3. The Ultimate Hairstyle Guide

Now that you know your hair and you’ve seen the power of the makeover, you should be ready to make a style-defining change for yourself. To help you on that journey, this Ultimate Hairstyle Guide displays twenty-eight different haircuts divided into categories that show you the best kinds of cuts for fine, medium-smooth, and thick hair types, with a separate section for curly hair.

I’m not fond of hard-and-fast rules, so if you see a style that’s not in your category but think it could be good for you, that’s great. Show it to your stylist and get his or her opinion on how it might work for you and your hair texture. Ask for some styling techniques that will make it easy to manage from day to day. If your stylist thinks that particular hairstyle is too much of a stretch for your hair type, ask if there is a similar style that is a better fit. I do believe that if you have truly fine, thick, or curly hair, the haircuts in that category will be your best fit. For medium-smooth hair types, the cuts displayed for you are some of my favorite options, but your hair generally suits most hairstyles—you can pick and choose from any of the categories.

All these wonderful women are real people—not a professional model in sight. That’s because I wanted to show you how these real haircuts work for real women. Remember, if you use hair as an accessory, getting the right kind of look and being polished and youthful is easy.

Each cut is a modern classic and will keep you looking fresh and contemporary for many years to come. Some require a little more day-to-day work than others, but I made sure that they are all pretty easy to manage. With any of these styles there’s a twenty-minute morning commitment that will have you looking sensational, and when you have the time or occasion to do more, use my tips in Chapters 5 and 9 to spruce yourself up even more. First, though, use this guide for inspiration and ideas. I’m sure you’ll find a hairstyle that is the perfect fit for you right here, right now, as well as some alternative styles that will be your perfect fit a year—or two—from now.

I have included a few more short styles than longer ones. For long hair, there are two basic options: layer your long hair or go for a one-length haircut. Both are great ways to wear your hair and you can certainly change it up a bit by going for bangs or not, and of course ponytails and twists are another great way to wear your hair. But if the hair is shorter, then for the actual style there are multiple ways to go. Bobs (rounded, graduated, and straight), shags, messy short layer cuts, pixie cuts, and more all become completely achievable. By considering a few more shorter styles than longer ones, you get the widest range of options.

Along with images, I’ve added descriptions of how and why the cuts work so well, along with quick and easy styling ideas suited to each individual cut. I expand on these ideas in Chapter 5, but this is a great quick-reference guide if you get so excited about your new do that you want to get styling started right away.

Finally, don’t be afraid to take this book to your hairdresser and say, “I want this style.” It’s the ideal way to show your stylist exactly what you want to achieve. Cutting, styling, and photographing this chapter were a true labor of love. I hope you enjoy wearing the hair as much as I enjoyed creating it!

Great Cuts for Fine Hair

KENDALL

The Style. This is an archetypal mid-length to long heavily layered cut, hugely popular because it’s so feminine and easy to wear. Although Kendall’s hair is superdense, it is also fine and wispy, and these heavy layers really help to create the illusion of thickness. Kendall’s hair also has a beautiful natural wave, and I played into this by giving her strong, side-swept bangs that have shape and movement, and that accentuate her strong cheekbones and pretty eyes. The subtle combination highlighting looks sensational. I used different tones of dark blond highlights running all through her hair for a polished, sophisticated, stand-out style.

Stylability. I gave Kendall a smooth blow out with a medium-sized round brush, first applying a volume enhancer and a serum. The volume product is almost essential if the hair is fine and being worn relatively long—otherwise it can look a bit thin and flat. It’s far better to lift and thicken up your hair with a good bodybuilder. The serum just helps to keep the smooth blow-dry ultrasmooth. Once I was finished with that, all that was needed was to use the fingers to tousle out the roots, playing into the looseness and freedom of the cut. That’s all quick and easy to do and should take you no more than fifteen minutes. Want to change it? Easy. You can pull the hair back and pin it into any kind of bun, twist, or ponytail. All will look great, especially if your hair has a natural wave to it. If it doesn’t, use your round brush and blow-dryer to create some! Then just use a holding spray to make sure your pinned-back do stays fixed into place.

