What’s more popular than Bieber and more universally flattering than Spanx? Braids! The style comes in a zillion different varieties, and they were everywhere in 2011.

Whether they’re rocking Pocahontas plaits, braided buns, fishtail ponies, cornrows — or some fashion-forward hair hybrid — these trendsetting A-listers have the look down pat.

 

 

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1. The hottest, most stylish Black celebrities of 2011

Once upon a time, Black actresses and singers had to straighten their hair to even get a foot in the door. But after Cicely Tyson rocked cornrows on the 1960′s TV show “East Side West Side,” and Pam Grier and Chaka Khan sported proud ‘fros in the ’70s, perceptions slowly (verrry slowly) began to change.

These days, a slew of celebs have decided to embrace the beauty of their natural tresses — to gorgeous, inspirational results. From YaYa DaCosta to Esperanza Spalding, here are our favorite natural-haired stars of 2011.

 

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When the calf meets the ankle and there is no distinction between the two leg parts, you have what’s known as “cankles.” My mother has them, her mother had them, and I too was born with the lower legs of a plow horse. Centuries ago, I suspect my people were the ones who carried those huge slabs of rock up to Stonehenge. Thick ankles are one of those hereditary English traits — like rosacea and bad teeth — that made me want to disown my ancestors. They are also why I went through life wearing sensible shoes and long pants. Sexy strappy sandals and cute kitten heels were not for me because they made me look like Henrietta Hippo.

 

“Never mind, Sam,” said a favorite uncle. “At least you’ll stay upright in a sea storm.”

 

I’m not alone. Mischa Barton, Helen Mirren, Hillary Clinton, Miley Cyrus, and British pop star Cheryl Cole have all been accused of having cankles. When Cole bared her ankles for a recent red-carpet appearance, the British tabloids went nuts. (“The Curse of the Cankles!”) Not that this made me feel any better.

 

No amount of spot exercise or diet could contour my ungainly gams. I came to accept my cankles as something I’d just have to live with. After all, from my 5’9″ vantage point, they didn’t look so freakish. Distance does make things appear smaller. There were the occasional unpleasant reminders — a snapshot of me in shorts and flip-flops in South Beach, a side view of my tree trunks in a shoe-store mirror — but nothing to compel me to do anything drastic.

 

Then I met Dr. Gerald Imber, a renowned plastic surgeon in Manhattan. We were talking about minor problem areas, such as the flab that bulges around your bra strap. For these spots, Imber is a proponent of microsuction, a version of liposuction that uses a tiny cannula, or tube, not much bigger in diameter than a ballpoint pen. “Betcha can’t fix these,” I dared him, lifting up a pant leg to reveal a sturdy English ankle.

 

“Sure, I can,” he said. And with that, I signed up for a cankle-ectomy.

 

For such a small area, it’s a pricey procedure: $4,000 to $6,000. But when I learned that he could make normal-size ankles a reality, I realized how much I wanted this. Others might see my fixation on a body part that’s an afterthought as extremely vain, and they’d be right. But I couldn’t let the idea go.

 

Microsuction has been around for more than a decade, but performing the procedure on ankles is not exactly common. Imber says he does about 50 such procedures a year. Not everyone is a good candidate, I learned, because you need just the right amount of ankle fat so that you aren’t left with lumps, which can be caused by removing tissue too close to the skin’s surface. Those with more muscular ankles and big, thick bones are less treatable. I had ample fat pads on my ankles — lucky me. In a pre-op consultation, the doctor confirmed that he could remove enough tissue between my anklebone and the bottom of my calf muscle to lose at least an inch in circumference per ankle. I’ll take it!

 

Imber said I would be given a cocktail of sedatives and antianxiety medications to put me in a rousable state. I would have to pay an extra $750 for an anesthesiologist, but it was necessary: The ankle fat is in an area where there are lots of veins, muscles, nerves, and tendons, so it’s best to keep the patient lying still. One false move could nick an artery or cause nerve damage. It’s rare and wouldn’t be fatal, but recovery time would be slow.

