Hair
Brow boosters ... Elizabeth Hurley has perfected the arch and sweep. Photo: Getty Images
There's a scene in that 1994 gothic hit, Interview with the Vampire, where a performance of quite literal horror takes place in Paris. Do you remember it? A troupe of vampires kill a girl onstage, unbeknownst to the audience, who believe all the vampires, and the girl, are acting. Louis (Brad Pitt) muses, "Vampires pretending to be humans pretending to be vampires - how avant-garde!" Which is probably a little morbid for the analogy I'm about to present you with, but I am a rather dark and moody type so please, stay close.
I have naturally wavy hair but when I arise from slumber, my mane is more Russell Brand than Katy Perry. So I have to straighten it with a straightening iron in order to curl it properly so that it looks almost exactly the same as before. Only more polished, more "done" and therefore more acceptable to society. For you see, I'm a wavy-haired person pretending to have straight hair pretending to have wavy hair. What's French for "hard work"?
To begin (cue: fog machine), shampoo your hair. After you shampoo, I recommend using a conditioning masque to minimise hair damage. Pureology's HydraWhip is fluffy and light and does the trick in just two minutes. After you've combed
it through using the little comb that comes with it, wash it out and towel-dry your hair. Now apply a protecting serum about the size of a 10-cent piece. Everyone raves about Moroccanoil for a reason: it's awesome. And let me tell you, without a serum you could very well end up with that most objectionable of hair textures: crispness.
Now, if you have time, allow your hair to dry naturally. (This is the witching hour for me, where I am not yet human and yet not far enough away from the Russell Brand aesthetic to venture out among proper society.) Once it's dry, apply a holding product such as mousse or Redken's Curl Defining Cream from the middle of your hair to the ends. If your hair is like mine, you might want to use a hair straightener beforehand but if it's already straight, proceed directly to the curling iron.
The curling iron took me a little while to master, but then again, I've never been particularly gifted at anything involving hand-eye co-ordination. Some beauty experts recommend starting at the ends and winding up, while others recommend starting near the scalp and winding down. The primary aim is to produce soft, bouncy curls but your secondary aim should be to prevent your skin from getting singed, which for me turned out to be harder than a coffin lid.
The bigger the curling iron, the bigger your curls, so choose according to the look you're after. You can finish off with a small amount of styling wax if you like, but I find that's way too much product in my hair. I leave it to you to experiment - and enjoy the sunrise.
