Behind Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's flawless Cannes hairstyle
If there's one red carpet regular who serves inspiration for a look embodying timeless elegance with a modern nod, it's Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. And her appearances at the Cannes Film Festival 2024 are a case in point – not least thanks to her luxe-looking hairstyles.
"The hair we love to do on Rosie when we're collaborating together is a focus on gorgeous quality and shine," super-stylist Christian Wood tells us from the French Riviera. "There's always a level of 'simple sophistication', we like to call it." Whether worn up or down, prep is key to achieving her luxurious finish, he shares. "So we always use a really good shampoo and conditioner; the one I love the most is the Champo Kapha Balancing Collection as it keeps the hair really light and airy which is always important before styling red carpet looks."
To achieve Huntington-Whiteley's fluid waves for a gala appearance on Saturday, Wood began transforming her half-dried hair using the Champo Leave-in Perfecting Cream, "which is one of those miracle products every girl should own". Working a few pumps through mid-lengths and ends, this base "makes the hair softer and smoother", he explains. Next, he did "a classic round brush blow-dry", using a large Christophe Robin Natural Boar-Bristle Blowdry Hairbrush "which gives a fullness to the hair". Then he enhanced her waves using his preferred Ghd Curve Soft Curl Tong: "starting level with the nape of the neck, wrapping each section of hair around the barrel, holding for 10 seconds and releasing". Then – top tip – he went back in with the widest barrel curling tong he has to re-curl the ends, "as this keeps the wave bouncy and the hair overall looking luxurious". After letting the shape set for 20 minutes, Wood then added a tiny bit of serum to keep fluff at bay, followed by some of the Champo Weightless Hair Oil for added gloss, all locked in with some extra strong hold hairspray by Schwarzkopf.
As Huntington-Whiteley demonstrated, shiny hair "is one of the best ways to give vitality to the face".
The following evening the model and entrepreneur graced the festival with a hairstyle that was very different, but distinctly 'Rosie' – a "simple up-do with a slight architectural feel reading modern, while also Old Hollywood-y".
With his philosophy that "if you want to do sleek, snatched hair, you might as well be doing some gorgeous conditioning too", Wood used the "ultimate product duo for slicking back the hair": the aforementioned Leave-in Perfecting Cream and the Weightless Hair Oil by Champo, the former applied to Huntington-Whiteley's damp hair from root to tip, and the latter layered on top from root to mid lengths. This gave her hair a "glass-like effect".
Smoothing it into a ponytail, he then blow-dried the lengths and straightened them with Ghd straighteners, before "twisting the hair into a rope and then an '8' shaped formation" secured to the head with Frenchies Velvet Hair Pins, leaving some ends poking out. This detail added "a spikiness to the look", lending that signature modernity to otherwise classical glamour, he adds.
We can't wait to see what they do next.
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