LARISSA

The Style. Larissa’s hair is borderline fine to medium with a gorgeous natural shine. This modern, jaw-length bob with soft and gentle layers promotes the illusion of extra thickness and volume while the clean lines and soft shape show off the health of her hair. The side-swept bangs showcase simple, classic style and they elongate her features. The bangs also bring attention to her bright, sparkly eyes. For the color, all I wanted to do was play into her shimmering, shiny hair, and this dark chocolate tone with tints of red adds texture, thickness, shine, and dimension.

Stylability. As Larissa’s hair is a touch fine and superstraight, I used a volume-enhancing product, applied from roots to ends of damp hair, and followed that with a round brush blow-dry. This quickly and easily creates an extra kick of body and bounce, while retaining the sense of loose freedom and movement in the style. This freedom and movement is a modern look, but if you want to set the style with more hold and structure, a blow-dry setting spray, lotion, or créme, again complemented with a round brush blow-dry, gives you more firmness and hold. Styling this soft, gently layered bob is achievable inside fifteen minutes, ten with practice.

MARY

The Style. Mary’s short and choppy shag has textured layers all through the front, top, sides, and back. The beauty of this is that it promotes a soft, cascading, carefree sort of style. Though it looks (and is) loose and natural, the actual haircut requires the stylist to create a lot of structure in the shape. The right structure gives lift and volume through the top of the haircut, which adds bounce and spring—and that creates extra youthfulness, making this a great style for ladies who would like their hair to help them look younger and more vibrant. Mary has natural light brown hair, and I used subtle high- and lowlighting all around her bangs, which gives an extra illusion of lift, softens her complexion, and draws attention to her eyes.

Stylability. Styling this kind of haircut is easy. The aim is to create extra volume at the roots and a soft and tousled effect toward the ends. Not too much volume, though, just enough to give it some movement. I used a light, easy-to-apply volume foam at the roots and blow-dried Mary’s hair using a small round brush to get right in toward her roots, lifting them up and away from her scalp. Then I used a hair créme at the ends to give a bit more sheen and polish. It all took ten to fifteen minutes, tops. If you go for a style like this and want a change to your look, you can use a texturizing paste and play into the choppy layers and pieciness even more. Apply from roots to ends and focus on creating separation in the style. Do this and you could forgo the blow-dry completely.

ALLY

The Style. This is one of my favorite shaggy, featherweight styles, and it is a perfect cut for Ally. Her relatively fine hair also has a natural wave to it, which plays into the shape of the cut, and she doesn’t need to worry about such a loose, free style holding its shape, which is always a challenge for fine hair. Technically speaking, this may be termed a square layer cut, but all I really did was use the razor to free up the hair into a loose and modern, easy-to-wear style. You can see how the length drapes effortlessly around Ally’s cheeks, and this helps to slim down and frame the features of the face. Once again, the color is simply an enrichment of her natural shade. In this case a medium brown single process with tiny tints of red for an extra touch of glisten and shine.

Stylability. I like to describe this style as wash-and-wear. Even if Ally jumped out of the shower and did absolutely nothing to her hair, I’d still put my razor on the line and say it would look fabulous. In this case, though, I used a curl-enhancing product and a setting créme. Although her hair clearly is not curly, the curl product just gives sexy wave and movement in the hair while the setting créme adds a touch of volume, since the hair is on the fine side. Other than that, I just finger-styled the look until we were happy with the shape—that’s easily achievable for anyone.

MOLLY

The Style. Molly has baby-fine hair, so it was important to give her a look that offers that vital illusion of fullness. This long layer cut with the layers sweeping in toward the face does just that. The layers begin at the jawline for face-framing shape and continue long past her shoulders for a nice, soft finish. The wide, curved, and full bangs also enhance the illusion of thickness, as well as draw attention to her eyes. A perfect, polished do that is great for a style-conscious woman of any age. For the color, Molly came to us with tired-looking bleached blond hair with the roots of her natural brown showing through. I introduced heavy highlighting that adds gloss and sheen, making Molly a truly beautiful blonde.

Stylability. With the previous bleaching process and the need for strong highlighting, Molly’s hair is prone to frizz and flyaways. So the key in the styling is to calm any potential frizz and also give her fine hair an extra kick of volume. I applied a volume foam from roots to ends and a defrizz product from the midlengths through to the ends. I blow-dried it smooth with a round brush and high heat, before finishing off the look with a straightening iron to help smooth out the ends even more. This is a classy cut that you can style quickly and easily each morning.

