Spring is the season of romance — blooming flowers and warm nights, weddings and proms.
It’s a perfect time for curlies to try out the many new hair accessories. The jeweled clips, headbands and ponytail holders, adorned with a rainbow of gems and stones, are a fun way add spice to kinks, curls and ringlets. With so many new products on the market, one needn’t spend hundreds of dollars. There are accessories available for every budget.
‘Accessories are a big fashion statement,’ says Christo of Christo Fifth Avenue. ‘There are so many good accessories you can wear to look chic and fashionable. It’s a great way to get curly hair off the face while making a statement.’For short curls, Christo likes little combs to pull the hair back, adding a fashionable flair. For longer hair, he uses a bobby pin, pulling back the hair, criss crossing it, tying it into a knot and using a jeweled bobby pin to accessorize it. Accessories adorned with pink, green and orange crystals are hot for spring. Jean Shan of XShan hair accessories says the type of accessory depends on the customer’s hair. Those with long hair might opt for claws and banana clips to pull the hair up. For fancy events, customers opt for higher-end items such as jeweled ponytail holders and barrettes.
Dana Kaplan of M Salon in Cambridge, Mass. likes to use fun barrettes to create a fun twist. He twists up pieces of hair and clips them, twists up more hair and clips them, continuing the process until the client gets the desired look.
‘It’s a moppy, Bridget Bardot kind of look,’ Kaplan says.New York stylist Antonio Soddu, creator of the CurlFriends line of products, believes the most difficult thing for many curlies is to put up their hair in a way that looks natural. He likes to use fun barrettes and clips to pull up some pieces of hair while leaving others loose.
‘People with thicker curly hair mustn’t pick up all their hair,’ Soddu says. ‘They should create different shapes. If you pick up the side and the back, you get an amazing look without pulling it all up.’Soddu also suggests putting a series of beautiful clips around the face to flatten it out, leaving the rest loose and curly. He likes to use a variety rather than putting in identical accessories.
‘Everything should look fun and casual,’ he says.In addition to the many barrettes, bobby pins and combs available this season, Valerie Stoneking of Steam Salon in Los Angeles is a big fan of scarves, ‘especially when it’s a fuzzy day.’ She wraps them around the head, from halfway up the forhead to the top of the head for a Bohemian look. She likes to let the scarf flow long behind the neck.
‘If it’s a bad hair day, you can still look hip,’ Stoneking says.Christo suggests using fabric that coordinates with an outfit as a headband or to decorate a ponytail.
Curl master Amie Zimmerman of Dirty Little Secret Salon in Portland, Ore. likes to use multi-colored hair extensions in spring colors like fuschia, yellow and lime to accessorize.
‘Many can even be permed to match the client’s own curl pattern, adding a shot of color and fun,’ Zimmerman says. No matter what you do to accessorize your look, ‘have fun with it,’ Soddu says. ‘It’s spring,’ he says. ‘Don’t get too serious about it.’
