In my case, the media has had very little influence on me and how I view hair. I grew up in Kenya and most people wore natural hair and styles and while many schools preferred TWAs so kids could focus on their studies, those that allowed people to grow long hair had rules about what is acceptable and what wasn't. In my elementary school, any cornrow styles or even single plaits w/o extensions were allowed, just as long as they looked fresh and neat and were lying down. I remember tying down my hair at night after applying some oil or grease so that fly-aways could lie flat just so as to extend a cornrow style a few more days till I could get my mom or the hairdresser to re-braid my hair.
In high school, cornrows were forbidden except for end-of-school-year students and only during their national exam finals, and even then elaborate hairdos and extensions were not allowed. Just simple cornrows going back like Jennifer's which had to be redone the minute they started to look messy. The rest of the time everyone had to wear hair that was combed, whether TWA or pony puffs or buns or French rolls--whether relaxed or natural--unless you were lucky to have long hair when a max of three square plaits were allowed (kinda
like this but hopefully not sticking out like that
; most people would braid the tails of the two in the front into the third for neatness' sake). I cannot recall if one or two French braids were allowed from front to back. I seem to think they were, but I might be mistaken.
Braid-outs or twist-outs would have been considered uncombed hair and you'd not get very far with them. I remember I once tried to be creative and did a short fat cornrow on the side of my TWA combed out the tail of the cornrow to blend in with the TWA so it looked like the hair had been pulled back by a side-comb and thought I was IT. No sooner had I sat down in my first class of the day and the teacher started teaching than she caught glimpse of my do and immediately sent me back to the dorms (I was in boarding school) in the middle of class "to comb [my] hair". I remember tears welling up from sheer embarrassment as I raced to undo my creation. A comb pulling that hair back was acceptable though, so determined to sport that look, I did that instead. But again no funny colored hair clips were allowed either. They had to be black or dark brown. (Our uniform was dark brown and white, but white clips were not allowed.) If you had to wear makeup, only black eye pencil and mascara were allowed but not so much that you looked like a drag queen; it had to be a natural look. Clear lip gloss or lip balm were also allowed.
I remember when we would go out of school to represent our school in an Inter-School Competition (e.g. choir competitions), we all had to wear our hair pulled/combed/brushed back and if long, worn in a puff or a low bun or pony puff or a braid that could be left hanging or
be tucked in if you liked. I remember how smart and uniform we'd all look standing in that crescent shape waiting for the conductor's direction on stage. I remember feeling so proud to be part of that neat lot.
So I guess those years laid down certain standards in my head of what is considered being well-groomed. Of course, now that I'm out of school I have bent a few rules like I wear extensions to work and have even worn them down flowing and free, but even when I do that, I make sure they look "combed" if you catch my drift; you know
looking orderly the way long freely flowing hair would look if it were combed. But most times, I wear my braids
cornrowed. And I think braid-outs and twist-outs do look nice if the give the illusion of crimped hair and deliberated created waves. When they look very obvious like hair that was undone and then not combed, I think they're better worn as a casual do.
. I think it's just the style that someone put up for something that can be worn in a corp environment for quite a few women here wasn't cutting it. Share your pics, your hair is beautiful
erplexed
The first one has too much going on. OP - Twists, buns, puffs, wash and go, twist outs, braid outs, etc. Personally, I like for my hair to look polished like it is in a style. I rarely wear it out and let it do what it does. As long as it looks neat and coherent I don't see the problem.
Just kidding. Sort of 
I love it with the big flower. I wish with all my wondertwin powers that I can flat twist but it always comes out looking like shiznit 
