It’s a universal frustration that your best hair day seems to happen when you aren’t trying and have nowhere to show it off. It can feel impossible to recreate a truly effortless look, but there are a couple of tricks you can try. Celebrity hairstylist Dimitris Giannetos recently recreated those perfect post-Pilates waves you get after a reformer class on Kristen Bell, and it’s easier than you might think. For Bell’s latest look, Giannetos skipped polished, uniform curls in favor of loose, irregular waves with a slightly lived-in hairline.
Giannetos wanted to create “the texture you always have after an intense Pilates session, when you free your ponytail and have this amazing piecey, wavy hair texture,” Giannetos writes. The catch is that a truly effortless look is so unique and hard to recreate.
The irregularity of post-Pilates waves is exactly what makes it look so effortless. A ponytail leaves a bend in one spot, a little lift in another and a few pieces that go their own way. Mimicking that randomness is the key to nailing the look.
“I usually use two different sizes of curlers, always a small one, and I always create twisted curls in different directions,” he says. Varying the barrel size keeps the wave pattern from repeating, and switching direction from section to section helps stop the curls from merging into one uniform curl.
Giannetos has a secret for recreating the natural wavy hairline you tend to get from the light sweat you break during class: After curling, add mousse to a comb, gently comb back the hairline and let it air dry. “This brings back your natural texture without using any water,” he explains.