 

On the day of the surgery, a nurse ushered me through Imber’s birch-paneled Park Avenue offices to a space-age operating room, where I drifted off to sleep to “Rhapsody in Blue.” When I woke up 45 minutes later, I saw a canister containing what looked like roofing insulation. It was my own fat, enough to fill a jam jar. A nurse put my legs into black compression socks and helped me walk into the recovery room. It was only when I was halfway home and the drugs were wearing off that I registered the searing pain. Thank God for Vicodin.

 

The next day, I took a peek under my socks and examined the ankle situation. The swelling was intense, and there was a large purple bruise above my right anklebone. My ankles had become mega-cankles, sort of like an elephant’s ankles. For a moment, visions of lipo-gone-wrong flashed through my head. But I reminded myself that there’s bound to be a little trauma when you’ve just been poked and suctioned. I refocused, directing my thoughts to a more calming image: the elegant ankles in my future.

 

For the first couple of days, I had to keep my legs elevated as much as possible. My boyfriend had to wait on me hand and foot, while my own feet recuperated. But after 24 hours, I could walk around without discomfort. Two months later, there was a little lingering swelling and numbness around my anklebones, but I hardly recognized my own two ankles: As promised, I had lost more than an inch on each.

 

Friends and family have noticed the difference, as have I. The ankle straps on my summer sandals had to be adjusted by two notches. Recently, I tried on a pair of kitten heels for the first time ever. I’m wearing capri pants. And perhaps best of all, my boyfriend, who used to draw caricatures of me with Fred Flintstone feet, has run out of material for his sketch pad.

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When the weather gets chilly and windy, skin gets dry, flaky, and easily irritated.

No surprise, then, that clogged pores pose a major problem. In warmer weather, using acid or a drying agent like benzoyl peroxide is the easy solution, but when skin is already sensitized, both often just end up inflaming things further. Don’t worry, though. There are plenty of gentle ways to keep pores clear. To see three of the easiest fixes, just keep reading.

• Get steamy — Steaming your face is admittedly an old-fashioned remedy, but there’s a reason women have been doing it for centuries. Instead of just using hot water and a towel, drop an herbal laxative (Swis Kris the classic) into your water before you put it on to boil. The herbs help “open” your pores, and the steam is great for relieving stuffed-up sinuses, too.
• Enzyme time — Enzyme cleansers and masks are perfect for sensitized skin because they don’t dry skin out or rough it up the way traditional acids and scrubs do. There are a lot of different enzymes that work (papain, bromelian), but look for a product that has fruit enzymes as its active ingredient.
• Fuller up — For the gentlest and most simple clay mask around, use fuller’s earth. It’s basically just dirt, but the stuff has been a medicinal staple for centuries because it contains higher than average amounts of magnesium, which attracts water (helping hydrate skin), and acts as an anti-inflammatory.

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First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream ($12-$39) When it comes to getting your money’s worth, then you need to invest in a jar of the magical potion being served courtesy of First Aid Beauty. This intense lotion is also an antioxidant booster that adds that extra protection from the harsh environmental elements we are exposed to daily. Very little of it goes a long way and it has been certified as a reliever of eczema and dermatitis. Anyone battling with extreme skin irritations will find comfort after slathering a helping of this magic cream. You can get it at any Sephora store near you, or visit Sephora.com.

Soap & Glory – The Righteous Butter ($5-$18) This whipped butter treat not only brings your flaky dry skin to life but it contains an all purpose agent that will lock the moisture in once you work thoroughly work it in. There will be no need for multiple applications because it contains that unbeatable mix of shea butter aloe vera. It also smells sensational, thanks to the added boost of warm vanilla musk, amber, rose peach and jasmine among others. You get the best of both worlds with this buttery cream dessert. Sephora.com is your destination if you want to add The Righteous Butter to your beauty bar.

L’Occitane – Shea Butter Ultra Rich Body Cream ($40.00) When it comes to pampering on a scale similar to a spa visit, then this body cream will provide those services very time to take a dip. It has the right percentage of shea butter, apricot oil, and vitamin E to soothe and satisfy dry thirsty skin that needs replenishment. And the dash of jasmine doesn’t hurt either especially when it gives your body that distinguishable lingering scent. Visit www.usa.loccitane.com to get your body beautified.
Other Butters to Try

Ecstasy Body Butter by Carol’s Daughter
Strawberry Body Butter by The Body Shop

Your skin doesn’t have to buried six feet under because of harsh winter conditions. Take control and use this period to show your skin some much needed love and care.

