Hair Spray

The mother of an 11-year-old East Baltimore boy charged with assault after a friend was burned denied the charges yesterday and said the boys were playing with matches. "This was an accident, pure and simple," said the mother. The boy and his family's names are being withheld because he is a juvenile. "My son didn't mean to set his friend on fire," the mother said. "They just made a terrible mistake." Police say that after an argument early Tuesday evening, the 11-year-old doused Robert Myers, 9, with hair spray and set him on fire.

Among the teased and towering hair, the fluttering boas and the crowd sticky with snowballs Saturday at Hampden's Honfest wound a joyful party who were celebrating more than the neighborhood's quirky character. "Make way, make way, here come the bride and groom," called Dot Tucker-Houk, leading a procession of several dozens revelers cheering and rattling noisemakers. Behind her, niece Angie Gentile twirled a parasol, beaming at her newly-wed husband, Andy Snair, and paused for a photo with a crowd of women wearing towering pink wigs.

All his horse's connections were at the Breeders' Cup and Keeneland sales in Kentucky, leaving jockey Jose Velez to fend for himself yesterday in the Safely Kept Stakes at Laurel Park.And Velez did a nice job of steering Hair Spray to a 1 3/4 -length victory in the Grade III, $110,650 stakes to end a string of six straight third-place finishes by Robert Meyerhoff's filly.Hair Spray ran in her usual fashion, lying in last before springing to life after four furlongs and closing with fury. Velez brought her six wide to pass the tiring front-runners and out-kick long-shot Expensive Issue to the wire.

Just when you thought all '80s fashion revivals had run their course, big hair is back. Just look at Angelina Jolie on the cover of this month's Vanity Fair and Sarah Jessica Parker in the Sex and the City movie poster to see that the chic set is turning up the volume. We're not talking the teased, sprayed locks of the Bangles, Bananarama and Dolly Parton. The modern version of big hair is sexy, but with a touch of Aqua Net nostalgia. Tease too much and you'll end up looking as if you stuck your finger in a light socket, but master the technique and treat your tresses with the right product, and you'll look like a Sophia Loren sex kitten.

Three teen-age girls who confessed to police that they planned on kidnapping and robbing a taxi driver near Annapolis Mall were arrested Tuesday after the plot failed when one of them could not find the hair spray she planned on using as a weapon.The three Dorchester County teen-agers, one 14 and the other two 15, were charged with attempted robbery, attempted kidnapping, conspiracy to kidnap and battery. They were being held yesterday at the Waxters Children's Center, police said.The girls told investigators they had run away from home and planned to go to Florida.

THE REVIEWS ARE IN, AND THEY GLOW "... Hairspray is, above all, Nice. This may be regarded as faint praise in New York, capital of Type A personalities. But Nice, in this instance, doesn't mean bland. Think of it spelled out in neon, perhaps in letters of purple and fuchsia. That's the kind of Nice that Hairspray is selling. And it feels awfully good to pretend, for as long as the cast keeps singing, that the world really is that way." -- Ben Brantley, New York Times "OK, so the new musical Hair- spray doesn't offer a cure for cancer, or the nose-diving Dow for that matter, but if the infectious jubilation currently spritzing from the stage of the Neil Simon Theater were bottled and sold across the country like, say, hair- spray, consumer confidence would not be a problem.

If you want to know what real pressure is, just try using a Barbie doll to set underwear on fire on national television. I did this on Dec. 21, on the David Letterman show. Technically, I was on this show to promote a book, but unless you're an extremely deep thinker such as Madonna, the Letterman people don't like you to just sit there and talk. They want you to have what is `` known in the TV business as a Strong Visual Element, to keep things moving along. To give you an idea of what I mean, here's how the Letterman show would rate two hypothetical guest spots:Weak guest spot: Nobel Prize-winning research scientist explains revolutionary new and easy way to prevent cancer.

Just when you thought all '80s fashion revivals had run their course, big hair is back. Just look at Angelina Jolie on the cover of this month's Vanity Fair and Sarah Jessica Parker in the Sex and the City movie poster to see that the chic set is turning up the volume. We're not talking the teased, sprayed locks of the Bangles, Bananarama and Dolly Parton. The modern version of big hair is sexy, but with a touch of Aqua Net nostalgia. Tease too much and you'll end up looking as if you stuck your finger in a light socket, but master the technique and treat your tresses with the right product, and you'll look like a Sophia Loren sex kitten.

