I have been a little obsessed with Prince's hair of late. Thinking about all of the styles he's worn over the years and how great it has looked, with a few exceptions. (What am supposed to do when there’s no music flowing?)

I haven’t quite figured out the texture of his hair. It is clearly relaxed (I wonder if he uses Revlon or Dudley’s… hmm.. probably Mizana – that’s what I use). This is obvious based on the humungous ‘fro he had back in the day, as well as the over-processed relaxer styles he wore around the Dirty Mind era (to wit, check out the Sexuality video). Plus, Black people know Black hair when they see it. It’s just like that.

I remember seeing his stylist in the footage from the Oprah interview. Now that’s a true sister taking care of his hair. I gotta say, he is blessed with really, really thick hair… though less so now, but still great.

I’ve always wondered two things:

1) How come you never see his “kitchen” (that is, the area at the nape of the neck that is the first to “revert” right after you get a touch-up and will tighten right up at the first sign of humidity, and makes your hair stick up in the back. It’s the Black version of a cow-lick.),

2) How did he escape the Jheri Curl phase? You gotta admit we all thought that was the shit back then (you know you remember --- plus I had it too, dammit!). Thank god he didn’t go that route.

Following is my chronological summary of Prince’s hair phases by album (with rating):


For You: Afro in its full picked-out glory (8: so cute and innocent)

Prince: Relaxed blow-out with wings (7: can anybody say, Farrah Fawcett?)

Controversy/Dirty Mind: Over-processed relaxer; punk look, with too much pomade at times (5: very glam but still…)

1999: finally got his relaxer worked out properly; started with the curling-iron tresses, pulled back tight (e.g. Little Red Corvette) (9: great, but not perfected)

Purple Rain: Relaxed perfection, with wonderful tight, curling-iron tresses that worked well when he shook his body on stage and his hair flew every-which-a-way (yummy) (10: best to-date)

AWIAD: Relaxed, cut very short for the first time, with some kink evident for fullness (7: kinda blah)

Parade: Still very short, slicked back with pomade/gel (Kiss video, e.g.); at times, finger waves (in UTCM, for example) (10: hurt me)

Sign o’ the Times: Back to relaxer with curls; ribbons in hair are a nice touch (10: luscious and plaful)

Lovesexy/Batman/Grafitti Bridge: The hair is blown out again, very beautiful look for him (Sidebar: I’ve been watching the Lovesexy tour lately and I see that his hair holds up extremely well to the humidity and sweat that he has to contend with while performing. This leads me to believe that he doesn’t have that tight a wave pattern.) (10: hot thing)

Diamonds & Pearls: Relaxed, mushroom top (yuck), finger waves (I admit, I used to wear finger waves back in the day. So I don’t know how he avoided the inevitable caking up of the gel that is one of the chief difficulties of that style, especially given how much he danced and sweated, and given how large his waves were.) (2: yick)

0->/Come: More finger waves.(4: too trendy)

Beautiful Experience / Gold Experience / Emancipation / New Power Soul: Relaxed, short (mushroom is gone --- thank god), (8: very understated but boring)

Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic: Relaxed with plaits and rubber bands (crazy, as far as I’m concerned… he was way too old to be rocking that), sometimes blown-out (as at the 2000 press conference or TGRTEBS video) (7: those plaits brought down the average)

Rainbow Children: (I was out of the game then)

Musicology: Back to short relaxed style, but more mature, sometimes finger waves (random photo from Panama we’ve seen recently, I think), slightly kinky/’fro-ish for Musicology video (this is the first time I ever saw him wear an “ethnic” style since the 70s) (BTW: I saw his hair “revert” and was a bit nappy at the NJ stop of the tour. I always appreciate it when people are in less-than-perfect shape. For example, when Oprah shows what she looks like before hair and makeup. Reality from someone who has managed to be remarkably “packaged” all these years.)

What do y’all think of his hair?

altavista said:

thats the best doo! he got all artistic on it.

for you: 10 (i'm envious of that 'fro man...if i hadn't had my hair cut too short my 'fro would be that huge. it's only about half that size)

prince: 10 (he rocked the hell outta that farrah fawcett 'do!)

dm/controversy: 9.3 (the bed-headed look worked out pretty well)

1999 through pr: 8 (a fopp to behold, sure)

atwiad: 5 (it was just kinna 'eh' to me)

parade: 7 (i wonder how many gallons of hair gel they had to use on that brotha's head to get them fingerwaves to stay put )

lovesexy thru gb: 9 (pressing comb at its finest--i sorta liked when he had his hair pulled back in a ponytail)

d & p thru tge or so: -3 (the typhoon...the honey blonde streakage...the uber-short hairdos, YUK!)

rave thru trc: 9

nowadays: 5 (his bangs bug me)

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

this was the best hair tho its when he started using rite-aid hair dyes

altavista said:

Grafitti Bridge again

Christopher said:

i hope he's learned by now to stay away from them hair dye bargain bins because of that...

paisleypark4 said:

I don't recall seeing this photo. He looks hot! I'd like to wake up to that face looking down at me.

great topic...my favs are 1999-purple rain era
and the parade era...MY #1 fav though is when he appeard in the doorway in UTCM after mary played the drums at the party...i am 100% a straight man but DAYUM he looked good with that one big curl on his forehead...
[Edited 7/15/05 3:38am]

prettymansson said:

Great thread but we need some pics
like longer hair on a guy, def not a fan of the typhoon or no hair dye either

Parade hair

Letitgo hair

prettymansson said:

damn right he did!!!!

I love his parade era hair, the slickness of that black hair laying down perfectly. Plus when he moved, it just seemed so much sexier!!

And I also love his long blowing in the wind hair from the lovesexy/Batman days. There were no fingerwaves on the sideburns just yet (gosh they were nasty) just that long hair running after him.

I think he should grow it out yet again.

Cheek said:

you are so wrong

Christopher said:

Of course you look fantastic with the Letitgo hair!

But Prince....

KOOL KOOL KOOL !!!!

prettymansson said:

Cheek said:

prince wore that hair like noone else. inside that hair lived wendy and lisa

KOOL KOOL KOOL !!!


[Edited 7/15/05 4:30am]

Christopher said:

They were so happy those days...

KOOL KOOL KOOL !!!

KOOL KOOL KOOL !!!

THE WORST !!!
prince must have been really bored this year...hated it !!!

[Edited 7/15/05 4:46am]

what a cute kid...KOOL KOOL KOOL !!! perfect chocolate milkshake sippin hair

THE # 1 BEST OF THE BEST !!!!!
YES u win prince u are the MAN !!!!

[Edited 7/15/05 4:50am]

KOOL...but not quite in curl perfection land...

[Edited 7/15/05 4:57am]

CLASSIC !!!!

too many to go thru....LOVESEXY WAS THE SHIT THO!

perfect charlies angels watching black teen pin up hair...!!!!

prettymansson said:

This pic is on my wall!

prettymansson said:

ahhhhh color parade!!! to sexy!

prettymansson said:

Ouch!Hurt me...I want him NOW