THE HAIR WE ALL WANT

Find a style to suit you

There are words we use again and again when writing about hair at Red: loose and lived-in, easy and undone, Frenchgirl chic and LA waves. All shorthand for the kind of hair that makes our hearts skip a beat; hair that doesn’t try too hard and is happily, beautifully unconcerned with trends. This, then, isn’t a story about trends, but one about the way we want to wear our hair year in, year out, made modern by texture that’s just-so, the perfect (imperfect) curl… or by something in the air we’re calling hair’s new mood.

‘People think of the 1960s as hair’s golden decade but, for me, this is a far more exciting time,’ says Headmasters’ artistic ambassador Jonathan Soons, who created these looks. He credits Instagram and Youtube for the current vibe: immediate, democratic and hands-on. ‘A messy bob can come out of a California salon and suddenly everyone wants it. Or a French blogger shows you how she gets her fringe to fall perfectly. There’s inspiration everywhere. Combine that with innovation in colour and cutting, and you’ve finally got the hair you’ve always wanted.’ Soons himself is an ardent collector of cool-girl references (to look up his current Instagram muses is to fall down a rabbit hole of hair dreams – search for Lucy Williams, Taylor Lashae, Jelena Cikoja and the perennially chic Violette, if you dare).

And, actually, the hair we’ve always wanted doesn’t change that much. ‘I’ve been cutting variations on the shaggy midi since for ever,’ says Soons. ‘It’s effortless, easy to style and grows out so well – the perfect blend of boyish and beautiful. What brings it up to date is swapping the insanely heavy layering of the 1990s for invisible layers. Fringes, too – they’re the ultimate in sex appeal, especially if you go with the French take, which kicks out at the side for a cool 1970s feel. And the explosion of incredible new styling products means everything can be perfectly executed.’

Ah, the products. How many of the following do you immediately want: a texture mousse for what Ouai’s Jen Atkin (another Instagram must-follow) calls ‘cool-girl Pinterest hair’ (Ouai Haircare Dry Texture Foam, £24); a shine treatment with a hazy and temporary apricot-rose tint (Kevin Murphy Autumn.angel, £21); or a whisper-weight mist-on wax for hydration, gloss and hold (Oribe Flash Form, £39). Just as desirable (and user-friendly) are the looks on the following pages. A tumbledown up-do, a brow-skimming fringe, Cali-girl waves and what Soons calls a ‘lazily beautiful curl’. Hair to love; hair to live with.

Here’s how to get it…