While the world continued to obsess over
Michael Jackson's changing appearance throughout his lifetime,
something else kept changing on the King of pop that went largely unnoticed.
His hair
throughout his life and the public eye, Michael Jackson wore a variety
of hairstyles due to changing trends, personal style choices,
as well as to conceal welldocumented injuries that caused damage to his scalp.
In this video,
we document how Michael Jackson achieved some of his most iconic hair looks,
from music videos, shoots and album covers to award show appearances
with firsthand accounts from his longtime hairstylist and wig makers.
Here's the detail.
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When Michael Jackson rose to child
superstardom as part of the Jackson Five, him and his brothers sported natural
hairstyles and a variety of lengths commonly referred to as the Afro.
Indicative of the successes in the civil rights in black power movements
of the 1960s, the next decade saw a new wave of African Americans expressing their
political commitments by adopting more traditional African styles.
The Jackson Five symbolized a whole new
generation of performers who no longer felt the need to assimilate to white
ideals but embrace their natural hair texture as a signifier of black pride.
As a result, throughout the 1970s, Michael and the Jackson brothers helped
popularize the era defining style in its very various forms.
However, in 1979 and upon the release
of his Optiva Wall album, Michael Jackson adopted a whole new look.
Part of this reinvention meant to mismatch colorful costumes he wore with his
brothers were gone to be replaced with sleek tuxedos and sparkling rhinestones.
His hair was also cut short, and Michael spent several years testing
products to help define his curls to give his hair a healthy and glossy appearance.
In this rare footage recorded in 1982 as
he was preparing to shoot the Thriller album cover, Michael Jackson shares some
of his hair secrets, stating that he used water to give his
hair a glistening quality hair pins to keep his hair down and maintain his
parting, as well as his disdain for any kind of hair mouse.
Not just a little bit.
Here's a short interview of Orlando
hairsalon owner Fanny Thompson, who Michael Jackson frequented over
a period of five years while traveling the country on tour.
During this period.
This is Rudy.
That's Michael.
That's my son window. That's me.
Plenty Thompson new Michael Jackson better than most in Central Florida for about
five years back in the 80s, he did the pop Legends hair every time he came to town.
I used to ask him back to tabloid.
Yeah, I used to ask him about the tabloid,
and he said that he told me that most stuff in the tabloid.
He didn't know anything about it until he
read plenty says he had to sneak Michael in his shop after hours.
He always treated the King of pop like any other customer.
He didn't run into that prop at all.
He got all the probes he won in return.
Michael bought him one of the first ever VCR TVs.
He also gave him this autograph poster.
During the Thriller period,
Michael Jackson's look would be defined by his iconic Jerry curl,
a glossy, loosely curled style achieved by using a chemical relaxer to first
loosen up the hair's wave pattern and then another chemical solution would then be
added to permanently secure the looser, curly look.
Spraying expensive bottles of Hairspray
called Activators into the hair would then provide a glossy Sheen.
The style often being called a wash
and wear hairstyle, meaning the wetter it was, the better it looked.
The hairstyle quickly grew in popularity with many other male celebrities following
suit and soon became a cultural staple for the black community.
The Jerry curl was so pervasive and yet so distinctive on each person who wore it.
Depending on the cut in styling,
Michael Jackson's Thriller curls were shorter on top and longer in the back,
with loose curls cascading down his forehead.
He had a side parting styled in,
and his baby hairs slick down, blending into his cybers.
However, his crowning glory would never be
the same after January 27, 1984, when Michael Jackson's hair caught a blaze
while filming a Pepsi commercial in front of an audience of three0 extras caused
by a pyrotechnic firework going off too early.
The accident ultimately caused second degree Burns to the pop star scalp,
leaving a permanent palm sized bald spot on his Crown.
In the immediate aftermath, some believe Michael Jackson's use
of styling products contributed to the accident.
As many that gave the hair a shiny look contained ingredients like glycerin
and moisturizers that can be flammable especially for Afro textured hair,
which will burn more readily than long, straight, limp hair due to more airspace
that makes oxygen available for combustion.
