The ultimate modern entrepreneur, Jen Atkin has risen to become one of the world’s most influential hairstylists with a legion of A-list fans, on top of launching her own brand Ouai Haircare and founding Mane Addicts – a support network for fresh hair talent. In addition, she’s a social media force, with 2.3 million followers on her personal Instagram account addicted to the tips, tutorials and celebrity hair secrets from her famous clientele.
Naturally, on her latest London visit Bazaar was the first in line to discover more of her Hollywood hair hacks. From faking fullness to acing the perfect texture, you’ll find the tricks used on the likes of Kendall Jenner, Chrissy Teigen and Bella Hadid’s hair below. Over to Atkin…
Best celebrity hair secrets from Hollywood’s top hairstylist
1. Getting waves without tongs
“One of my favourite things to tell girls with a ‘lob’, or shoulder-length to collarbone-length hair, is you can skip the tongs and hot tools which take so much health away from your hair. My favourite trick is to just use our Ouai Wave Spray on damp hair. You can spray a lot, it’s not going to get sticky or crunchy – there’s no salt in it, and then do this accordion trick where you fold the hair back and forth and gently place it into the Dyson Supersonic diffuser attachment. I love the Dyson Supersonic one because the way that the engineers have made the diffuser, it mimics how a natural curl would dry. They also have the airflow perfectly designed so that it makes the hair look like it’s naturally curly. I’m obsessed with it.”
2. Turn down the heat and air flow
“Every girl has the bad habit of turning their heat up and air flow up on their dryer all the way, because we think we’re saving ourselves time. But you could be missing out on a great hairstyle. If you turn it down a little bit, it’ll still dry the hair but let you mould it and shape it as it dries. Unless you have very coarse, really hard to straighten hair and you’re trying to deal with that then go ahead and use the high heat, but generally you don’t need it.”
3. Finish your blow-dry with the cool shot
“I do tell girls, especially here with the weather in the UK, to finish a smooth blow-out with the cool shot button and a boar bristle brush. It helps to calm the cuticles, so that hair lays smooth and reflects light more.”
4. Try the toothbrush trick for flyaways
“When doing a sleek look, I use our Hair Oil and Matte Pomade to get hair as sleek as possible. Our Rose Hair & Body Oil is a lighter version for girls with fine hair because it doesn’t have silicone in it (it’s gentle enough to put all over your body). This lighter version is amazing for sleek buns and sleek ponytails if you don’t want to weigh down fine hair, but for those with thick hair the regular Hair Oil is amazing. Use either on dry hair, section by section to get it nice and sleek. Then when you really want a sleek finish my biggest tip is to take our Medium Hairspray and spray it on a toothbrush, which gets those little flyaway bits to really lay down.”
5. How to get Pinterest-worthy texture
“Our new Dry Texture Foam is amazing for this – it gives you that Pinterest-worthy, cool girl-like halo of texture. It’s not frizz but a cool fuzz. It’s perfect for every hair type. Just remember to keep rubbing it in the hair until it’s dry. For this particular look [done on Chrissy Teigen, above] I would use a very large 1.5” tong and wrap the hair around it – or a flat iron does a really nice loose wave – and then a bit of the Matte Pomade mixed together with the Rose Hair & Body Oil to separate the ends and give that nice texture. This combination is perfect for girls with really thick hair or extensions.”
6. Make extensions and faux fringes flawless
“Chrissy [Teigen]’s fun because she’s so versatile with her hair. We play with the length, we sometimes make it long with extensions and sometimes have it short. Chrissy’s high ponytail [above] was with extensions. I don’t like to use fake ponytails, so I use temporary extensions. If I’m trying to disguise a lob, I just place narrow clip-in extensions in the hair along the nape of hair and the hairline, not so much in the middle. I also love what we did for Bella Hadid at the CFDA awards with a faux fringe [below], clip-in fringe. It’s so fun for girls who get board of their lob and feel like they wear the same style every day. Play with your fringe.”
7. Get the Californian facelift
“To get a high ponytail I actually do two ponytails in one: Split your hair in half from ear to ear, do your first ponytail by flipping your hair upside down and gather it all up into a ponytail and secure, then do to another ponytail and use a hair bungee to secure it to the first ponytail. A bungee gives that facelift effect to make the face look pulled. For a slick, but non-greasy texture at the front, use the Matte Pomade to settle any frizz and sleek any baby hairs.”
8. Cheat a perfect hairline with eyeshadow
“I like to fill in the hairline with eyeshadow, the Anastasia Beverly Hills brow palette is so nice. It makes the hair photograph fuller and it makes your hairline look perfect. A little Hollywood secret. No one has a perfect hairline – especially after you have a baby, everyone loses some hair so this makes you feel more confident.”
From: ELLE UK
