My first thought on seeing Halle Berry’s new curly wig/weave was that she must be wearing it for a role. I vaguely remembered that she had on a very frizzy, curly wig for a movie she was filming at some point, and assumed she might be doing reshoots. That was a film called Frankie & Alice, which premiered at the Cannes film festival and was only out in very limited release in late 2010, earning less than $11k at the box office. So I doubt this hair is for that specific long-over, almost forgotten, role. It could be for another film, but if so there’s not word yet. Halle has actually rocked two versions of this new hair in recent paparazzi photos, a longer two-tone look during the school pickup photo op on Friday, and a shorter darker style during a beach outing with “bonus dad” (my words, Halle probably just calls him Nahla’s dad), Oliver Martinez, and Nahla on Saturday. Here’s more on Halle’s new hair, thanks to E!, which reminds us she had this style before:

C’mon, we all know that whether Halle Berry’s hair is long, short, straight or curly, she looks darn good because she’s Halle Berry.

But we did enjoy seeing a somewhat fresh new look from the gorgeous actress, who sported some tight-curl extensions while picking up daughter Nahla from school.

What do we mean by somewhat?

Berry debuted the new ‘do last night after a dinner date with fiancé Olivier Martinez at Italian restaurant II Piccolino in West Hollywood, but that’s not what we’re referring to.

The 45-year-old actress actually worked a similar hairstyle back in 2008, but it was slightly different, with a little more poof and no two-tone coloring.

We loved it then and we love it now.

[From E! Online]

Which version of Halle’s hair is your favorite? I think she looks best with the mid-level curls, in the beach photos. Maybe I’m getting confused because the wind is blowing it back, and/or humidity is making her hair curl up tighter. She possibly has the same hair in both of those photosets, but I doubt it. I like her with the short spiky hair too, it really highlights her face. She’s looking a little Botoxy lately, so perhaps a softer longer style is a better choice. Her hair reminds me of Rihanna’s two-tone curly hair, the style she had during her raucous Hawaiian vacation. If all I saw in those photos of Halle picking up Nahla were her hair and outfit I would have assumed she was Rihanna. Check out this picture in particular:

This is one way to get attention after her big admission that she’s engaged. It’s not a bad strategy, actually. At least she didn’t dip dye it.

Halle before extensions:

Photo credit: FameFlynet, Inc.