PEGGY

The Style. Peggy’s hair is fine and also a bit fragile, so she needed a cut that would add structure and volume. The perfect solution is this shoulder-length, light face-frame cut with multiple layering. The layers begin around the cheekbones to frame the face, and the longer length in the back keeps it feminine. The cut is designed to be soft, loose, and easy to wear. All-over blond highlights increase the blond bombshell factor and get those great blue eyes popping perfectly. A great cut for anyone worried that her fine hair is destroying her style.

Stylability. For such fine hair, volume foam is the go-to product, and I applied it from roots to ends as a volume-building base that lifts, thickens, and supports the style. I also applied a moisture-giving hair créme to help smooth out and polish the look. After that you can blow-dry straight with a round brush or a flat paddle brush, or you can use a curling iron to add an extra dose of wave and movement. Both ways are showcased here and are achievable inside fifteen minutes. It’s easy and sure to make you feel like a million dollars. As a plus, the length makes simple ponytails and twists great styling options.

ALEX

The Style. Wow! What wonderful natural silver-gray hair. Alex’s hair is rather fine and light, but this superstrong one-length line and dramatic bangs creates the perfect shape for her. Her gray hair is truly beautiful, and that’s what I wanted to play into with this one-length haircut. It also exposes her cheekbones, elongating her facial features (for extra youthfulness) in the process. The vivid, striking bangs portray a powerful, polished woman and a marvelous, modern finish. The natural color is so charismatic that it needed no color enhancement at all—it shows you don’t always need to hide or mask gray.

Stylability. Gray hair can be frizzy, and to style such an easy one-length cut, all I had to think about was making sure all that gray hair looked supersmooth. To do this, I blow-dried with a flat paddle brush, using only a touch of defrizz serum and a dab of hair créme. The serum eliminates the frizz while the hair créme smoothes out and polishes the look. This look is totally achievable inside fifteen minutes for anyone. And with such sensational bangs, a sophisticated low or dramatic high ponytail would looks fab.

Great Cuts for Medium-Smooth Hair

BOONSRI

The Style. This is an ultramodern, long, layered bob, cut to the collarbone. The razor cutting adds texture and playful pieciness right through to the ends. The shape of the cut brings definition to the cheeks; the full, straight, and square bangs beautifully frame her face; and the structure makes this a real head turner. A darkish brown single-process hair color is accented with ribbons of soft highlights. The highlights give an extra touch of dimension to the cut but are subtle and fine enough to look polished and sophisticated. A modern cut and color for a modern woman, and just look at how the full bangs, accented with highlights, make Boonsri’s beautiful blue eyes explode.

Stylability. Another easy-to-achieve do. I applied a volume-building styling créme to set her look and a frizz-fighting serum as just an extra source of smoothness. I blow-dried the hair with a flat paddle brush, focusing on making it smooth and straight. If you go for a similar style, you can do the same. The blow-dry should take no more than fifteen minutes, but if that’s too long for you, you can easily substitute a straightening iron for your brush and blow-dryer. Work it quickly and easily through the top, sides, front, and back, and you’ll be golden.

CAITLIN

The Style. Caitlin wears a short, graduated razor cut with lots of length at the top to create a wispy and light short-to-long feel. This gives the short shape pieciness and movement with soft edges, and a side part sweeps across the face, drawing attention to her eyes. It’s a fun and flirty hairstyle. Caitlin had some previous uneven color, so this demipermanent brown touch evens out her hair color while adding shine and definition.

Stylability. Short styles are easy to manage, control, and manipulate. I used only a tiny amount of product to keep the style soft and movable. To get this look, mix a dab of texture paste and a dab of hair créme in your palm, and use your fingers to texturize the cut, keeping it relatively loose and messy, with a sexy matte finish. Or use the versatility of the cut to have fun shaping all sorts of different styles. Move the part to the left or to the right; mess it up or smooth it out; even use a bit more product to spike it up into a more vampish style. You need only ten minutes to make yourself look cool and contemporary, not to mention sexy and sophisticated.

BRIGHTON

The Style. This is a youthful, choppy bob with bangs. The back is razor-cut quite short, up to the nape of her neck, and this helps to build structure and allows the hair to become elevated, which gives the impression of volume you see here. I also used the razor to put in some random layers, giving the hair separation and pieciness. As you can see, there’s no definite line in the bangs; they’ve just been texturized to be movable, carefree, and easy. This is a great cut for a hip young girl—it’s a modern, edgy, and fun way to wear the hair. For the color, I just used subtle highlighting for depth and dimension.