It's so difficult to choose. Should you get the shampoo that promises improved elasticity or the one that guarantees extra bounce? Should you believe Victoria Principal's pitch for Jhirmack or Kelly LeBrock's endorsement of Pantene?Paul Linthicum of Johann and Rene Hair Designers mentionedJhirmack as "pretty good," although he considered his salon's own hair products under the label, Top Hair, superior and competitively priced, at $6.20 for a 16-ounce bottle of shampoo.Cheryl Buxbaum of Cheryl's Salon says she would probably buy Jheri Redding or Sassoon items if she ran out of salon products and just had to run to the grocerystore.

As executive director of the Bureau of Consumer Alarm, I am always on the alert for news stories that involve two key elements:1. Fire.2. Barbie.So I was very interested when alert reader Michael Robinson sent me a column entitled "Ask Jack Sunn" from the Dec. 13, 1993, issue of the Jackson, Miss., Clarion-Ledger. Here's an excerpt from a consumer's letter to this column:"Last year, my two daughters received presents of two Rollerblade Barbie dolls by Mattel. On March 8, my 8-year-old daughter was playing beauty shop with her 4-year-old brother.

Sylvia Kackle slowly stepped down from the shuttle bus and reached for her red walker. She moved through the Linthicum movie house past the ticket booth and concession stand, but needed help climbing the steps. The 85-year-old woman didn't wait in lines or wade through crowds. Her screening skipped movie previews, concession advertisements and the reminder for moviegoers to turn off their cell phones. Kackle was among 90 senior citizens who attended an exclusive showing of Hair- spray -- the debut of Silver Screenings, a program designed for seniors to see a first-run movie before noon, before the Hoyt Cinema opened to the public, without even negotiating the concession stand.

When it comes to summer dresses, we know what we like: A skirt that flutters in the breeze, a natural-fiber material like cotton or linen in a fun print, a top that shows some skin without being too skimpy. We'd like a dress that can be slipped on after a dip in the pool, a dress that could take us out to dinner or out for a chocolate snowball. The dress that has our vote this summer is a pink and yellow Tahitian floral number from Garnet Hill. The dress, cut on the bias, has a circle skirt that hangs beautifully, a timeless jazzy print evocative of Paul Gauguin's paintings and a sweet taffeta ribbon belt.

Lawyers and musical comedy might not seem to have much in common, but the University of Maryland School of Law is linking the two in a program that uses the Tony Award-winning musical Hairspray as a springboard to examine race relations in 1960s Baltimore. Titled Hairspray in Context: Race, Rock 'n' Roll and Baltimore, the program is envisioned as the first step in a broader, evolving relationship between the law school and especially the Mechanic and the Hippodrome theaters. (Hairspray launches its national tour at the Mechanic Sept.

On The Sopranos this season, the thing to notice isn't the guys' tough talk, menacing scowls or flashy guns. Instead, look south and check out Tony Soprano's shoes. He and Christopher Moltisanti score style points this season for donning scrumptious leather Kenneth Cole lace-up shoes or slip-on boots. Cole, who gives his clothes playful names, even gave these new shoes mob-related monikers -- "Verrazano Bridge," "Mis-Trial" and "Court Appearance." The irony is, these shoes were named before the Sopranos stylist selected them for the show.

THE REVIEWS ARE IN, AND THEY GLOW "... Hairspray is, above all, Nice. This may be regarded as faint praise in New York, capital of Type A personalities. But Nice, in this instance, doesn't mean bland. Think of it spelled out in neon, perhaps in letters of purple and fuchsia. That's the kind of Nice that Hairspray is selling. And it feels awfully good to pretend, for as long as the cast keeps singing, that the world really is that way." -- Ben Brantley, New York Times "OK, so the new musical Hair- spray doesn't offer a cure for cancer, or the nose-diving Dow for that matter, but if the infectious jubilation currently spritzing from the stage of the Neil Simon Theater were bottled and sold across the country like, say, hair- spray, consumer confidence would not be a problem.

The mother of an 11-year-old East Baltimore boy charged with assault after a friend was burned denied the charges yesterday and said the boys were playing with matches. "This was an accident, pure and simple," said the mother. The boy and his family's names are being withheld because he is a juvenile. "My son didn't mean to set his friend on fire," the mother said. "They just made a terrible mistake." Police say that after an argument early Tuesday evening, the 11-year-old doused Robert Myers, 9, with hair spray and set him on fire.

TEHRAN, Iran -- Two dozen women are packed into the beauty salon. The parlor merry-go-round goes something like this:Manicure. Wash, blow-dry, tease, hair spray. Finally, eyebrow plucking, foundation, eyeliner, mascara, lip liner, lipstick.Iran's beauty business is booming. Most upper- and middle-class women in Tehran visit the salon at least once a month. Among many women, it is the political protest of choice: a little lip color here, a little toenail polish there -- defiant acts in a sea of hijabs, the black head scarves and cloaks that are mandatory attire for women outside the home.