Hair

CBS intends to name WBAL-TV news director Princell Hair next week to a post in which he'll help guide news operations at network-owned stations nationwide. Late this month, Hair will become the network's corporate news director, a new position, officials at the network and WBAL said yesterday. He'll work with Joel Cheatwood, a CBS vice president, under whom he also served in Miami and Chicago. Hair will be replaced by well-traveled news veteran Margaret Cronan, 36, who currently is the news director for WPBF in West Palm Beach.

I started dyeing young.At 17, my coloring compulsion began. I bagged my virgin brown and went red. Bright red.Little did I know, as I sat in the colorist's chair for the first time, that I would emerge a hair-dye junkie.Part of the obsession was, and still is, rooted in exhibitionism: the power to turn other heads with my own. From red to purple, to orange to magenta, to the blondest of blonds and everything in between.But after so long, my shock ceased to be shocking.I could play a screen saver on my hair and no one would notice.

Here's a look at some recent books on fashion or style:* "A Brief History of Shorts" (Chronicle, $14.95) is by Joe Boxer, the company that started the tongue-in-cheek boxers craze. There is no Joe Boxer. But there is Nick Graham, president, CEO and occasional poster boy (in boxers, of course).The book is downright silly and can sometimes be funny. In a page on future underwear designs, predictions include "virtual underwear: You think you're wearing underwear, but you're not," and one that actually came true -- "The Wonderbrief: Structurally designed pouch enhances the size of a man's package."

Being African-American, I don't have to wash my 2-year-old's hair every day, but it is long and thick, and she hates having it washed. The shower doesn't work. Any other ideas?Maria Anderson,Pasadena, Calif.Wash your child's hair without tears or tantrums with the help of your kitchen sink and a little imagination, Child Life readers across the country say.Many parents have found that a quick game of beauty parlor helps tame a temperamental 2-year-old intent on a power struggle.Put the child on the kitchen counter with her head tipped back into the sink, explains Cynthia McBride of Tallahassee, Fla. Then use the spray nozzle to wet the hair and rinse.

Frank Bruno, a barber who was sought by both stars and sinners, died of cancer Thursday at Oak Crest Village's nursing center. He was 87 and lived in Rosedale. Born in Baltimore, he was the son of Sicilian immigrants who operated a grocery store on the eastern fringes of downtown Baltimore. He grew up along the shops of Gay Street in Oldtown and never completed high school. He told his daughters that as a child he sold flowers on East Baltimore Street, known as the Block. "He started out as a nothing kid," said his daughter, Toni Kocun of Towson.

All blondes are not created equal. But they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are a charmed life, the liberty to jump to the head of the line and the pursuit of happiness unencumbered by dark roots. Blondes will always enjoy a privileged place in our society. A culture fixated on yellow hair will have it no other way. Blondes are the pampered, pursued and praised beings of an indifferently tressed world that bows and bends in their gleaming wake.

Albert Clark never thought hairdressing would be his business. The Washington native had a passion for theater and a background in military service. But nearly 30 years after opening the Victoria & Albert Hair Studio with his wife, Victoria, Clark has found success in helping the business grow in its Columbia location to serve more than 12,000 clients and train dozens of stylists. The salon recently was nominated for an international honor from the Global Salon Business Awards. The 40-employee operation has seen profits and revenue increase 7 percent to 9 percent annually, Clark said.

It has been 30 years since he starred on the mound, a master of comic relief for the Orioles. Was there ever a closer like Don Stanhouse, the big right-hander with the Harpo Marx hair, the wacky demeanor and a knack for making every save an adventure? The closer for Baltimore's 1979 American League champions, Stanhouse won seven of 10 decisions, saved 21 games and compiled a 2.85 ERA. But it was the way he pitched - creating a jam, then escaping it - that drove Orioles manager Earl Weaver nuts.

Women go to great lengths to combat that oh-so-unfeminine facial hair. They pluck, wax and tweeze. Now they can even thread. This trendy Eastern alternative -- which uses a looped thread to yank out hairs at the root -- is an alternative to other near-medieval methods. "I'm a convert," says Linda West, 41, who has come to Usha Beauty Salon in Parkville to get her eyebrows threaded. "I'll never have them waxed again." It may just be a matter of time until threading becomes even hotter than waxing.

Nobody asked me, but someone — and it might as well be me — ought to tell Martin O'Malley to curb his enthusiasm over the blue crabs making a comeback. It's great that the count is the best in more than a decade, but the Chesapeake Bay is still a mess, and the last thing we need is a governor crowing about a resurgent resource. Next thing you know, there's a battle with watermen over extending the season and increasing the catch. When something's in abundance, the human instinct is to fully exploit it. Been there, done that.