Style, for Yves Saint Laurent, started with his black leather boots and finished with his wavy mop of hair. In contrast to his sharply crafted wardrobe, his haircut was soft and elegant: a thick, layered style which spilled ever so slightly across his forehead. Maybe the intention was to go au natural, maybe it was to hide all those savoir faire secrets. Either way, it was definitely French: a symbol of cultivated cool because it looked attractive without being too try-hard. (For the record, that’s how we should all be approaching our grooming regimes.)
The reality is that we’re not all blessed with that brilliant Gallic insouciance (nor such hirsute heads). We are, however, blessed with good barbers – so we called up one of our favourites, Joe Mills (founder of Joe & Co), and had a chat with him about how to achieve the designer’s effortless ’do.
Joe, how can we get our hair looking as cool as Yves Saint Laurent’s?
What’s clear is that Saint Laurent’s cut is all about softness and movement – about being able to run your fingers through your hair and flick your fringe.
Before anything, you need your hair to grow out a minimum of three inches around the back and sides and, ideally, longer through the top. Ask your barber to give you a classic layered cut with more length and weight though the top and towards the fringe.
You don’t want this look to be thinned out, as you need that heaviness to help with natural movement. It suits medium to thick hair more, ideally with a slight wave. If you have curly hair or very straight hair, the real work comes with the styling.
Enter the blow-dry. You will need a decent blow-drying product to get the natural hold that Saint Laurent mastered. I recommend using Kevin Murphy’s Body.Builder Volumising Mousse first – you’ll need a tangerine-sized blob, which you apply to clean, damp hair.
Using a hairdryer (I like Parlux’s Superturbo 2000) and a vent brush, blow-dry the sides back from your face. Then, using the brush, curl the back of your hair under and into the nape of your neck. Keep doing this until your hair is completely dry.
Now, onto the top. Using the vent brush, you want to start by blow-drying the hair back from your face. This will create some volume so it doesn’t sit too flat your head. As it starts to dry, it will fall naturally – this is when you need your round brush. Wrap your hair around the brush in the direction you want it go, and then dry it with the hairdryer to create the curl at the end, à la Laurent. Important tip: use your fingers to rake the hair where you want it to sit.
Finally, finish with a light blast of Kevin Murphy's Session.Spray to give it a little hold.
Now read:
Anthony Vaccarello’s first Saint Laurent show will go down in history
