From Madame Noire: I love looking through Google Images at all the fly photos of black female figures wearing their hair in such an eclectic array of styles. Going against the grain, their jet-setting looks and fierce-ness opened up a lot of doors for the sistas of today to do just about anything to their hair. From Blaxploitation stars to famous singers and models, these iconic women gave us hair envy, as well as lots of innovative idea for things to do with our own strands. Check these hot mommas out.

If Billie taught us something about hair, it’s that a gal always has to have her signature style. Reinvention is for the birds! Billie’s head full of gardenias started off as an accident with a curling iron (isn’t that always how it starts??). After burning a section of her hair, a fellow jazz singer went and bought some gardenias for her to use temporarily to cover up that section. But Billie loved the gardenias so much, she decided to keep wearing them for every performance. What a smart move. It’s the accessories ya’ll! They matter.

When you think of Dirty Diana, sure, you could think about her music collection or her few movie roles. But when we look at the icon, all we see is hair. Literally. Big bold and beautiful hair, Ross was rocking the most ornate and glamorous wigs and weaves at a time when other people weren’t trying to. The rules to her hair moves include growing hair out instead of worrying about it growing down in length, and not being afraid to go wild with it. Fake it until you make it.

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