However, Michael Jackson spoke out
to express his hurt upon hearing these assumptions, clarifying that during
the shoot, Jackson had only used water and there was no way that the manner he
styled his hair caused the injuries he suffered as a result.
Nonetheless, it should be noted that Jackson made these
comments while also seeking legal action against PepsiCo,
in which any knowledge that the plaintiff may have also contributed to his injuries
would have certainly been used against him in court.
In.
A mere matter of weeks, Michael Jackson was back in the limelight,
accepting the Guinness Book of World Records Award for Thriller,
becoming the largest selling album of all time, as well as attending the glistening
Grammy Awards, where he also made history, winning a record eight awards that night.
To hide his injuries,
Jackson wore a clip in hairpiece during these high profile events and in the run
up to his Victory tour, the Billy Jeanne singer went through
several scalp surgeries in hopes of resolving his damage scalp.
However, these procedures weren't given
enough time to heal before Michael began a grueling schedule of performances as
part of the Jackson's tour, in which hair pieces had to be worn throughout.
Michael Jackson's hair during the victory
tour was characterized by its looser, Stringer appearance.
The more relaxed look was achieved
with a mixture of activator and water, with no doubt that Jackson's perspiration
during his high energy performances would have added to this overall look.
In the years after Thriller,
Michael Jackson grew his hair longer in the back but kept it shorter
in the front so his curls would continue to frame his face.
When Michael Jackson revealed a whole new
look in his bad music video, the first part presented him sporting shorter hair.
However, once Jackson transformed into a buckle bound rock star
with a fierce attitude, his hair suddenly appeared much longer.
He maintained the part in his hair
and combed out the curls, adding extensions in the back,
making his hair appear bigger and looser, as opposed to the small and tight curls he
had earlier on, a long shag that he constantly tossed
and flipped as he danced, all with the help of a wind machine.
The bad era would be defined
by Michael Jackson's much longer, looser, curled look, which he achieved by applying
perms to his hair and adding an extension to increase length and volume.
While on tour, Jackson would often wear his hair in a loose, low ponytail,
a more secure style when performing and in more humid climates.
Michael would also repeatedly be seen
wearing hats, whether his signature Fedora Allah smooth Criminal or
something more casual.
While on the road.
After years of touring and as he entered
the 1990s, Michael Jackson was contemplating a new look
recommended by his sister, Janet, Michael was put into contact
with Carol Lamar, a prominent hairstylist and wig maker who had many years working
in fashion and styling the hair of other celebrity clients.
It was really funny because I went to Haven Hers, and when he always stayed
at the back of the house where he went up the stairs.
And when I knocked on the door, when he was told I was there,
he slammed it in my face and asked me if I could go back down and wait by the car.
So while I was waiting by the car, I see Michael, and it was like the Pink Panther.
He was sneaking behind bushes to get
into the house, the main house to change because he had, like, a shower cap on.
And I guess you didn't want me to see him like that.
He was well shy at first because he liked my hair because I'm Native American
and Russian, and he liked my hair because I have dark
black, long hair and I'm pale and we just got to talking and I see what the problem
was where he got burned and told him what I could do.
And from then I started working with him.
I have piece that's made and he still has hair.
But I also taught him how to care of it.
You know how to work with the front, because sometimes some people use clips.
You just pull more hair out and the time,
if you notice he wanted a curl in the front, I would put a curl in front.
Under Carol's guidance, Jackson began to experiment more,
switching between his looser curled looks with perfectly tongue trusses
at the front, the straighter blown out styles with the use of much larger hair
pieces and extensions to give volume on top.
By the time he began shooting the video for the lead single of his next album,
Dangerous, Michael Jackson's hair appeared longer in the front,
and the loose wave tussled style with prominent sideburns was less
manicured and more befitting for a rock star performer.
While making public appearances and performing on tour,
Michael would sport a curlier version, whether completely down or half up,
and with a variety of combinations of loose curls at the front.