- Ezinne Ukoha

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Eric Payne is the author of “DAD: As Easy As A, B, C: 26 Dos & Don’ts For Fathers” and runs his own blog called MakesMeWannaHoller.com. He started doing his daughter’s hair out of necessity when his wife was out of town on business, and he admits it took a fair bit of time before he felt confident letting his daughter out of the house after he’d done her hair. “In the beginning I had my daughter looking like she had been in a cat fight,” Payne said in a story for the black mom-blog Manual Mocha, Daddy Talk: Doing My Daughter’s Hair. And even once he got better at it, Payne said he was often met with a skeptical eye at the fact that he’d been the one to do his daughter’s hair in the first place, and that it actually looked okay.

“More times these people are women who are surprised that I would do my daughter’s hair,” said Payne. “But she’s my daughter. If there’s anything I’m not going to allow, it’s for my daughter to go outside looking like ‘Who did it and ran?’”

In the same story for Manual Mocha, Fred J. Goodall likened his experience of managing his daughter’s hair to “bathing a cat.” Goodall, who also runs his own blog, MochaDad.com, said he has since discovered the secret to avoiding daughter-with-hot-mess-hair-by-dad: “The ponytail is the key to success.”

There are, though, a precious few dads out there who get it right. Filmmaker Emir Lewis has been the go-to hair-guy for his two daughters, ages 9 and 12, since day one. “Braids, fancy parts — straight and zig zag — twists and buns,” Lewis said. “The only ones I can’t do are French braids and cornrow, but once I get that, it’s on, playa!”

For Jimmie Briggs, who happily learned how to manage his 10-year-old daughter’s hair “by recalling the countless weekend nights sitting on the living room floor at home while my mother combed out and braided the heads of my brother and I,” the issue of hair is a bit more complicated. He shares custody of his daughter with his ex-wife, who is Latina and unused to dealing with black hair.

“When our daughter is with her mother, it’s blown out, straightened and pulled back,” said Briggs, the Executive Director of The Man Up Campaign. “With me, it’s an unrelenting back-and-forth over her hair being worn out, curls free flowing and unapologetic.”

And then there are those dads who are not even trying to get involved in the business of doing hair at all, even when there’s a need for it. “My wife doesn’t braid hair very well,” said Darrin Love, an executive chef in New Jersey who has a 21-month-old daughter. “She said, ‘Maybe you should learn to braid,’ and, you know, I don’t think that’s something that a man should be doing.” Love added that he would happily take his daughter to a salon if it comes down to a matter of him doing her hair or letting her go out looking a fright.

Whatever the case may be, the general consensus is that dads kind of stink at doing their daughters’ hair. So what’s the problem, fellas?

One theory is the age-old truism that hair is a subject that is super-fraught for black girls and women, and throwing men, perhaps especially dads, into the mix just makes it more so. “Like too many girls of color with kinky or curly hair, my daughter has been brainwashed by society and Nickolodeon to believe straight hair is neat, while hair worn curly or natural, is messy,” Briggs said. We’re sure his 10-year-old is really feeling that theory.

Or, as Lewis suggests, it may be a matter of getting easy with one’s girly side. “Either I’m secretly gay or just way in touch with my dominant-recessive feminine side.”

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The 25-year-old Lopes is Angola’s first winner. She beat out 88 other competitors to win the title during the 60th anniversary of the world’s biggest beauty pageant. She replaces last year’s winner, Ximena Navarrete of Mexico.

“Thank God I’m very satisfied with the way God created me and I wouldn’t change a thing,” Lopes said when asked her interview question. “I consider myself a woman endowed with inner beauty. I have acquired many wonderful principles from my family and I intend to follow these for the rest of my life.”

The first runner-up was 23-year-old Olesia Stefanko of Ukraine and the second runner-up was Priscila Machado of Brazil. The third was Miss Philippines and the fourth Miss China.

Contestants from 89 nations on six continents spent the past three weeks in Sao Paulo, trying to learn samba dance steps, visiting impoverished children and kicking a football around for cameras as the globe’s biggest beauty contest is held in Brazil for the first time.

