- I look like I just woke up
or either just got released from prison.
- I had on this ugly wig.
- It is definitely giving Pilgrim.
- [All] We're Xscape, and this is our "Hair-Story."
(hip-hop music)
(Kandi laughs) - Oh my goodness.
- [Kandi] I had, like, a whole bunch of hairdos
happening in one.
(Tamika laughs) I had bangs, I had curls.
It was, like, pulled up in a ponytail or something.
It was a lot happening
in the front. - I got curls in the front
with a ponytail in the back.
- And then your eyebrows was doing its own hairstyle.
- Girl, things was connected. - My eyebrows were so thick.
- I got a half bang.
I look a hot mess, like I'm about to take wings and fly.
- I was very good at doing my own hair.
Like, I used to know how to put my crimps in it.
- [Tiny] Yeah. - I could press it.
At one point, I called myself coloring.
- [Tamika] Oh my god. - I was just putting peroxide
in my hair and going out in the sun
and letting it lighten up.
- I look a hot mess. I don't know who did it.
I can't even remember that far,
but whoever did it don't need to do it no more.
(R&B guitar music)
- [Tamika] Girl.
- Dun-duh-duh-dummm.
- Child.
- [Kandi] That was when we first, first came out.
- [Tamika] Oh. - We were super young.
Yeah, I definitely feel like we were just on the road
and doing it ourselves,
hence the bandana.
I used to just have a bob.
So, I used to just wrap it at night and go to sleep
and then comb it down and throw the bandana on it.
- [Tamika] I look like I just woke up
or either just got released from prison.
- [Tiny] I had a Chinese bang and a ponytail. Simple.
- Alright, now don't play with us right here.
- Aw, yeah. I thought I was killing it.
I had the hat on backwards with my bob.
Like, my bob was everything to me back then.
I thought that bob was the best bob to ever hit the streets.
- Yeah, I had just,
you know, corn rows, braids to the back.
I was braiding my own hair at the time as you can see.
- Oh, ugh.
Why did we wear that to the Billboard Music Awards?
- I got a good bun up at the top with a swoop bang.
Had it hanging down. - You was pregnant
at the time.
- Oh yeah.
- My hair was, like, in a weird phase.
It was short, and it was growing out at that point.
- You can tell my hair was short
'cause you see the black and then it's the color.
Like, they should have just gave me all black.
I don't know why they did that.
- I wasn't mad at everybody's hair right here.
That was when you had the little blind front too.
Remember the strip? - Yeah.
- And, Tamika, you had, like- - I had a ponytail
- [Kandi] With some pin curls. - with pin curls
like I'm going to the prom.
(Kandi laughs)
- I know Tamika Scott used to wear this damn Mickey Mouse
hairdo all the time. - Yes!
(Tamika laughs) That's what I was about
to talk about.
- Y'all better leave my
Mickey Mouse hairstyle. - I hated it!
- I loved it. - She had these
- She would never get
rid of it. - two buns.
- [Tamika] That's right.
- And she refused to remove them
for the "Feels So Good" video.
- I'm glad I listened. - They kept telling her
"Uh uh, you are not wearing that."
And she argued with them,
but she finally let them take it out
and then they put some, like, weave
and she had, like, a straight mid-length hair type of look.
- [Tamika] It was sexy. - [Kandi] And it was so cute.
- [Tamika] Yes it was.
- I definitely know that coming into the second album,
when I had cut my hair off,
the haircut was inspired by Mary J. Blige
because I believe it was like on the "My Life" album
when she had the blonde hair that was, like, short.
- I was pretty much a trendsetter
with this hair color and stuff
because, you know, I started with the black hair
and then I went from, like, trying to go blonde,
but it didn't really take 'cause my hair was black.
So, it was, like, blonde pieces in the front
then it kind of got like a reddish brown
then like a dark brown.
Keisha Cole and other people
started doing hair color like that.
- I didn't know if I wanted to wear braids one minute
wear my Mickey Mouse ears another minute. (laughing)
- We probably coulda did without some of 'em,
but those were the times.
So, I don't really regret none.
(smooth R&B music)
- Don't play with her.
(Tamika and Kandi laugh)
Don't play with them.
- We had the safari look, working it.
Okay? (laughing) - Yeah. Cheetah Girls.
- I mean, I wasn't really mad at my hair.
That was like the thing when they used to do the, like,
hair sprouts. - [Tamika] Yeah.
- So, for me I just colored my hair and curled it,
made it straight, you know.
- I kept it safe with my braids and my cowgirl hat.
- Them braids had some curls on the end, girl.
- Yeah, girl. - And they is hard.