In contrast, Michael Jackson's slick back
ponytail for his in the classic music video gave him the fashion edge
and has blown out waves.
And remember the time reminded viewers of his more romantic side.
For many fans, the latter video is believed to be
the first time Michael Jackson appeared wearing a full wig.
However, Lamar, who style Jackson Terry
during the shoot can confirm that was not the case.
It was on.
The wig was a small hair piece on bar, and I did extension, right?
Okay.
Like the curl you would see, I would always show that in somewhere.
I don't know if we had a curl on that one.
They were always extensions in a hair piece.
I never put waves on him.
Never,
never. I don't understand this.
But what is the difference between a hair
page and a week hairpiece is something that you a Mac and were on top.
And then you could put extensions
on the bottom him instead of putting a whole hair piece on him,
a person more comfortable because it's like it's their hair.
It's different when you put him in a so we it's like they don't feel the same.
I never told him, but I used to give his hair pieces.
I didn't tell the woman whose hair pieces they were, but I would give them to her
to get put on Little Richard tad isn't that funny?
He never knew he was wearing Michael hair pieces as.
He entered the mid one 990s,
Michael Jackson became increasingly dissatisfied with his front hairline.
In this image, it is clear where Michael's
natural hair line ends and where his hairpiece starts.
Jackson, over the years would make several
attempts to disguise his larger hair pieces and help blend it into his natural
hairline with the use of makeup and strategically placed strands of hair.
In the summer of One Ninehundred 95, the artist decided to adopt a new look
for the release of his history album, cutting much of its length in the back
but keeping volume on top, which was typically styled in a center part.
Although Michael experimented with different looks over the coming months,
however, the shorter hairstyle was just
a short lived, and Michael Jackson reverted to longer
looks in 1996, as he prepared for his upcoming tour.
While on tour, Michael showcased styles that weren't dissimilar to those
from the dangerous era that had now become his signature loose,
long curls worn down in a low ponytail and regularly topped off with a black fedora.
By the late 1990s, Michael began wearing shoulder length of blown out looks
that would ultimately define his style for the next decade.
Apart from a few fleeting experiments, Michael Jackson exclusively wore long,
lace front hair pieces with the center part.
By this time, Michael had permanently
tattooed the front of his hairline to help make it look Fuller and darker.
However, his longtime hairdresser, Carol Lamar, contests that this procedure
could well have killed the Follicles and cause further hair loss at the front
of the hairline, only adding to the expanding bald spot
Jackson was already suffering with after multiple failed procedures and illnesses,
causing him to lose even more of his natural hair.
Doctors said they could fix the burn.
They could get it to where he would have to wear nothing.
But that never happened.
He went to, I think, maybe three different surgeries,
and it just finally was like, let's stop think going to happen.
I mean, it would get infected, and it wasn't that big at first.
You know, I did things totally different than this person that came in after.
If a hairpiece is covering your talk, there's no reason why you have to be
tattooed, but there are products out there which I'm sure was used after,
and it probably killed his hair police because I've had this happen to my own
other clients, which makes me curious when people do
something like that, because he did have hair.
In the last years of his life,
Michael Jackson wore larger hair pieces that covered much of his natural hair.
However, when he was rehearsing for his ill fated Visit concert series,
The King of Pop revealed at least some of his natural hair and give a glimpse
into how he may have planned to wear it during the show.
In typical Jackson's style, the smooth criminal singer filmed concert
inner lubes and rehearsed his classic hits, sporting his signature wavy locks.
Although noticeably thinner than in past years
after Michael Jackson's sudden death
in June of 2009, his autopsy report confirmed
that Jackson's hairline was permanently tattooed and that the singer wore a hair
piece attached to his natural hair is autopsy referred to the Singers hair as
sparse and that the majority of it was concentrated below the Crown of his head.
Thanks for watching.
One thing I realized while researching this video is that Michael Jackson never
once experimented with color when it came to his hair or hair pieces.
What other hair looks would you have liked Michael Jackson?
A try out?
And what hairstyle do you think he would be wearing if he was young today?
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