I don’t know about you, but if I have a big event coming up then my first thought is absolute panic on how the hell I will control my unruly hair. It’s frizz central, to the point where I think if I didn’t brush it for a few days, there’d be small birds nesting in there chirping whenever I make a sudden movement.
So I turn, almost immediately, to celebrities for their divine and (ahem) not-at-all-completely-curated-by-a-team-of-incredible-stylists’ wisdom. Because surely even the people who get paid to look glam as hell can still wake up looking like they’ve got steel wool growing from their skulls, right?
Wrangling tricky hair is a literal punish, but I’ve got a wedding to attend soon and I need to be prepared instead of staring in the mirror plucking at my frizz. So, given that the Emmy Awards are next month, where better to look than the strikingly sleek do’s of the past few years?
me, before
Rachel Brosnahan
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Rachel Brosnahan is my absolute favourite to win this year’s Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Actress, so maybe I’m a little biased. Plus, as a fellow ultra pale girl whose makeup mantra tends to be, “whack some red lippy on,” I’m all about it.
But the Marvellous Mrs Maisel star also looks damn good with her hair all slicked back in a low chignon, and I simply must have all her secrets — because if I tried that my little curly baby hairs would stick up straight like I’ve been electrocuted.
It’s actually simple to achieve though. Whack some high quality hair oils on there, like the Schwarzkopf Extra Care Grape Seed Oil Elixir, to tame the zappy hair and secure it into a loose chignon with bobby pins. My trick? Apply the oils with a spare toothbrush, to brush through the lil’ teeny frizz spots once your hair is up. Weird? Yes. Effective? Absolutely.
Vanessa Kirby
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Ignoring the fact that the latest Fast and the Furious movie tried to insinuate that Vanessa Kirby is somehow close in age to Jason Statham (just, no), let’s remember how much of a goddess she was back on The Crown. And sure, the goddess posted a hilarious pic of her getting her pits shaved for the awards in 2018, but sometimes a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do so we’ll let it slide.
In any case, we’re focusing on her locks here. Kirby’s hair is a perfect balance of volume and sleekness, with enough teasing beneath the top layer of strands to give it some height. Now, teasing my hair would be… Well, catastrophic would be the word I’d use.
I’ve tried to no avail in the past, but if the hair is in good nick and you have a good quality brush, you should be able to make it work by carefully separating the top layer of hair and focusing the tease exclusively on the lower half. Alternatively, you can get little inserts to add height without teasing, then keep it in place with hairspray and pins.
Madeline Brewer
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If you don’t recall Madeline Brewer from her name alone, you’re forgiven just this once. For those in the dark, she recently starred in A Handmaid’s Tale, Orange Is The New Black and right in the middle of my inspiration board. Holy hell, the gal has good hair.
Would you LOOK at that part? It’s so straight and perfect that I am forced to suspect that witchcraft was involved at some point. Her hair is already super glossy (the cherry red certainly helps), but the styling is what sets it apart from the other looks on the carpet last year.
Use a tailed comb to get this super straight part, brush or straighten the rest through, and remember that a lil’ clip or fascinator hides all manner of sins. If you’ve got one spot of relentlessly frizz that won’t stay put, just pop a big ol’ barrette on to distract from it and keep everything where it should be.
Kristen Bell
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Kristen Bell. Angel, sloth lover, snowman-builder. She can do very little wrong, and she’s certainly done a lot of things right in this photo from 2018, where she was nominated as part of the cast of The Good Place.
Apart from the fact that her cheekbones could cut glass, this drawn-back bun is a hard enough look to pull off with naturally super sleek hair. But I know for a fact that Kristen doesn’t, because she’s super open with her life on Instagram and yep, she has frizz like the rest of us.
This look shows that even the most dishevelled of us mere humans can make it work, with a subtle, slight bouffant on top (yep, that means teasing again so follow the directions above) and a whole lot of hair oil for shine and sleekness. Just pull the strands tight to the very back of your head and secure with heavy duty pins — this is one look you don’t want coming undone.
me, after
If you’ve got a humidity-controlled mane of difficult hair like I do, you might already have dismissed the looks as simply unattainable for your own unruly mop. But trust me, my pals — you can make it work.
And if not, just bear in mind that as long as your hair is healthy and oiled to shine brightly (5c piece worth of Schwarzkopf’s Extra Care Rose Hip Oil Elixir should do it), you’ll look great anyway.