Stylability. There’s so much looseness and freedom in the cut that the styling is ever so easy. I used a texture paste on wet hair and blow-dried it using my fingers to shape the style. You can do the same inside ten or fifteen minutes. Change it by moving the placement of the part or messing it up even more for an oh-so-sexy, just-rolled-out-of-bed look.

NADIA

The Style. This classic short and layered graduation is perfect for Nadia’s classically medium-smooth hair texture. Again, her hair has been razor-cut quite short at the back, right up to the nape—a great technique to lift the shape and add fullness and volume. The bangs sweep elegantly across her face; they create softness and a little sassiness for Nadia’s newly polished do. Again, the emphasis is on a light and loose, modern, easy-to-wear haircut that promotes youthfulness and beauty in a client-friendly I-can-shape-this-style sort of way. This cut is one of my first choices for a client, perhaps in her forties, fifties, or sixties, who wants to look younger. The short, soft shape helps a lot. For the color, an allover chestnut demipermanent single-process accented with subtle high- and lowlighting in the bangs softens the complexion and adds dimension to the shape of the cut.

Stylability. The shape of this cut makes styling easy. It wants to be loose and messy, and that’s your focus in shaping it at home. I used a texture paste and a styling créme mixed together in my palms and then worked it through the top, sides, middle, and back, from roots to ends of damp hair. Following that came a quick blast of heat from the dryer, with only the fingers to style the hair as you see it here—supple and free. That’s all you need to do, too. To add a bit more glamour and glitz, a shine or holding spray polishes up the finish even more.

CHRIS

The Style. Lucky Chris! Her hair is smooth, shiny, and straight, which gives her a lot of great options. I went for this signature box bob with bangs. The hair was scissor-cut to make sure the lines were clean and symmetrical, which enhances the healthy appearance of her hair. The full, straight bangs create the width that opens up her eyes for an ultramodern and youthful look. The color is an espresso bean single process, an enhancement of her natural color that really brings out the sultry shine. A style-savvy do that is brilliant for youthfulness and natural beauty.

Stylability. The key in styling such a straight and smooth look is to enhance these elements. I applied a defrizz serum from the midlengths to the ends and blow-dried on a high heat with a flat brush. Though Chris’s hair is not particularly prone to frizz, serum also straightens and smooths out all hair types, and that’s exactly what it’s done here. This look of a bold and confident woman can be achieved with a fifteen-minute blow-dry.

LAUREEN

The Style. Laureen has beautiful, shiny, medium-smooth hair. I layered her long one-length cut into this slightly shorter, more polished look. The bangs are side parted and sweep elegantly across her bright, flickering eyes. This graceful, cultured, and sophisticated style adds youthfulness and beauty in an easy-to-wear way. The color is a dark brown enhancement of her natural hue and fits well with Laureen’s complexion.

Stylability. The shape of the cut makes this so easy to style. If you want to keep it straight and smooth, apply a volume foam from roots to ends with a styling or setting créme or lotion, also from roots to ends. Together the products build structure and hold the look in place. After the product application, blow-dry with a round or flat brush in smooth, straight, and easy motions. This takes around twenty minutes, but you can quicken it up by using a straightening iron instead. To create some sexy flowing waves for a night out, or even just for a change, use a curling iron to wave and twist the hair, resulting in a more flirty approach, as I did with Laureen’s more curly style.

LEE

The Style. Lee wears this short, choppy, and oh-so-cute pixie cut. A great style for the young and trendy, and anyone who wants a great hairdo with a minimum of fuss in the styling. I razor-cut it into this playful, messy texture with a few longer, wispy bits left in the back for a touch more femininity. The short style brings out all the features in Lee’s face while the broken-up bangs filter beautifully into the eyes. For the color, a face-framing highlight adds a touch of sparkle and embellishes the fun, flirty nature of the cut.

Stylability. It doesn’t get any easier than this! Even leaving the hair unshampooed for a few days gives awesome natural texture, meaning there’s no need to blow-dry at all. Don’t worry, hair this short doesn’t get too greasy. If that’s not for you, then do what I did and apply a texture-giving paste, gel, or créme. Just have fun working it in and see what kind of textures you can create. You can slick it straight for a smooth matte finish, or mess it up for a punchy slept-in look.