(Kandi laughs)
Look at these big ole curls.
- Let me see.
- Girl, that's like a bush down there of curls.
- I had lightened my bob a little bit. It was cool.
- I had like a orange-y, blonde hair color.
I kinda love this color.
Put my hair in two pigtails with a little swoop bang,
you know.
- Y'all look like y'all going to the club,
me and my sister like we going to church.
(Tamika and Kandi laugh)
I was going through it right here, girl.
I was Sister Tamika on this picture.
Praise the Lord. (Kandi laughs)
- You actually was acting like Sister Tamika
at the time. - I was too.
(Tamika laughs) - You had got born again
around that time. - Right, I did. I did.
- We definitely were on two different pages.
- Two different planets, girl.
- Yeah, I just had my hair curly, big and curly.
I like this look.
- Doing hair back then was way easier than now.
Like, now it's all about the wigs,
whereas back in the 90s,
a lot of people didn't wear a lot of weave, you know.
- [Tiny] Yeah. - It was mainly people were
wearing their real hair and styling their real hair.
(soft bell music)
Even though we were in a group,
we were very different from each other.
Like, we all had our own taste,
and they were all very much (laughing) different.
- Even till today. Even today is different.
- Yeah, it's hard to sometimes - It's still.
- you know, get one look
because everybody wants something different.
At this point I did start adding tracks to my hair.
So, in here, I did have some weave.
I was changing and experimenting more with my hair.
Whereas before, like in the 90s,
I was definitely not into, like, the weave and all that.
I was more so just, like, the bob or the shortcut
or whatever.
- So right here, this is a Halloween party that I was at.
- That was a Halloween party? - Yeah.
Maybe it wasn't a Halloween party.
It was Toya's party though.
- Oh, that was the Pimp and Hoes party.
- Yeah, exactly.
- You was a hoe.
- Yeah, I was trying
to be a hoe. (Kandi laughs)
I was trying to be a hoe, but it was still a classy hoe.
I just went back to my first days, back to to black.
- Girl, I was a whole eight and a half months pregnant.
But I still have the same black nails.
- So, 30 years of wearing your fingernails black.
- I love it.
(Kandi laughs) I love it,
'cause when it chips, you can't tell.
Look I need to fill in, y'all can't even tell, can you?
(upbeat keys music)
Girl, oh please don't show me this.
I think they
sabotaged me on purpose. - That blonde wig I had on.
- 2017 we got back together after not performing together
with all four of us for, like, over a decade.
You know, everybody had their own look
and different things they wanted to do.
As far as my hair,
I was just really, like, shoulder length, part on the side.
- I had on this ugly wig.
- [Kandi] That blonde wig?
- I was washed out.
And why do I got on this color jumpsuit,
and everybody got on black?
- 'Cause you always was trying to stand out
- from us. - That's a lie.
Y'all so full of it. - Girl,
every time you got you got dressed
at that point, - Y'all is
full of it. - you had an outfit
that was totally
- Different from
everybody else. - embellished way more
than ours.
- It was another wig I was supposed to have,
but he didn't bring it.
So, he just threw this on my head
and it's not- you can just- girl.
- On her head like this. - It's all the way back here.
(Kandi laughs) He ain't even try
to even pull it up.
I think they did that on purpose.
But this picture right here?
- [Tiny] Yes. - (laughing) Let's talk about
this picture.
- [Tiny] Come on now. - Yes.
We look good right there.
- We were singing "Understanding"
at the BET Awards? - Yes.
2017 BET. - Yes.
(upbeat strings music)
- Ooh. - Ooh, drum roll. (laughing)
- This was at the Soul Train Awards 2022.
I decided I was gonna do something more Afrocentric,
the more kinky, curly hair with the braid crown.
- Tamika, this color's cute on you.
- Thank you.
- I had a- what you call it?
A sew-in, like, - [Kandi] You had a wig.
- a quick weave is what it's called.
- We won the Lady of Soul award that day,
and we were getting to perform.
It really was an amazing night.
This year, 2023,
is our 30th anniversary. - [Tamika] 30th year.
- Our group came out in 1993,
so this is a big anniversary for us.
We have a lot of performances coming up
that we're looking forward to.
Oh my gosh. Let me see.
What would I bring back?
I'll probably bring back my shortcut.
- I'll bring back either the finger waves, strip bang,
or the flips.
- I've already brought back a style from the 90s.
Y'all see this swoop?
Yeah, that's from the 90s, baby.
This swoop and the little curl at the end with the ponytail.
Oh, we back. We're back. (Kandi laughs)
- We're Xscape, and this has been our "Hair-Story."
(R&B keys music)