Hair

If you're a big fan, you already knew what was coming in the season finale. But it didn't make it any easier -- or less heartbreaking -- to watch. The majority of the Season 3 "Downton" finale, or the "Christmas special" as its called in the U.K., took place in Scotland, where the whole family (minus Branson) visits the Highlands home of the Dowager's niece, Susan, and her husband, Shrimpy. Most of the trip included bagpipes, hunting, more bagpipes and Scottish reel dancing. But more on that later (and more on O'Brien meeting her Scottish lady's maid doppelganger)

If former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hoped she could segue quietly into private life as she pondered a presidential bid in 2016, that fantasy has been abruptly harpooned in the resurrection of the political squabble over the terrorist attack on the American consulate in Benghazi. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's hearing into the failure of the Clinton-led State Department to respond in a timely fashion has made clear that the issue will haunt her and any political aspirations she may have between now and the next presidential election.

Tracie Thoms' discipline as a performer, nurtured early on at the Baltimore School for the Arts, has enabled her to be spontaneous in character every week as Kat Miller, an avid detective on TV's "Cold Case." Even in the train-wreck big-screen version of "Rent," she fused her eagerness for performing with the passion of Joanne, a lawyer who just has to make a case for herself - or at least make a scene. Chris Rock's engaged and engaging new documentary "Good Hair," a good-humored exploration of the meaning and impact of female hairstyles in the African-American community, offered Thoms a chance to do something she hasn't done before on-screen.

A shave and a haircut of yesteryear cost the proverbial two bits, 25 cents. A shave alone at The Old Bank Barbers, a soon-to-open barber shop on The Avenue in Hampden, will cost $25. It won't be any old shave, though. Owner Daniel Wells promises an old-fashioned, full-face, straight-edge shave, complete with hot lather, in a leather chair with a headrest that leans back. "It's an old-school barber shop with the tile floors," said Wells, who hopes to open this month at 1100 W. 36th St., the former site of Sixteen Tons, a men's clothing store.

Former Mayor Sheila Dixon sent the city bills for nearly $700 for hairstyling during her last year and a half in office, according to records obtained by The Baltimore Sun. Dixon billed the city for "curling and styling hair" and other hair services six times in an 18-month period. The invoices were submitted by stylist Alithea Robinson - also known as Lisa Robinson - and ranged from $60 to $225. Dixon did not return a call seeking comment Tuesday evening but had previously said that she occasionally had her hair styled before taping programs for the city's cable channel.

What is wrong with the TSA ? First it was patting down toddlers and feeling up grandmothers in diapers, but now its agents are searching black women's hair. According to this New York Times article, agents of the Transportation Security Administration have been giving some black women with natural hair a second look in the form of a hair pat-down. Apparently there's a hair-scare in the air. Really, TSA? As a black woman I can tell you right now that there is no way we are going to hide explosives in our hair.

If you've just been to the hairdresser and a passing wind whips up your coiffure, don't be mad be happy.This season, the deliberately disheveled hairdo is the height of style. Top stylists like Oribe, the hair maestro at the Elizabeth Arden Salon, are making sure their customers leave the shop looking as if an errant breeze had already dislocated a lock or two."It's a way to make the popular 60s bouffant look younger and more modern," Oribe said. What Oribe does is set, tease and arrange a coif the usual way. Then he coaxes some pieces and tendrils out of place.

Washington. --There is no entry on ''hair'' in the index to Lou Cannon's fat new book on the Reagan presidency. Nor in Ronald Reagan's own autobiography. So we must rely on Kitty Kelley. The index of her ''Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography'' contains four citations on Mr. Reagan's hair.And under ''Reagan, Nancy Davis, hairdressers of,'' citations go on for three lines. The key reference is on page 292. ''Whenever he visited the White House to color the First Lady's hair, Julius also dyed the President's gray roots, which he had been doing secretly since 1968.

THE RUSH is over, presents opened, lots of sweets and leftovers in the fridge to last the rest of the week. There's some time to think about getting yourself pretty for those pop-on-over parties with friends.Lucky for you, this is a year for fancy and frolicsome hairdos, so your everyday look can take a little tousle and tinsel.Gloria Brennan, of her namesake salon at Pikesville, sees a strong return to special sets. "We're doing glamorous evening looks like we haven't seen in years. A precision cut and blow dry just don't seem like enough for a holiday."