Great Cuts for Thick Hair

JESSICA

The Style. Jessica has such sweet, warm, and doll-like facial features that the idea was to bring out this beauty in the cut. Her hair is thick, so this classic short and textured cropped razor cut makes her hair ultramanageable and ultraversatile. Short, textured waves and layers are a great option when you want to add strength and definition to the face, and they make thick hair easy to manage, but in a soft and loose way. It’s a free and messy style with a rich, dark brown single-process color tone, accented with hints of red. The matte finish of this color enhances the shape of the cut and provides the perfect contrast to her skin tone.

Stylability. Even though longer hair can be pulled up or down into all sorts of ponytails and twists, short hair is the most versatile for styling. You can finger-style it into a messy shape, spike it up, smooth it out, and even blow it dry with a round or vent brush, or use your fingers to create a little more wave and movement. In this instance, I used a texturizing paste for the separation you see here along with a moisture-rich hair créme to polish up the look. Mix the two together and apply from roots to ends on damp hair, before giving it a superquick blast of heat from the blow-dryer, aided by some gentle finger styling to create a soft, textured, and lightly messy look, just as Jessica wears it here. For hair this short, texturizing paste and a light-hold hair créme are your two go-to products, although a volume-building styling or setting créme gives the look extra lift, and a shine spray adds dazzle for the finish. A totally quick and easy hairstyle giving you control and flexibility—five minutes in the morning is all you need.

HILARY

The Style. This is one of my signature styles. I love a classic graduated razor bob cut with a soft symmetrical line. It’s a great option for thick hair because the cut creates looseness, swing, and movement for hair that is normally weighed down. It’s cut to just below the jaw, making a perfect frame for her face, while the bangs are also razor cut, making them a touch choppy, as they drape effortlessly just above the eyes. Here is a truly modern way to wear your hair. Hilary has naturally red hair, a beautiful rarity that I left as it was.

Stylability. For this sort of style, you want to create smoothness as well as volume. A quick blow out with volume-enhancing product and a flat brush is your ticket to get the style quickly and easily, in ten or fifteen minutes. I applied a volume foam to dampened hair and blow-dried, using the wraparound technique (illustrated here). This added extra smoothness to the look. To change it, you can adjust the placement of your part or try the volumizing blow-out (here). A great way to add extra body and bounce to any kind of hairstyle.

MELISSA

The Style. Melissa has lovely thick, strong hair, making her a great candidate for this sharp, bold look. The razor cut with sweeping bangs brings out the power in her eyes. It’s also heavily layered all through the top, which creates a lot of freedom for Melissa to wear her hair messy or smooth, spiked or flat. This is a fun hairstyle and great if you want a hip hairstyle that requires little or no maintenance. The color is a half-blue, half-black single process that is dark and ultrashiny, a great contrast to her crystal clear eyes.

Stylability. There’s lots of versatility here, and even if you do nothing at all it still looks great. In this instance, I just used a blow-dryer, finger styling, and a shine spray. Shine spray not only shines up short hair, it also fights flyaways, keeping the hair flat and smooth. Ten minutes and the style is yours. And you can easily change the part placement. Add a dime-sized dab of texture paste, applied from roots to ends, and you can make a much messier, more rock-and-roll style as well. A great all-rounder that offers the modern woman lots of options.

ANNE

The Style. Anne wears a creative, graphic shape with heavy emphasis on the bangs. The strong outline frames the features of her face, but by using the razor, I kept the back loose and shaggy, which gives Anne the choice of smooth or messy. (You can see the difference in the photos.) Her thick, straight hair now swings and moves with flexibility and freedom. It’s a bold and edgy cut that is fun and easy to wear. For the color, I used a single-process dark chocolate to add extra shine and definition to her already lusty hair.

Stylability. The versatility of this cut makes it great for styling at home. To keep it smooth, apply a smoothing créme or lotion from roots to ends and blow-dry with a flat or round brush with the aim of keeping it smooth and straight. Added shine brings out the definition of the cut, so I finished with a light film of shine spray spread evenly across the hair, which is great for visible gloss and an elegant, polished finish. Or for the messy, slept-in look, simply work a texture-giving paste, gel, or créme from roots to ends of damp hair and make a messy style your focus—a supercool way to wear this style and a great look for a night on the town. If you’re planning to work by day and play by night, you can even stick the texturizer in your bag and work it in after office hours to create that striking change, perfect for parties.

