WASHINGTON – It’s baffling to fathom that, even as you bear witness to one of the greatest and most dynamic hair shows in America, that perennial showstopper known as the Golden Scissors Awards, that it got its inauspicious origination … on a military battleship.
This is where Navy Seaman Glynn Jackson began sculpting the beginning of what has metamorphosed into the internationally renowned gala at the colossal Washington Convention Center, with throngs of fashion and hair aficionados riding the emotional crest of a theme, “Hair Gaga … Taking Beauty to the Xtreme.” Back then, the naturally gregarious Jackson hosted popular talent shows on and off the military base. But when he saw how disorganization and fractionalization caused hair shows in the District region to be about as exciting as watching grass grow, Jackson stepped into that void to create and host the shows — and in the process he strode into his destiny as well as history.
This year, the Golden Scissors Awards was unequivocally Jackson’s most ambitious and dynamic show, a veritable orgy of bright colors, outrageous costumes and spectacular hairstyles that boasted over 5,000 attendees and participants and has become the Grammys of the hair industry every year.
“The Golden Scissors Awards is an opportunity to use this as a platform to bring communities together and cross cultures. A stylist can do straight or kinky whether you’re black, white, Asian. If you’re a great stylist, you can do everything. And we show that,” he says.
And don’t get it twisted: “Hair Gaga” is a concept that began way back when pop singer Lady Gaga was still in diapers. Just like in rap and urban fashion, Jackson’s concept exploded in the ‘hood and soon bled into — and was adopted by — the larger society.
“It was really centered around the whole concept of Gaga because what Lady Gaga represents is what we’ve been doing in the market in D.C. for over 20 years,“ Jackson proclaims resolutely. “So, wild, outrageous costumes, mirrors, makeup, hairpieces, costumes, big, wide shoes is what we are about.”
“I know girls in our venue will probably never make it to the runways of New York, but it is my show and I know that beauty comes in all sizes, shapes and packages. I love to see black women show off,” he says.
At the annual Golden Scissors Awards, you know you’ll get to see black women show off in abundance and with aplomb. –terry shropshire
