I have a problem with this.
And not because RoseMcGowan messed up her incredibly beautiful face, but because she’s succumbed to Hollywood hair. Those too-perfect, centre-parted, tumbling waves that every too-pretty girl in LA has. So boring! I miss the Jawbreaker days.
(I also have a problem with the fact that my Tumblr template doesn’t allow for apostrophes in the headlines.)
I’m getting married in October. I’ve booked a stylist (Tim at Oskar on Scollard) for the day. Tim’s method is really cool. He doesn’t use bobby pins or hairspray. Instead, he layers a bunch of foundation products and sews the hairstyle into place. When you want to take it down, you snip the string and then pull it out. It’s supposed to leave you with a nice, bouncy look. Sounds fun.
I know that I want a simple, pulled back do with a bit of height. I don’t want a fussy, prissy, tendril-y updo that make brides look like porcelain dolls. Gross.
I will not be wearing a tiara. I doubt I’ll wear a veil. I’m only hesitating because they kind of look like fun. If I wear a long one, it will not cover my face. Here are some of the hairstyles that I’m liking.
Emma Stone at the 2011 Golden Globes.
Mila Kunis at the same event. 
Dianna Argon at some event.
The hairstyle Gwyneth Paltrow almost wore to the 2012 Oscars.
And this updo on Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. There are little braids in there.
Ariel is one of my closest friends. We worked together for several years, and she was very encouraging of this blog. Ariel is a low-key kind of gal, however she goes to a posh Yorkville salon (we share the same stylist, who Ariel recommended to me) and gets regular highlights (they’re very subtle). This June, Ariel is getting married in her old stomping grounds of New Hampshire, and our friend Rachel and I will be doing her hair. Can’t wait! Ariel was kind enough to rustle up a bunch of great photos from when she kid for this post. Enjoy!
I’ve seen pictures of you as a kid, and you seem to have the same hair style. Why is that? I don’t really know why that’s been my thing, hair-wise. Partially because I’m not that adventurous? And I’m lazy. Actually, my hair is really, really easy to take care of, so I’m afraid to do anything that requires even a modicum of effort. If something’s working, why mess with it? Also, I’m intimidated by hair products, so I stay away from cuts or styles that aren’t wash ‘n’ go.
Ever want to change it? There were a few years of early high school during which I got a shorter, chunkier, layered “Rachel” cut (a la Friends), but I don’t think it really worked for me. Usually both sides flipped in the same direction instead of curling in, in symmetrical (yet tousled!) layers. Once, I cut my hair to fall just below my chin, but that’s as short as I’ve gone. It’s really thick and heavy, so it looks kind of weird in a bob.
You go to a good salon and get regular cuts and highlights. Why is it worth spending a little extra? I go to Oskar on Scollard. Ethan cuts my hair and Oskar does partial foil highlights. I love Ethan’s haircuts because I love Ethan—we have great conversations in the chair.(Ed note: That’s Ethan playing photographer below.) And, he isn’t afraid to thin my hair—with those somewhat scary-looking zig-zaggy thinning scissors. It’s something my hair drastically needs; I feel so much lighter afterward. Yes, foil highlights are expensive, but Oskar is so good at doing subtle touches of colour that I find I only need to go once a year, or once every nine months. Barely anyone can tell when my roots are “growing out” or I haven’t been able to get my highlights redone recently—there’s no stripey streaks. Oskar’s a master. He won’t let you do something stupid with your hair: if he doesn’t think your latest hair-makeover idea is going to look good on you, he’ll refuse to do it. I like my hair dressers to be firm in their opinions.
I hear you really liked playing hairdresser as a child. My dad and I both love the feeling of having someone brush or style our hair. I know that sounds creepy, but I don’t know, we both just find it really relaxing. He used to pay my sister and me a nickel per hair-do. We’d play hairdresser while the whole family watched TV or he read the newspaper. We usually put his hair into like 20 little mini-ponytails, with tiny elastics. I wish I could find the pictures, because he almost looked like he had cornrows. (Which is really funny on a tall white guy with an ’80s mustache.) Now when I babysit for friends, I always ask their kids if they want to play hairdresser and do my hair. Little girls love it! (Last weekend my friend’s toddler made a bottle of hairspray out of Legos and used the letter B from her alphabet puzzle as a brush. I was in heaven.)