STEPHANIE

The Style. Stephanie’s hair is thick, long, and luscious with a nice natural wave. That’s great, but prior to this cut she was being weighed down by all the density and her cut had no true shape. I started by scissor-cutting away the extra weight and cutting in long and loose layers to give Stephanie’s hair the movement and softness she craved, while still keeping the length long. This opened up and slimmed down her facial features. And, as you see, I gave her long and sexy sweeping bangs that cut across her eyes beautifully. This means that Stephanie can now style her hair straight when she wants to look polished and professional, and she can style her hair into sultry waves when she wants to look extrahot. For the color, soft highlights were the order of the day. Lighter than her natural color, these give the illusion of a lighter hair texture and sit effortlessly all around her face, bringing out her great complexion.

Stylability. Two contrasting but equally fabulous looks make this a standout style. Stephanie can use a smoothing lotion or even a defrizz serum with a blow-dryer and flat brush to blow-dry the hair smooth and straight for an elegant and refined style. Or, to bring the sexy back, she can ramp it up by using the natural wave in her hair to create flowing, tousled locks that are a real head turner. To do that, she blow-dries her hair loosely, without a brush, until it is around 80 percent dry. Then all she has to do is apply hair créme or styling créme together with a shine spray, from roots to ends. Then she can just cup and scrunch her hair to her heart’s content. Cupping and scrunching really works in the wave—deliciously attractive. As her hair is long and thick, the smooth blow out takes around twenty minutes, but for such a sophisticated style it’s worth the effort. The second style needs to be scrunched periodically until the hair is dry.

LAURA

The Style. Laura’s hair is long and superthick. Before she came to us it was also full of excessive volume, a typical problem with thick hair. To cut that out, and get more freedom and movement in the style, I went for this long layer cut, which makes the hair soft and bouncy looking. I didn’t cut in any bangs; her long, thick hair off the face exposes her wonderful, bubbly features. Her hair is a lovely natural brown, which suits her so well that color was not needed.

Stylability. To get this voluptuous look, I set Laura’s hair in loose rollers. I used volume foam from the roots to the ends to build some structure, and a setting lotion, mainly focused at the roots, before clipping her into rollers for thirty minutes, releasing, and then finishing the style with a brush, blow-dry, and a mist of holding spray. That’s too much work for every morning, but it’s great for any sort of occasion, especially a date—the result is supersexy and likely to drive your man crazy! For a more user-friendly day-to-day do, simply blow-dry the hair with a round brush and use a volume foam or a styling lotion or créme to build up the style.

MORGAN

The Style. Morgan has thick hair and I wanted to maximize the appearance of volume and fullness. This collar-length layer cut, swept off the face, does just that. It looks soft and carefree, yet with structure and strength. A modern style perfect for shapely looks and versatility. The face-framing, multidimensional highlight is lighter than her natural color and also gives the illusion of volume.

Stylability. This one is easy to style straight and easy to style wavy. For the straight look, I used volume foam, applied at the roots and worked through to the ends, as another source of fullness, before blow-drying her hair in a straight line with a round brush, finishing the look with a holding spray, another great tool to help hair hold its shape. Putting in wave and movement is easy, too. The easiest way is to use a curling iron to create tousled loose waves around the face, the sides, and the back, anywhere you crave it. If you fancy it, you can even pin the hair into place after you’ve put the waves in. Pinning in your waves with bobby pins holds them in place, ensuring your waves look sexy and sophisticated all day, all night. And they’re perfect for any occasion. The shape of this cut makes styling a breeze, and fifteen or twenty minutes should be enough to get you looking fashionably elegant.

Great Cuts for Curly Hair

KELLY

The Style. Kelly’s medium-smooth, curly hair is a great fit for this full-bodied, curl-enhancing cut. It’s a scissor cut and has been heavily layered throughout to create the space and freedom that accentuate the shapeliness and allow for modern movement in curly hair. I deliberately cut the bangs short to expose her forehead, creating a slim-line effect. The blond highlights really make Kelly’s striking blue eyes pop with feminine beauty. This provides a nice balancing effect because this loose, wearable cut was inspired by Kelly’s love of rock music and is definitely in the rock star—style category.

