McKNIGHT MAGIC
Bottling his carefully carefree aesthetic, celebrated hairstylist Sam McKnight is bringing his backstage expertise to our beauty cabinets. By Remy Rippon.
Sam McKnight has been creating hair trends since his very first Vogue editorial shoot in 1977. Supermodels from Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell to newcomers such as Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner request his singular brand of perfectly imperfect tresses for modelling gigs, and he was even on speed-dial to Diana, Princess of Wales after lopping her shoulder-length locks into a edgy crop on the set of a British Vogue shoot. “I cut her hair off really short that day,” says the London-based stylist. “I spent seven years with her after that.”
Fast-forward four decades and he is among only a handful of hairstylists Karl Lagerfeld trusts to conjure up a complementary ’do to his runway designs backstage at Fendi and Chanel. “I’m doing 15 shows this season, three or four more than last year,” he says when asked if he is considering a change of pace.
If there was any more proof required of McKnight’s sustained effect on the industry, it’s in his most recent venture, Hair by Sam McKnight. Recently launched into Mecca Cosmetica, the succinct edit of styling products aims to demystify hair-styling via fool-proof, say-as-the-ydo formulas. With names such as Cool Girl Barely There Texture Mist and Easy Up-Do Texture Spray, the line bottles the effortlessly stylish aesthetic synonymous with a McKnight mane. Here’s his advice on how to get it …
It’s not all about undone
While we’re yet to meet a woman who hasn’t, at one point or another, attempted the insouciant cascade of effortless tresses (even if, ironically, it does warrant a considerable amount of effort), the style may have run its course. “I think we’re moving on from that,” says McKnight. “It’s not about being completely undone.” While he’s not suggesting we relegate the texture sprays to the back of the beauty cabinet, McKnight does advise styling the hair to a point, and then allowing it to relax. He recommends brushing out a style that appears ‘done’, or spritzing a fine mist of Cool Girl Barely There Texture Mist to inject an effortless ease while maintaining polish. “It’s like that famous quote that you look in the mirror with all your jewellery on, and then take some off,” he says.
Cool it with body
If your go-to blow-dry technique involves a round brush to promote height at the roots, then it may be time to switch it up. “I think too much body at the roots can make hair look old-fashioned. There are some things that keep hair looking cool, and that is when it’s a bit flatter at the roots than you would normally wear it.” That doesn’t mean forgoing styling altogether. Direct heat and styling tools from the mid-lengths to ends (leaving the last inch of hair free for a lived-in look) to avoid body-building at the roots and the resulting appearance of having spent hours in front of the mirror.
Up and away
While the up-do may have seemingly stuffy connotations, the best styles are as simple to achieve as they are effective. McKnight affectionately dubs his Easy Up-Do Texture Spray “twenty hairpins in a can” for its brawny hold and added dose of texture. “Just blast it through the hair and, if you want to braid it or put it in a ponytail or a messy little up-do like a knot and you pin it, it will stay up rather than sliding out on itself. It creates a bit of grit and acts like Velcro on itself,” says McKnight. “If you have unprocessed, glossy hair, this gets rid of the perfect ness of it.” The best part? Like all of McKnight’s products, it simply brushes out, meaning you can switch up your style from day to day without the hair feeling lacklustre from an overload of product.
Rethink hairspray
It may be one of the most enduring products in any hair kit, but hairspray is getting a rethink. McKnight’s take on it, honed backstage at runway shows, hits the precise balance between hold and manageability. Put simply, it won’t deliver washboard hold, which is why he advises spritzing over locks and lightly brushing it through before you style. “I always do that,” explains McKnight. “With hairspray, get your section and spray it down before the heat goes on it. Then tong it, and it will lock in that curl.”
Dry shampoo, but not as you know it
If you thought dry shampoo had a singular objective – soaking up oil on day-two locks – McKnight is here to teach you otherwise. “We’ve developed these as multitaskers. The dry shampoo has a very, very light hairspray base so it will also act as a root volumiser and it will give you just a bit of texture and volume,” he explains. Decades working backstage, where McKnight often has only a matter of minutes to create a look, meant his formulas work double-duty while staying true to its label. “It’s dry shampoo but it’s not a whole lot of white stuff: it’s invisible.”
“I think too much body at the roots can make hair look old-fashioned. There are some things that keep hair looking cool, and that is when it’s a bit flatter at the roots”