PHOENIX -- A woman dangled about 20 feet off the ground for about an hour when her hair became entangled in her rock climbing equipment."I was hanging in the air by my hair and my harness," Tracie Hemphill, 19, said yesterday. "I was screaming, yelling and crying. It hurt."Ms. Hemphill, who said she had gone rock climbing only once before, was rappelling down a rock face on Camelback Mountain when her hair got caught yesterday morning.To make matters worse, she said, well-meaning hikers heard her screaming and yelling and tried to help by tugging at her rope, hoping to free her."

The glaringly evident lack of leadership in our state is so very obvious, it's disconcerting ("Spinning corruption," May 1). If Gov. Martin O'Malley would quit looking ahead at a possible run for the presidency, perhaps he and his cronies (one with curly white hair, the other with straight white hair) could have possibly averted the heinous situation at the Baltimore Detention Center. Our governor probably thought Javon White was a Raven! Patrick Lynch, Nottingham Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

There are many ways to describe Merriweather Post Pavilion 's M3 Rock Festival - passionate, sweaty, loud, over-the-top, sartorially questionable. Sometimes, it's even romantic. Just ask the Australian couple that got engaged while in attendance and returned the following year as part of the honeymoon. "We did a toast from the stage with a couple of the artists," said Brad Canfield, the festival's producer and general manager of Merriweather Post Pavilion . Now in its fifth year, the M3 Festival (which stands for May Merriweather Metal)

I'm filling in for your regular recapper, Janell. I'm usually on b's dance show beat, covering "Dancing with the Stars" and "So You Think You Can Dance. " This show is pairs of people doing things that are uncomfortable, so how different can it be? Seven teams remain, including one with a guy with MAGNIFICENT hair. Haters gonna hate, but that permed mullet takes some dedication, y'all. We're in Botswana and there is a very cute little kid bopping around. This area has a lot of wildlife and the racers all get to take time to see some elephants roaming around.

Editor's note: Freelance writer Diedre A. Ware grew up in Havre de Grace and graduated from Havre de Grace High School. Her recollections of what it was like growing up black in an era when children's dolls were white was published recently in Dolls magazine based in Iola, Wis., http://www.dollsmagazine.com . It is republished here with permission, along with photographs that ran with the Dolls magazine version. As a child, my dolls were by best friends. When I confided in them, I knew they would never tell.

This week's episode opened with Emily dreaming about her mother, who then morphed into Victoria. Talk about going from a pleasant dream to a nightmare. When Nolan tries to wake Emily from her nap she manages to strangle him in her sleep -- the list of this woman's skills just keeps on growing. This episode had nearly everyone conniving someone to get what they wanted. Emily used Daniel to help get Charlotte out of rehab, and then used Amanda to keep Charlotte from leaving the country with Victoria.

Jacqueline M. "Jackie" Zajdel, a popular Canton cosmetologist who was a maestra of the shag, beehive, French twist and teased hair for decades, died Aug. 24 of cancer at Mercy Medical Center. The longtime Highlandtown resident was 67. Jacqueline Mary "Jackie" Zajdel was born in Baltimore and raised on Old North Point Road in Dundalk. She graduated in 1962 from Sparrows Point High School. "When she got out of high school, hairstyling was what she wanted to do, and she worked in a couple of shops in Dundalk," said her brother, Edwin "Zip" Zajdel, who lives in Joppa.

S omeday in a future that seems to grow more distant by the day, there presumably will be a verdict. Maybe not until there's snow on the ground, it can seem as we wait and then wait some more, but if and when jurors decide the fate of Mayor Sheila Dixon, I'll look back and think: Ah, this was the turning point. After days of sending out notes that signaled turmoil among their ranks followed by ones indicating progress, the jurors fell silent on Tuesday. There were no questions about legal definitions, no temperature readings of their discussions, not even a really-need-a-smoke bit of comic relief.

CLEVELAND -- With roughly a week left before Tuesday's 4 p.m. trade deadline, the Orioles are continuing to search for improvements. And it is becoming increasingly clear that adding a corner infield bat with the ability to get on base at a high clip is a major priority - perhaps neck-and-neck with acquiring a starting pitcher. In the past few weeks, the Orioles have had contact with the San Diego Padres about third baseman Chase Headley, the Philadelphia Phillies about third baseman Placido Polanco and the Chicago Cubs about first baseman Bryan LaHair, among others, according to several industry sources.

Willie Alexander Harry, a well-known Baltimore barber whose York Road shop catered to figures from the world of sports and entertainment, died July 5 of complications from leukemia at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. The longtime Northeast Baltimore resident was 81. The son of a railroader and a seamstress, Mr. Harry was born in Lynchburg, S.C. When he was young, his family moved to a home on Portland Street in Pigtown. Mr. Harry was a 1949 graduate of Carver Vocational-Technical High School, where he studied shoe repair.