I remember watching an episode when Oprah had her hair in a ponytail(her natural hair), and it is APL. She said that Gail always asked her why she would wear a ponytail, and she said that when she was a little girl all that she ever wanted was a ponytail. Now, she has achieved that goal, and she is happy with it. She wears it quite often on the show.
Now that you mention it, she wears ponies a lot on her Africa specials & world travel shows, basically when she's not on the set. It is quite long & so healthy and thick.