Hair Ball

By Melissa August, Harriet Barovick, Michelle Derrow, Tam Gray, Daniel Levy, Lina Lofaro, David Spitz, Joel Stein and Chris Taylor

SPLITTING HAIRS Helmets tend to hide the hairstyles of professional athletes: football, baseball and hockey players all conceal their scalps from view. Not so basketball players, whose domes can rival their dunks for attention. Often an era's defining player sets the style du sport for his courtmates--and countless armchair-athlete imitators.

KEY PLAYER Kareem Abdul Jabbar (1)

ERA 1970s to early '80s

'DO Afro

MOTIVATION the Shaft aesthetic

MAINTENANCE LOW. Requires occasional trim, some combing

HAIR APPARENT Julius ("Dr. J") Erving (2)

[KEY PLAYER] Michael Jordan (3)

[ERA] 1980s to mid '90s

['DO] bald

[MOTIVATION] a receding hairline

[MAINTENANCE] MODERATE. Requires scalp conditioning and shaving every 3 or 4 days

[HAIR APPARENT] Shaquille O'Neal (4)

[KEY PLAYER] Allen Iverson (5)

[ERA] late '90s

['DO] cornrows

[MOTIVATION] previous bad haircuts

[MAINTENANCE] HIGH. Requires up to four hours to complete several rows

[HAIR APPARENT] Rebecca Lobo (6), Latrell Sprewell