“It was well deserved, we were cheering for her all along,” said 36-year-old Sao Paulo resident Carolina Rocha, a fan who attended the event. “Her smile and her friendliness was what set her apart from the others. She also answered her question very well, that likely helped her a lot.”

Before the contest began, judges offered little insight into who they thought might win.

“I know my job and I’ll be tough, but fair,” said pageant judge and journalist Connie Chung. “You have to keep in mind that these women are not objects just to be looked at. They’re to be taken seriously. I want to choose somebody I take seriously and the world takes seriously, too.”

Paula Shugart, president of the Miss Universe organization, was hyped for the night.

“It’s our 60th anniversary, it’s a very big show,” she said. “We’re anticipating close to a billion viewers from around the world.”

Shugart said it was fitting the globe’s biggest beauty pageant be held in Brazil at this time, as the nation prepares to host some major events in the coming years.

“I don’t think there is any doubt in the rest of the world’s mind that Brazil is the place, between hosting the Olympics and hosting the World Cup,” she said. “I love the fact we’re going to kick it off. I always say we’re the ‘World Cup’ of beauty.”

The contestants, who must never have been married or had children and who must be at least 18 years of age and under 27 years of age by Feb. 1 of the competition year.

The pageant, hosted by NBC “Today” anchor Natalie Morales and the Bravo network’s Andy Cohen, will air live on NBC and be distributed to about 170 countries. The contest is co-owned by Donald Trump and NBC, and will be judged by celebrities including Connie Chung, supermodel Isabeli Fontana and Indy race car driver Helio Castroneves.

Morales, who is half Brazilian, said that “what’s most important is for the women to be beautiful inside and out.”

For Cohen, the task of hosting is an easy one.

“It’s a fun job. All I have to do is stand there, smile and scream the names of countries,” he said.

Sharply dressed women and men were jostling for chances to have their photos taken with stars on the red carpet. Some traveled from across the globe to support contestants.

Jehona Dreshaj, 17, arrived from Kosovo to cheer on her sister, Aferdita Dreshaj, who is representing the European country.

“It doesn’t really matter the outcome, she is already a winner in our eye and we are so proud of her,” she said. “This has been an incredible experience for her and for all of us. It’s great for her to be representing our country in an event like this”

There have been no headline-grabbing gaffes going into this year’s competition, as opposed to past years that have seen controversies of various stripes. The show itself went off without a hitch.

Some of the contestants have complained to the local news media about the size of bikinis used in some photo shoots, with Miss Mexico Karin Ontiveros saying they were “very small.”

That was enough to draw chuckles in Brazil, where women from all walks of life, not just beauty queens, sport barely there swimwear on beaches throughout the country.

Miss USA Alyssa Campanella, from California, will be trying to end a long losing spell for the U.S. in the competition. An American has not been named Miss Universe since Brook Lee won the title in 1997.

The pageant started as a local bathing suit revue in Long Beach, California, organized by a swimwear company.

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Zoe Saldana certainly has it all, or so it would seem. Her café au lait skin is as flawless as it is pretty, her figure is toned and slim, and the powers that be in Hollywood appear willing and ready to throw big bucks behind any project she appears in. Still there’s one thing she’s oddly lacking: a major fashion-magazine cover to accompany the release of her first solo feature film.

Colombiana marks Saldana’s initial foray into the “kick ass” female superhero role and the first time she’s carried a major film all on her own—a feat only the likes of Angelina Jolie, the grand dame of female action heroes, has been able to pull off in recent years.

Stylish and sleek advertisements for the film that casts Saldana as a revenge-seeking hit woman were enticing enough to secure second place for the movie at the U.S box office this weekend, even as many on the East Coast faced the wrath of Hurricane Irene. With tickets sales of over $11 million, Colombiana’ came in only second to persistent fan favorite, The Help.

Zoe is Hollywood’s new ‘it’ girl, there’s no doubt about that,’’ says Marvet Britto of the Britto Agency, an entertainment branding and image consultant company. ‘’She is on the short list of actresses for most of the projects directors are talking about. That can only grow and get bigger.’’

