Love Island: How To Do Holiday Hair

Are you watching Love Island? Each night, more than 3.4 million people watch live and more watch on catch up as a dozen hot and fiesty, fierce and frisky 20-somethings search for their ideal partner. Along the way they clearly know that they are on TV as they make their holiday villa a catwalk for strutting their stuff in a selection of new summer dresses and bikinis with different hair and make-up styles along the way.

By day they sunbathe and by night they party and if you’ve ever been on a beach holiday you’ll know that its a constant battle to look good both day and night. Too much sun and salt water means its difficult to stay glamorous, so how do the Love Islanders do it? We’ve picked three  examples of styles that are easy for us all to copy to add some fast glamour to our holiday hair repetoire.

Sunbathing Hair

 

Megan’s a controversial character in the villa after she stole another contestant’s man but one thing you can’t fault is her braids. Boxer braids keep hair free from frizz and out of your face to keep you feeling cooler. When you take them out, your hair will be naturally curly giving you a bit of volume for your dinner and party look. Here’s how to do the braids yourself:

STEP 1: As with most braided styles, this one is going to work best on day old or slightly greasy hair. If you have just washed your locks but still want to give it a try, start by adding some texture to your hair with a Texturising Spray.

When you’ve worked that in to give your hair a bit of grip, split your locks with a centre parting all the way to the nape of your neck. Secure one side in a loose ponytail out of the way and brush the other out ready to plait.

STEP 2: You’re basically going to be doing a French plait on each side – or a double Dutch braid if you’re more confident (that’s like a backwards Franch plait), so starting on your preferred side, split a section of hair at the very front into three and begin to braid.

Then, every time you take a section from either the right or left, add in a section of the loose hair at the side, gradually braiding all the way down to the nape of the neck.

STEP 3: You want to think about the shape of your braid as you plait and if you want the braid to really stand out, you’ll want to keep the braid really tight and position the centre of your plait in a slight arc following the shape of the ear.

STEP 4: Once you reach the nape of your neck, switch to a normal plait and braid all the way down, securing with a band at the bottom. Then backcomb the tail at the bottom for a bit of volume, spritz the whole braid with a light mist of hairspray to secure and repeat the whole thing on the other side.

 

Night Time Hair

 

A sleek ponytail looks elegant and chic on all occasions but it also hides greasy hair and it makes you look less tired as it lifts the cheekbones. It actually looks best on hair that’s not freshly washed so that it holds better. You can copy contestant Georgia’s high sleek pony by:

Step 1: Give your hair some texture. If your hair is freshly washed and a little too smooth, add some hairspray or dry shampoo to your hair for some texture. This will allow your ponytail to stay in place all day long.

Step 2: Next, pull your hair up towards the crown of your head. Make sure you’re pulling your hair up, not back and don’t be afraid to go higher than you would normally!

Step 3: Holding the ponytail in place with one hand, brush out any bumps with the other hand to ensure a smooth, sleek ponytail.

Step 4: Once you have found the perfect ponytail placement (center of your head, visible from the front), it’s time to take your hair elastic and secure the pony into place.

Step 5: To keep your ponytail looking chic and not like you just came from the gym, take a 1-inch section of hair from the underside of your ponytail and wrap it around the hair elastic. Secure the hair with a bobby pin to hide the elastic, pushing the bobby pin in on the underside of the hair elastic so everything is covered up.

Step 6: For some added volume and texture, tease the ponytail with a fine-tooth comb, gently combing hair upwards and towards the front.

 

All Occasion Hair

 

Host Caroline Flack has nailed the hot weather hair with loose waves running through her classic bob. You can rock this style for day, embracing the salt that adds texture to the hair and then tong the hair to make the curls more defined at night-time. It’s always better to have short hair in hot weather as it’s much easier to style that hair that’s longer than shoulder length. To create all weather waves:

Step 1 Section your hair. Separate a two-thirds section of hair and clip it up and out of the way, leaving the bottom third portion of your hair down.

Step 2. Start curling. After spraying your hair with a heat protectant spray, take a 1- or 2-in section of hair and wrap it around the wand. Be sure to twist the hair as you wrap it – this gives an undone look to your strands when you unravel them — leaving the ends uncurled aka straight.

Step 3 Tug on the coil. After leaving your hair on the wand for a few seconds, release the section of hair and immediately tug on the end of the curl to loosen it to prevent super-tight curls.

Step 4. Continue to curl your hair in varying-sized sections. Alternate curling the sections in different directions (toward your face, away from your face) to create a messier texture. Also switch up the size of the sections to make your waves look more organic.

Step 5. Leave the front pieces for last. Curl the face-framing sections of hair away from your face for a more flattering wave.

Step 6. Finish with volume or texture spray. You can’t have beachy waves without a little texture. Spray your roots and strands with texturizing or volumizing spray to finish the look, and then break up your curls with your fingers (not a brush!) to tousle your waves.

 

Happy Holidays from the Sinéad Kelly London team!