A very important message from Shocantelle Brown

Girl, we're the best blog in St. Louis!

The Riverfront Times has confirmed what we always knew to be true: Girl, You Lost Your Weave is the Best Blog in St. Louis for 2010!

From the RFT:

Oh, girl. Is there any greater joy than uttering those condescending yet fond words? Thanks to the Girl, You Lost Your Weave blog, we all have an excuse to say them in the course of our daily Internet browsing. This blog is a category unto itself: Unlike most blogs, you won't find political rants, boring descriptions of daily life, photographs of food or tips for green living. What you will find, however, is snapshot after snapshot of nasty-looking polyester hair extensions: chunks of weave on the sidewalk, chunks of weave in the gutter, chunks of weave dangling from barbed wire. It's like a little piece of roadkill, adorning the streets of our fair city. Call it found art, call it schadenfreude, call it whatever you want — we call it the best blog in St. Louis.

To our knowledge, there is no statuette, cash prize or comically large check to accompany this award. (There is, however, a party honoring the winners, at which we likely will be made to pay a cover.) But it's still very cool, and we're grateful for the recognition.

Congratulations also are in order for our colleagues at the Job That Pays Our Bills: 

• Best Newspaper Columnist: Evan S. Benn of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

• Best Reporter (Newspaper Division): Elizabethe Holland of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

• Best Arts Reporting: Sarah Bryan Miller of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

• Best Sports Broadcast Personality: Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Blonde locks from Chicago

Lots of Chicago hair has drifted in here lately. Here's a wispy, blonde pile from Sheila.

North and South and Delmar and Weave

We've seen a lot of unnatural colors here at GYLYW lately. Here's a weave of a different color, spotted by Alert Reader Matt at Delmar Boulevard and ridiculously named North and South Road.

Scurrying Taco Bell weave

Alert Reader Karl thought he saw a rat scurrying across the Taco Bell parking lot downtown.

Nope — just some hair.

Thanks, Karl!

The Greatest Thing We've Ever Seen

Often, photos of weaves are completely without context. But not this one. Nosiree.

Spotted by Alert Reader Jenn, whom I cannot thank enough, on California Avenue.

Distinctive (but not distinguished) rogue weave

Many weaves look alike, which makes them virtually indistinguishable from one another. But this one is a real gem, submitted by my colleague Carlos. He found it at Watson Road and Landsdowne Avenue.

Blockbuster weave

Thanks to Alert Readers Lacey and Shelby for providing us with our first Kansas City weave! Spotted at the Westport Blockbuster. (Obvs follow-up: What the heck were you doing at a Blockbuster?)

New to the farmers market: weaves

"On a tip about ripe melons, she was on her way to the farmers market at Tower Grove Park," says GYLYW friend and Alert Reader Evan of this beautiful specimen.

I wonder if she made it to the melons?

Dead cat or weave?

"I thought it was a dead cat, until I got a little closer," says Alert Reader Paul of this horrifying weave (wig?) he spotted in the Wentzville Heights subdivision on Plaza Place in Wentzville.

Horrible U-City weave in the sunset

This weave did its owner a huge favor by jumping ship. And Alert Reader Andrew did us a huge favor by photographing it in University City. Thanks!

ZOMG! An Olivette weave!

The best part of running this site is definitely the reader mail. Mary Ann writes:

"My daughters spotted this weave in the parking lot outside of Vantage Credit Union in the shopping center at Olive & Price in Olivette. I immediately squealed with delight because I've been a fan of your site for a while now, and I was always wishing I had something to submit. My kids thought I was nuts when I yelled to take a picture of it ... but whatevs, hey, some girl lost her weave, sending a pic of it to you guys is just the right thing to do. 

Here are 2 shots of the aforementioned weave... I included the 1 with my daughter just cuz I thought it was funny. She's all, 'ZOMG! A weave!!' ...  I do hope you use the picture of the weave by itself. It would make me feel like a minor celebrity :)"

Mary Ann did, indeed, include a totes adorbs pic of her daughter with the weave, but I'm honoring her request not to post it. If I ever need a postergirl for GYLYW, though, I'll give her a call.

Thanks, girls!

Beautiful weave, beautiful pose

Due to shoddy recordkeeping, I can't tell you who sent this weave or where it's from. But it's totes glamorous and graceful, yes?

Another Windy City weave

Let's take a moment, as we do from time to time, to visit some discarded weaves from other places. Alert Reader Nathan shares this one he found on Chicago Avenue in Chicago. Thanks, Nathan!

Girl, your train is here

Now here's a weave with some character! Alert Reader Yaunah found it on the MetroLink platform in the Central West End.

Dead poodle or weave?

From Alert Reader Jeff, spotted at Tucker Boulevard and Park Avenue:

"At first I was worried about the poodle that got hit by a car. Then I worried about the poor bald sister somewhere."

Proud weave

Alert Reader Lauren spotted this rogue weave during PrideFest in Tower Grove Park. Thanks, Lauren!

Lunchtime weave

My colleague Jackie shares this weave she found outside Lola on 14th Street. Thanks, Jackie!

More weaves. More fun.

I haven't been to Six Flags in a decade. But with all those roller coasters and upside-down rides, there's bound to be some lost hair lying around.

Alert Reader Chad found some.

