North by Northwestern

It’s Friday night, and before you make the trek up north to the frats or down south to the bars, you have to figure out what to do with your hair.

But what? Are there other styling options than flattening the hell out of your hair? Frustrated with their own locks, McCormick sophomore Brittany Schaefer and Communication sophomore Lori Fimoff sat down with two stylists at the George Salon in Evanston to learn how to achieve a “going out” look with lasting power.

Brittany Schaefer

Hair type: Brittany describes her hair as being “fine and thin so it looks limp a lot of the time.”
Stylist: Rafael Correa

Style Solution #1: The Piecey Updo

“I liked the product he put in my hair and teasing made it look like it had volume.”
Total style time: 30 minutes

To get this style, follow these steps.

1. Start with dry hair. Use a smoothing spray to protect your hair from heat damage. Correa used Kérastase Expanseur Extra-Corps.
2. If you have fine hair, tease the middle section of the hair on the top half of your head, working from your forehead to the back. If you don’t have fine hair, this step is optional.
3. Pull the teased portion back into a ponytail, making sure not to flatten the top; you want to create a nice pouf.
4. Section by section, separate the hair in the ponytail into smaller pieces. Twist each piece, then pin it in place to create the piecey look.
5. Now that you’ve pinned each piece, you don’t want the bottom half of your hair to look undone. So, take the remaining hair and wrap large sections around a curling iron to create a loose, wavy look on the bottom.
6. If desired, finish with hair spray.

Style Solution #2: The Tousled Look

“I like the loose, wavy look. It’s more grown-up.”
Total style time: 20 minutes (does not include time it takes to wash hair)

To get this style, follow these steps.

1. If your hair is fine, start with a volumizing shampoo or conditioner. To add additional volume, apply a volumizing mousse from roots to ends. Correa used Kérastase Volumactive products. If you don’t need added volume, wash hair as you regularly would, or start with dry hair.
2. Blow-dry your hair, and create a side part from either the inside left or right eyebrow (depending on which side you prefer) to the crown of the head.
3. Add a light amount of hairspray to the hair. To make sure the style holds all night, Correa used Double Force hairspray by Kérastase.
4. Section your hair and spiral curl two-inch pieces with a curling iron. Make sure to alternate directions of the spiral. Always curl face-framing hair away from the face to open up your face.
5. When you finish creating the spiral curls, add Bumble and Bumble Surf Spray to get a “just out of the water, windblown, beach-style” look.
6. From the rest of your hair, separate out two one-inch-wide fringe pieces (those pieces closest to your face). Be sure to get one on the left side and one on the right side. Smooth the fringe to your scalp with a comb or brush and then pin it behind your ear, making sure to secure it in place with a bobby pin.
7. For extra hold, finish with hairspray. Correa recommends Double Force by Kérastase because, he says, “It doesn’t make your hair crunchy or flaky.”

Lori Fimoff

Hair type: “My hair’s just thick and frizzy-curly so I usually just wear it the same way because that’s the only way it doesn’t look ridiculous,” Fimoff said.
Stylist: Christine Devora

Style Solution #3: Romantic Curls

“I really liked the style. I felt like I learned a lot about my hair type.”
Total style time: 40 minutes

To get this style, follow these steps.

1. Wash hair with a straightening or smoothing shampoo. Devora used Kérastase Oléo-Relax Shampoo and Conditioner.
2. If your hair is dry, apply a conditioning mask for a few minutes, and then rise it out. The Kérastase collection has a few different masks.
3. While hair is still damp, apply a smoothing serum from roots to ends. The serum will help eliminate some of the curl without leaving your hair flat. For this look, Devora used Sérum Oléo-Relax.
4. Now, to get curl definition, apply a curl cream like Aveda Be Curly.
5. Take a one-inch section of hair and twist it around your finger to create defined curls. Do this until all hair has been twisted, and be sure to twist in alternating directions. If your hair doesn’t feel saturated with curl cream, apply extra as you twist.
6. While taking care not to disturb the curl, place sections of hair in a diffuser until dry. Diffusers are useful for people with curly hair because they seal the curl and protect the hair from becoming frizzy.
7. Run your fingers through your hair only if you want to break the sections up into a less defined look.

Style Solution #4: Sophisticated and Away From the Face

“I definitely feel I can recreate this look.”
Total style time: 5 minutes (does not include time it takes to curl hair)

To get this style, follow these steps.

1. Perform steps one through six from Style Solution #3 to create defined curls.
2. Gather hair from the middle to back of the head into two large sections, one on each side.
3. Loosely pin each section back.
4. From the front of the head, take two large sections of hair, one on each side.
5. Loosely pin these sections underneath and behind the ones previously pinned. This creates volume in the back of the hair, while the front remains smooth and polished.

Sponsored Note: The George Salon offers NBN readers 15 percent off if they mention this article during their next visit.