How stars can embrace the new trend
By Richard Ward Whose salon is hairdresser to the Duchess of Cambridge
THE Duchess of Cambridge pulled off a red-carpet triumph last week, wearing her hair curlier than we’ve seen since her university days. With ringlets cascading down on one side and the rest of her hair sleek and smooth and parted off-centre, this natural yet glamorous style — coupled with her sparkling sea-green dress — gave her a beautiful, mermaid-esque appearance. She looked simply stunning. This was quite a departure from the big, soft waves we’re more used to seeing on Catherine. Last week’s curls were much tighter, but styled with plenty of bounce, achieved using Velcro rollers and then hair tongs and raking through with fingers to gently tease out individual curls. It was fabulous to see one of the world’s most glamorous women making a virtue of her natural wave, while gloriously glossing it up. And, dare I say it, this look is anti-ageing, too. Just don’t be fooled — it isn’t achieved by blasting hair dry with a diffuser, bunging in some mousse and backcombing with fingers. There’s no element of just scrunching and hoping for the best here, either. Catherine’s look is an evolution of the way countless women embraced their natural kinks during lockdown for a more relaxed, modern take on glamour. And now that they’re back out in the world, they want to show those curls off in public. But if you simply wash and go, there’s a danger you could end up looking like you got caught in the rain. Those tiny, tight curls you can get around the hairline are the enemy of the groomed-but-natural look. It’s a simple fix: just blow-dry the first few inches of the root area around your hairline from ear to ear. You don’t have to touch the nape or fiddle with the back; only what people can see. The temptation then is to keep going. But that’s where you must stop. Leave the rest to dry naturally, before putting serum through the curls that emerge to give them definition. Or use rollers and tongs to ramp up the glamour. Either way, make sure you use some serum and then, voila, you’ll look young, fresh and effortlessly glamorous — just like the Duchess. Here, I share my thoughts on how other stars can go back to their curly roots . . .