This weave needs a doctor

Alert Readers Jenni and Shane write:

My friend Shane sent me this after hearing me talk up the site — he found this particular specimen on the Wash U. med school campus. We love gylyw.com and were so excited to find something to send in. Keep making us laugh with all the forlorn lost hair of St. Louis!

Thanks for sharing, you guys!

Weave not a spider after all

E-mail from Alert Readers makes me LOL.

Like this one from Joseph: "I found this on Forest Park Parkway outside BJC hospital. ... At first my friend suggested that it was a huge spider. Upon closer examination, the truth became clear. Enjoy."

Van Goghz' weave

Alert Reader Emilee comes through again: Here's a weave from outside Van Goghz Martini Bar, at Compton and Shenandoah avenues. It's always so convenient for me when the street sign is right there in the photograph.

Girl, your weave is so natural

Our girl Emilee (of Unrequited Gloves fame) struck weave gold with this one: a completely unnatural shade of purple on Park Avenue in Lafayette Square.

Drive-by weave

Alert Reader Lottie was super excited to share this North County weave with GYLYW. She and her sister spotted it on Redman Avenue between Old Halls Ferry Road and Highway 367 in North St. Louis County. Holler!

Precious tailed weave creature

Another adorable find from the Tucker Boulevard Weave Epicenter.

Unidentified lost weave

In all honesty, I have no idea where I found this thing. But it's safe to say it was downtown someplace. Pretty routine stuff.

Another WashAve weave

Another location that has become quite the hotbed of weave activity is the intersection of Tucker Boulevard and Washington Avenue. Not sure why — that location is a vacant storefront. But it's possible that beweaved gals are tossing bits of their hair from the car window while they sit at the stoplight.

Small but still important

This sad tangle of weave was dwarfed on the sidewalk under the towering Gateway Arch.

Parking for weaves only

These weaves caught my eye in the parking lot behind the New Life Evangelistic Center earlier this summer. They're certainly not from Larry Rice's (alleged) hairpiece. Zing!

Rogue weaves and their getaway car

Alert Reader Sean shares these weaves he found in the 5300 block of Wells Avenue in St. Louis. I love the one still on the hood of the car, which raises all sorts of questions.

Bolted-down weave

Fearing being sent back to her owner, this weave has a firm grip on North Tucker Boulevard.

A bridge to discarded wigs

Here's proof that, in the right hands, even the weirdest subject can be made into a beautifully composed image. My friend and colleague (and Alert Reader) David shares this lovely head of hair — sans head, of course — he spotted at Commercial and Biddle streets downtown. Which means that the bridge in the background is the Dr. Martin Luther King Bridge.

Thanks, David!

Lack of budget doesn't stop us from advertising

Lauren, a loyal friend of GYLYW, spotted our ad yesterday (amazing placement!) in Citilites Theatre's program for "Psychopathia Sexualis," playing now at the Kranzberg Arts Center in Grand Center.

If you also saw our ad, please leave a comment below to let us know — especially if you're a first-time visitor!

North County, represent!

Many sorries for the sporadic nature of my updates lately, but lost weaves don't pay the bills, you know what I'm sayin'? I've got a ton of reader submissions, plus a ton of my own sightings to get posted, so let's begin.

Alert Reader Jamie shared with us photos of three weave sightings she had on a walk from Dellwood, Mo., to her home in Florissant, Mo. I'm not well versed in North County geography, but Google says that's roughly a 1 1/2-hour walk.

Exhibit A: Hereford Avenue and Nancy Place in Florissant, Mo.

Exhibit B: Florissant Road and Interstate 270 in Florissant, Mo.

Exhibit C: Florissant Road and Frost Avenue in Florissant, Mo.

Thanks for sharing, Jamie!

Lost weave a testament to city cleanliness

I'm excited to announce that the same weave that made its first appearance on this site in February (and a second in April) is still firmly in place at Tucker Boulevard and Gay Street downtown.

Rain, snow, wind, heat — she's been through so much!

Shocantelle for I Beweave Hair Salon

How I love Laura Bell Bundy. I long for her return to the theater.

Please enjoy her commercial for fictitious I Beweave Hair Salon.

Forest Park weave

If my records are accurate, this is my first weave sighting in Forest Park. Which means one of two things: I don't go there often enough, or people are keeping a close watch on their weaves there.

Girl, you've got some crap stuck in your weave

I found this last week on Tucker Boulevard, on the sidewalk in front of an African braiding salon. I have no idea what this yellow stuff is that's stuck to it, though. As I was photographing it — which took forever, thanks to my iPhone 3G running iOS4 — a woman popped her head out the front door.

"Are you taking a picture of the hair?" she asked.

"Yes," I replied. "It's for my website: girlyoulostyourweave.com."

She gave me a weird look, chuckled and went back inside. Maybe she will tell her clients.

Or maybe she will leave more material for me on the sidewalk.

Weave escapes to Canada

Spotted by Alert Reader Ken at the Peace Bridge border crossing in Buffalo, NY. This hair either drifted onto the barbed wire on its own or got snagged while someone tried to escape to Canada.

Weave outside Chaifetz Arena

Alert Reader Will shares:

I found these bits of dread weave along Compton outside SLU's Chaifetz Arena. Perhaps some girl realized her weave was uncouth as she approached the arena for commencement.

Another Windy City weave

Alert Reader Jason sends this weave from the Windy City.

"So glad I found one!" Jason says. So are we!