Summary of Messy hair: the perfectly mastered tousled look
- How to get messy hair effect?
- What is the messy hair theory?
- How to get a tousled hair look?
- What hair product makes a messy look?
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AI Overview
AI Overview
Achieve a messy hair effect by applying sea salt spray to damp hair, blow-drying with a diffuser while scrunching, and finishing with a matte clay or powder for volume. Key techniques include avoiding over-brushing, using a curling wand on random sections, or applying texture products to the roots to create an “I woke up like this” look.
Key Techniques for Messy Hair:
Product Application: Use sea salt spray on damp hair for texture. Apply matte clay, wax, or texture powder to roots for volume and hold.
Styling Methods:
Blow-drying: Use a blow dryer with a diffuser in a circular motion, scrunching the hair with your hands, particularly focusing on lifting the roots.
Curling Wand: Wrap random sections of hair around a wide-barrel curling wand, alternating between vertical and horizontal, away from the face.
Scrunching: Gently squeeze hair in bunches while it is damp,, which helps train it to have a wavy, messy pattern.
Maintenance: Avoid brushing, as this removes the texture. Re-apply product or use a flexible hold hairspray to keep the style in place.
This video shows you how to achieve a messy hair look with a step-by-step tutorial:
1m
Gavin Hefferon
YouTube • May 15, 2023
Tips for Specific Hair Types:
Short/Male Hair: Utilize a high fade or undercut, and apply matte clay or wax for a, text, structured look.
Long/Fine Hair: Opt for mousse or sea salt spray to add lift without weighing hair down.
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Messy hair, or the tousled look, is one of the hottest hair trends of the moment. This deliberately dishevelled hairstyle plays on naturalness and appeals to both women and men. Let’s take a closer look at the messy hair phenomenon.
Understanding the tousled effect of messy hair
Messy hair is above all the art of controlled disorder. Contrary to what its name suggests, this hairstyle is anything but unkempt. It is based on a paradox: styling your hair so that it looks like it hasn’t been styled. Popularised on fashion catwalks and social media, this style responds to a quest for authenticity in our relationship with beauty.
During SS26 Fashion Week, fashion houses such as Fashion East and Marco Rambaldi showcased silhouettes with subtly messy hairstyles. This staging definitively establishes messy hair as an assertive and fully embraced style.
This trend spans generations. If we go back a little, the beautiful and fiery Serena Van der Woodsen, an iconic character from the series Gossip Girl, already sported this faux-neglected look. And today, celebrities such as Blake Lively, the actress who plays her, Miley Cyrus and Jenna Ortega, star of the Netflix series Wednesday, have adopted it, contributing to its democratisation.
Suitable for all lengths and hair types, messy hair can be worn just as easily to a casual brunch as to a professional meeting, provided it is styled with subtlety.
The secret to successful messy hair
To achieve messy hair, it all starts with the right cut and products.
- Short hair: textured crop or undercut.
- Mid-length hair: light layers to create movement.
- Long hair: staggered layers to give volume and fluidity.
When it comes to products, three essentials are all you need: styling paste, sea salt spray and volumising powder.
The technique: work on damp hair, scrunch the strands with your fingers and dry to create natural volume, sculpting a few strategic strands. The effect should remain asymmetrical and spontaneous, never too perfect. Here is the editorial team’s selection of products to enhance your hair.
From left to right:
Cut By Fred matte spray at La Boutique du Coiffeur – €15
Bumble and Bumble matte beach spray at Sephora – €37
L’Oréal Professionnel volumising powder at Zalando – €15.45
Messy hair variations
Messy hair isn’t just one hairstyle: it’s an infinite number of styles depending on your mood. For a casual look, try loose waves, which give the impression of having just come back from the beach, even in the middle of winter. For a more urban touch, the messy bun, a slightly loose high bun, is always a safe bet, perfect for those who want a cool look without spending hours on it.
Shorter hair lends itself to a textured effect, worked with styling paste to create movement without stiffness. Those with long hair can dare to try the half bun or the loose ponytail, two quick and effective styles that frame the face while maintaining that ‘I styled my hair without thinking about it’ look.
Some even prefer the messy chic look, a deceptively improvised style often seen on the red carpet: a rebellious strand on a carefully blow-dried head of hair, natural but controlled volume, subtle shine. Regardless of length or style, the idea remains the same: embrace the mess, but with elegance.
Article written by Lohanne Mollo
Translated by Bethszabee Garner