What pisses you off the most about your hair? It’s really heavy, and there’s a lot of it, so it’s really too much for me to braid or style at all. It’s nearly impossible to curl or do elegant, old-style Hollywood waves, which I sometimes covet. The curl always falls out really fast. The only time I had somewhat wavy, long hair was for prom. The stylist curled it really tightly earlier in the day (like Shirley Temple curls!), and by evening the curls had relaxed enough to look like long, natural waves. I’m going to try it again for my wedding in June. (Famous last words.)
What do you love? How easy my hair is to care for on a daily basis.
Describe what you do with your hair on a regular day. I only wash it every other day. I use shampoo and conditioner (wash-out) in the shower, then wrap it up in a super-absorbent towel-turban thing for a few minutes. It’s some kind of special Japanese towel an aunt gave me years ago, and let me tell you: it’s an incredibly unattractive look. I look like a cancer patient. But my hair would take forever to dry, otherwise. Then I just comb my hair and part it, a little to one side. If I have time, I blow-dry it. I don’t use a round brush for this or anything, just my fingers. It dries straight on its own.
Hairstylist personality: chatty or quiet? If you’re a decent to above-average conversationalist, you should go ahead and be chatty! Silent haircuts are way too awkward.
Shampoo and conditioner? My favourite is the rosemary and juniper-scented L’Oreal EverStrong shampoo and conditioner. At some stores in Canada it’s almost $12 per bottle, so I stock up when I’m in the US. It’s sulfate-free, which is allegedly good for the environment, but really I just like the smell. My backup/budget fave is plain old Pantene.
Any other go-to products? On occasion in the winter months, I use some John Frieda anti-fly-away smoother stuff: it’s called Frizz-Ease Secret Weapon Flawless Finishing Creme. I’ve had it for years (since university???). Hmm, I’m realizing it’s probably bad to use a hair product that old.
Any other stories we should know about? My hair caused mother-daughter conflict when I was growing up. The main issue was the length; my mom LOOOOOVES it long (she still does), and when I was a little girl and young teen, she forbade me to cut it shorter. She loved to French-braid it, and I think she had all these sentimental, storybook notions about her two blonde, long-haired daughters sitting side-by-side at the piano playing duets, like characters in Little Women or something. So, at age 14, when I was BEGGING her to let me cut it, she finally said yes! With one condition: I had to have a professional portrait taken first. Hence, these ridiculous photos of me in Grade 8 or 9, with braces and a lip bumper, reluctantly posing for a creepy photographer guy at the mall. These portraits are still on display at my parents’ house, in big tabletop frames. They’re ridiculously serious and oddly religious-looking.
Did you hear? Taylor Swift totally let Vogue give her bangs for a photo shoot. It’s Vooogue. When they ask for bangs, you give them bangs. Taylor is one of many celebs and models who’ve lopped off (or dyed) their locks for Anna, as the magazine points out in this slideshow. The bragging is a bit painful, but still, those are some good bangs.
Short hair, or at least the look of it, seems to be staging a comeback at the Paris couture shows this week.
Bouchara Jarrar:
Givenchy:
Dior:
Armani Prive:
Is this the Rooney Mara effect?
(Images stollen from Vogue and Daily Makeover.)
Hares and hair together at last.
(Illustration by Selena Wong.)
The New York Times recently ran a piece on what’s supposedly a big trend in men’s hairstyles: a 1930s trim that’s long on top and shaved around the sides. You’ve got to hand it to the Times for find a hairstylist who said that a lot of customers are asking for a Hitler Youth cut.
Clean-cut young men have been going to F.S.C. Barber in the West Village and asking for the same haircut: buzzed on the sides, longer on top and slicked back with a dab of pomade. You could call it a modified McSqueeb, a J. Edgar Hoover or maybe a Jimmy Darmody, after the character in “Boardwalk Empire.” But a lot of them just ask for a Hitler Youth, said Sam Buffa, a founding partner of the barbershop.
Yikes. Full story here.