Stylability. Oh so easy. After the cut, all I did to style this fabulous look was apply a touch of curl-enhancing product and a touch of moisture-giving hair créme, one after the other, from roots to ends, on damp hair. The curl enhancer defines the shape of the curls while the hair créme softens, smoothes, and keeps any potential frizz at bay. I let the hair dry naturally, and then, to hold the style in place, used a midhold hairspray, which sets the style for the whole day. (This isn’t essential, so if you’re in a rush and want to leave the house while your hair continues to air dry, no problem.) If you feel like ramping up the styling a notch, apply your first two products as outlined, but dry your hair with a diffuser rather then letting it air-dry. A diffuser is easy to use and would give this style an extra kick of fullness and volume, great for a night on the town. A diffuser can induce frizz, so apply a more liberal amount of hair créme and don’t overdry. Then wait for the admiring glances you’ll get for such bouncy, voluptuous, curly hair.

AUBRIE

The Style. Aubrie has lovely natural curls that are vibrant and full of character and volume. Her only trouble is that there are lots of them and her hair is thick, too, which makes tangled-together curls a real possibility—and a real style destroyer. To prevent this, and to let Aubrie wear those natural curls naturally, I created a heavily layered rounded cut with a strong structure that holds the shape of her curls. The strong structure allows the curls to stack on top of each other, while the point-cutting technique (cutting the hair from a vertical angle instead of the more traditional horizontal angle) offers enough space so that we can see the beautiful texture in her hair. A truly natural curl-enhancing cut. For the color, I used a midlevel brown glaze at the roots, which matches Aubrie’s natural hair color, but a touch of added color brings out that brown in a nice and shiny way. There are a few highlights, too, because this is a great way to showcase the definition in the curls.

Stylability. I believe that the best way to style curly hair is with a cut that celebrates the curls and gives them enough space to move. Then styling curly hair, considered a nightmare by many curly heads, is totally free and easy. All I did for Aubrie was give her a cut that plays into her natural curly hair texture. And what did I do to style it? Barely anything at all. Into damp hair I put a curl-enhancing créme to bring out the shape of her curls and a styling créme just to hold and set the look in place. No blow-drying; I simply cupped and squeezed her hair all over for two minutes at a time, every fifteen minutes or so, until it was dry. And that’s it, easy as pie. It may take awhile for the hair to dry naturally, but you don’t have to wait around the house while this is happening, Apply the product, leave the house if you need to, and just remember to cup and squeeze every fifteen minutes until dry. (Want to know more about this technique? Check out Chapter 5, “Styling at Home,” and “Controlled Curls,” here.)

HEIDI

The Style. Heidi has naturally fine and moderately curly hair, which can be a bit of a problem if you don’t get the right kind of cut. The shape and definition of the curls are likely to fall flat, and often you’re left wondering whether to style your hair straight or curly. I went for a classic short and round, heavily layered do. This provides structure and shape for her lovely, luscious hair that celebrates her curl formation, while also giving the option of an easy, straight style. The cut creates elevation for her features and brings emphasis back where it belongs: the eyes. The color is a rich red and auburn single process that suits her complexion and looks shiny, glossy, and burnished.

Stylability. To enhance the soft, natural curl in Heidi’s hair, I used a curl-enhancing product and simply twisted the curls around my index finger to get that gorgeous spiral shape and exquisite round structure for the style. If that sounds like too much work for you, use the same product but replace your fingers with a curling iron, just to make sure the curls are set and defined. Either way, you can finish by misting in some holding spray to fix the look into place. Or, to straighten and smooth, use a volume foam and a flat paddle brush and blow-dry, focusing on making clean, straight lines. The volume foam helps the newly straightened hair retain body and bounce and the round brush blow-dry is a great way to smooth out your hair.

TARA

The Style. Tara’s tresses feature natural curl and a fine to thin texture. Again, the problem is giving enough structure and shape to the curls while also creating a vital illusion of thickness for such fine hair. This round two-and-a-half-inch cut really brings out that curly definition while the hairs sit on top of one another to create the appearance of fullness and volume. The bangs help this, too. Soft, loose, and draped effortlessly over Tara’s forehead, they add real substance to her style; putting the emphasis across the top of the cut slims down the features of her face. I love how the darkish brown allover single process adds extra definition to her curls, as well. Overall, this is a dynamic way to wear troublesome fine and curly hair.

