I have been obsessing about growing out my hair since I got a choppy cut (avec bangs) in February.

It’s not that the cut was bad, but I know better than to have a style that requires a lot of maintenance (read: blowing it dry)…not gonna happen. I’ve even taken to popping daily pre-natal vitamins for no reason other than making my hair grow faster.

As if I needed another reason to want my super long locks, along comes the Chanel couture show with its extra lengthy ponytails and pompadours.

I’ve never seen hair pieces - especially ones of different shades on the same head - used so beautifully. Some of the extensions even looked to be fashioned as the famous Chanel camellias which is such a subtly cool touch of house history.

Obviously, this isn’t the kind of look you can create at home, but I am once again seeing some possible extensions in my future because the ponytail I’m sporting today now feels desperately inadequate.

Alison asked this morning if Katie Holmes wanted to look more like Christina Ricci.

After all, her new and very severe haircut is so very goth, it adds a good 10 years to the well-married movie star.

We think it’s more of a nod to Anna Wintour, but there is a small goth connection:

Katie’s arched eyes and deep, shiny hair looks an awful lot like our favorite tantrum teen, Emily the Strange.

With her glowering appeal and her “don’t-touch-me” stance, Emily’s entire being seems to be Katie’s subtle subtext - unless you’ve actually started to believe she’s totally in love with her life, in which case, well, it’s just a very chic haircut.

The U.K. Daily Mail continues to obsess over their tortured relationship with bangs. Ever since Kate Moss got out the scissors, British women have been indulging in an ongoing, irresolvable debate: bangs or no bangs? What looks better?

We love this apt comparison where bangs (or as they call it, a “fringe”) are portrayed as “like irritating small dogs. They seem like a good idea at the time, but you sometimes wish you didn’t have one.”

“You can’t do much with it, it requires constant attention, and you’re forever having to play with it. “

Meanwhile, stars with stylists but maybe not style have started infringing on fringe territory. Penelope Cruz and Maggie Gyllenhaal recently jumped on the bang bandwagon, all because Kate’s bangs have gotten more publicity than her cocaine scandal.

Do you obsess over bangs too? Do you wish you could go for it, but fear and horror hold you back? Or did you go down the thick bangs path and instantly regret it?

—ALISON COOL