be natural and that any artifice in terms of die or extensions is tacky or even immoral.

[Aesthete]

03:51 PM on 04/27/2009

The debate over Oprah's hair reminds me of a situation in my family. My mother and all her relatives had abundant, thick natural hair like Oprah's. The females on my father's side did not. On top of the hair issue, my mom's family was light-skinned and my dad's family was dark-skinned at a time when black was not considered beautiful. I remember how divisive was the issue of both hair quantity and texture and intra-racial skin color variations for years. Those with abundant hair and/or light skin were often envied and resented. African-American girls with long hair are still frequently asked if their hair is "real."

I do believe that Oprah's hair is natural, having seen very early photos of her. But I am also happy that the emergence of things like weaves and wigs, etc. has taken some of the pressure off, making life easier for a number of African-American women living in a Western environment.

[Rhonnybay]

04:47 PM on 04/27/2009

Take the pressure off?

Easier for whom?

hmmmmm....

Nonetheless, this is an old issue.

At the end of the day, women who have short, kinky hair have been told for years they are unattractive. LUCKILY, we see black women of all textures moving away from weaves and chemicals and loving themselves despite of the Western environment.

[SerenityStar]

05:53 PM on 04/27/2009

Easier for black women who choose to wear their hair in a straightened style.

It takes the pressure off of having to style your own hair every day...you can buy hair that is pre-styled. It takes the pressure off of your hair; weaves and wigs can be worn as a protective style.

It is possible, even common, for black women to straighten their hair while still "loving themselves."

But I have a feeling that you already knew all of this, and were just trying to be smart.

[bobbysgurl]

04:47 PM on 04/27/2009

Baloney.

Weaves and wigs don't take the pressure off nor do they make life easier. Where I come from, we "African-American women living in a Western environment" are dayum proud of who we are; therefore, hair texture nor length of said hair means nothing to us. Why? Hair doesn't define us. Been natural for a lot of years and dayum proud of it.

[Aesthete]

04:59 PM on 04/27/2009

Good for you! Unfortunately, I;ve known a few too many who are not.

[phoenics]

04:02 PM on 04/28/2009

I'm natural too - but that doesn't mean that many other sistahs aren't still afraid to go natural because they have been taught by this Western society that our hair in its natural state isn't beautiful.

When I went natural, I will admit I was anxious about it and occasionally I still am... but I've found myself in my natural hair. It's like I've tapped into this raw sista power that I didn't know I had and it's so freeing to just let my hair be the way God intended it to be.

I hope more sistas find the strength to throw off the relaxers and perms, etc.. and love their hair as God made it... and please for the love of God, put down the jacked up weave and colored contact lenses. We sistas are beautiful as-is.

[MrHacks]

03:08 PM on 04/27/2009

It's not a weve, it is a bird and your argument is invalid!
http://media.photobucket.com/image/nick%20cage%20hair/edwardbayntun/film%20humour/nicolas-cage-hair-is-a-bird.jpg

[cmarmonhalm]

03:07 PM on 04/27/2009

I for one think that she looks lovely...very natural. That is part of Oprah's allure. She's just a regular person (who happens to be a brilliant and ridiculously wealthy media icon).

[Knowitall]

02:23 PM on 04/27/2009

Those who think Oprah's natural picture is "ugly", "homely" or worse. Look at it again. She looks years younger and healthier in the "real" picture. Too bad in this country, "pretty" is so FAKE.

[Aesthete]

03:31 PM on 04/27/2009

The absence of make-up makes her look a decade younger as her natural face is relatively unlined. Getting "glamed up" offers style and pizazz but it also makes a person look older. Her natural hair reminds me of my mother's hair.

[Aabby]

02:15 PM on 04/27/2009

I love that she's not scared to be seen not made up. O, you are lovely no matter what.