Stylability. Normally tough-to-manage hair made absolutely easy. All I did was apply a curl-enhancing product to bring out the definition of her curls and a volume foam to disguise any fineness in the hair. No blow-dry; I just cupped and squeezed the curls into a natural formation. A ten-minute job anyone can do.

EMILY

The Style. Emily wears a rounded, layered bob, a great way to add definition to her medium-smooth curly locks and in an easy-to-wear way. I scissor-cut this one with lots and lots of layers as an extra way of encouraging these wonderful, shapely curls to come out to play. And lifting the hair away from the face creates a softer, more elegant look. The full head of light brown highlights gives Emily a nice warm color tone and also characterizes the curls. This a polished way for a modern professional to wear full-bodied curly hair.

Stylability. To give Emily extra volume, I applied a curl-enhancing product from roots to ends, gave them a quick squeeze, and then used a diffuser to blow-dry. The diffuser gives an extra jolt of volume and should take no more than fifteen minutes to do. Otherwise, just use your fingers to cup and squeeze the curls while they air-dry, which is perfect for when you need to leave the house in a hurry. If you feel like you need to fix the look in place, a light mist of holding spray will do the job admirably.

ALALEH

The Style. Alaleh has naturally loose and wavy curls, which she used to style straight pretty much every day. That’s a lot of work, so I wanted to give her a cut that would play into the movements in her hair. This short, round, graduated razor cut is perfect for her because the curls can be celebrated and it also adds extra fullness and volume, making the curls look full of spring and life. A great way for a professional or a busy mom to wear her curls naturally without too much fuss. And, as you can see, whenever Alaleh wants to go straight, that’s easy, too. The straight look was created by using a smoothing lotion with a straightening iron—so simple. For the color, an allover rich, darkish brown single process suits Alaleh’s brown eyes and complexion to a tee while also defining the shape of her curls.

Stylability. Because Alaleh’s curls are quite loose and susceptible to falling flat, I needed to help them get and hold their shape. I used a curl-promoting product to bring out the curls and a styling créme to help the hair stay set in perfect position. Then I used a curling iron to curl, twist, and shape the curls, with a light mist of holding spray at the end to fix everything into place. This is a great look on the weekend or for a night out, but it may take twenty or thirty minutes to do. For every day, cupping, scrunching, and squeezing your curls with a good dose of curling créme mixed with a styling or setting créme or lotion applied from roots to ends is enough to shape and style your look. Keep a holding spray in your bag and if curls start to droop, mist in a touch of that followed by another round of cupping, scrunching, and squeezing.

VICTORIA

The Style. Victoria’s hair is thick and lush, long and curly. Hair like this needs the extra weight to be taken out to create enough space and freedom for the hair to move, especially as Victoria has such amazing natural curls. The classic way to do this is to cut layers into the style. And Victoria’s cut is exactly that: a long, heavily layered scissor cut that has a sexy, free-flowing appeal. The layers drape down and across the features of her face, enhancing her natural beauty—a timeless hairstyle that will never go out of fashion. Victoria is a shiny natural brunette, so for the color, I went for a chestnut-toned single process as an easy enhancement to add extra luster.

Stylability. With a style and hair like this you can showcase the natural sheen and smoothness of a straight look or the beautiful natural curly definition. To get the straight look, I applied a styling créme from the roots to the ends, which slicks, sets, and holds the hair, and a defrizz serum from the midlengths to the ends to ease the excess volume that is common in thick and heavy tresses. Then came the blow-dry, in this case on high heat using a large round brush, focusing on smoothing out each section of hair. At the end, there were a few unruly bits and pieces, which is normal for curly heads who are styling their hair straight, so I used a straightening iron to straighten and smooth it out even more. And that was it, done. Thick and curly hair types going for a long, straight style take a few minutes more to style, but the styling done here should take you no more than twenty-five minutes. For a quicker turnaround, Victoria can wear her hair naturally curly and use her curly cowlicks for individuality. To do this I applied a curl-enhancing product and a setting créme to wet hair and cupped, squeezed, and scrunched the curls every fifteen minutes until they were dry.