Pretty impressive for a woman of color, and even more so given that Saldana didn’t receive one of the major advertising perks usually guaranteed for a major film such as Colombiana and to the young, beautiful, and hot in Tinseltown. Magazine covers aplenty. Hollywood is without doubt an industry driven by the media that surrounds it. Movies and the stars selected to appear in them survive, thrive, and often become household names not just for the roles they take on but by the deluge of media opportunities that come along with a hit film or television show.

It’s hard to deny that the massive popularity actresses such as Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, and Gwyneth Paltrow enjoy is primarily fed by the numerous magazine covers they grace each month and not by their performances in critically acclaimed films.

So what about Zoe? In 2010 Saldana was famously absent from Vanity Fair’s annual Hollywood cover, even though in 2009 she’d gained the distinction of becoming the only actress to have three movies in the top 20 for three consecutive weeks. One of those films, Avatar, became the highest-grossing film of all time.

Last year designer Calvin Klein tapped her to star in his Envy underwear ad campaign. An impressive feat for any actress in Hollywood these days, though it appears not impressive enough for the New York editors of the top magazines.

This month Vogue, Bazaar, Marie Claire, and Elle opted to go with the tried and true in their selections of famous faces for their September issues, and that didn’t include Zoe. Saldana managed to land on the covers of special-interest magazines such as Ebony and Latina.

‘’The magazine industry has always been hesitant to put a woman of color or black woman on the cover of a major fashion magazine because they don’t sell well,’’ says Bethann Hardison, fashion advocate, former model, and owner of a modeling agency that bears her name. ‘’That hasn’t changed over the years as far as the publishing world is concerned. It’s still very much about blonde hair and blue eyes.’’

Though Saldana’s heritage is both Puerto Rican and Dominican, and she regularly touts her Spanish heritage to all who’ll listen, she’s routinely considered African-American, largely due to her smooth brown complexion and dark-brown locks. Unlike with her Latina peers Jennifer Lopez and Jessica Alba, who both have slightly more European features, Saldana’s browner hue is still searching for its place of favor with top magazine editors in the U.S.

Interestingly enough, Saldana’s face recently graced the July cover of Russian Vogue and the February issue of Italian Vogue.

‘’She may not say she’s black, but black is in there somewhere,’’ said Hardison. ‘’And black is what they see when they get ready to decide who’s the cover of their magazines. It’s not fair, but it’s the way it is.’’

Others in the fashion industry point out that while both Beyoncé and Rihanna appear on Instyle and Glamour magazine covers this month, both women are singers, which is a more traditionally accepted role for women of color. Dominating the box office is not.

Michael Schultz, an African-American director and producer, says he’s rather perplexed at Saldana’s lack of appeal in editors’ offices and at the newsstand. The director of such films as Carwash and television shows like In Plain Sight says the Dominican starlet has replaced Halle Berry as the woman of color of choice and in demand in Hollywood.

‘’I frankly think she is the new Halle Berry with more talent,’’ says Schultz. ‘’And the white boys think she’s hot, so the sky is the limit for her with the right moves.’’

Does she have them? While she and her management team have thus far been savvy and calculating in choosing film roles that showcase her acting skills and beauty, she’ll need the surrounding media support if she’s ever to skyrocket to the land of Jolie or higher.

“She’s a charming girl and an actress with a presence,” says African-American film historian Donald Bogle. ‘’But without those magazine covers, it will be very hard for her to go to the next level.’’

Britto says Saldana had the great misfortune of opening in a major film during one of the most vital months for fashion. September issues of women’s publications are usually the largest of the year and feature hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of ads showcasing fall attire.

‘’They weren’t willing to take a chance on someone that hadn’t proven themselves a big seller in this time period,’’ says Britto. ‘’They must have someone who they know will sell and sell well for the September issue.’’

Hardison sees the Saldana magazine dilemma through slightly different lenses. A former model who for years has been a top advocate for the increase of brown and black models on the runway and in print ads, she thinks the calendar month is of little consequence.

‘’I’ve thought about this for a while and I’ve come to the realization that a brown face just doesn’t resonate with nonminorities when it’s on the cover of magazines,’’ said Hardison, “so they won’t buy it.’’

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