This Woman Has the Coolest Hair on Instagram
By Sophia Panych
Hairstylist Riawna Capri is the co-owner of Nine Zero One Salon in Los Angeles and has a client list that includes PYTs like Julianne Hough, Vanessa Hudgens, and Charlie XCX. But Capri isn’t just known for her talent styling other people’s hair. Her own hair practically breaks Instagram every time she posts a selfie. People (myself included) are dying to know the secrets behind that amazing texture, that insane volume, and a hair flip that looks like she #wokeuplikethis. Well, look no further. I hopped on the phone with Capri and asked her to share just how she gets her hair to look so freakin’ cool.
A good haircut is half the battle. ”If you have a blunt Vidal Sassoon bob, your hair is not going to look like mine,” says Capri. “It’s all about cutting texture into your hair—slide cutting, point cutting—it can’t be blunt. For Julianne [Hough], the foundation of her style is her cut. Is it possible to get this texture with a blunter cut? Sure. You’re just going to have to work a lot harder to get it.”
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Your best bet is to air-dry overnight. ”I try to do as much as I can without heat tools to avoid any more damage to my hair,” says Capri. “If I shower at night, I sleep with my hair wet. Since my hair is bleached, I use one pump of oil followed by a drop of moisturizing cream to make the texture feel like hair again, which you don’t need to do if your hair is superhealthy. Then—and here’s my favorite trick ever—I section off the top of my hair—so the hair from my forehead to about two inches back—temple to temple. I pull it forward, not straight up, wrap it around a Velcro roller that’s about two and a half inches wide, and I sleep like that. By pulling it forward and redirecting the hair back with the roller, you get a nice shape that creates that volume at the roots. If you just lift your hair straight up from your head, it’s just going to fall flat when you remove the roller in the morning.”
Or wake up early. If you shower in the morning and have time to let your hair air-dry, here’s what you do: Spray beach spray into wet hair (make sure it’s a beach spray meant to go in wet hair; Capri likes Unite Beach Day Texturizing Spray), and scrunch it in with your fingers. If your hair needs more texture and definition, Capri recommends running a bit of wax into your ends. “When putting paste in wet hair, I prefer a matte texture versus shiny. Shiny waxes get too heavy and won’t give you that lived-in, fucked-up look.” On days when she showers in the morning, Capri also likes to put her sunglasses on top of her head and push her bangs forward, allowing them to dry that way. “It has a similar effect to using the roller,” she explains.
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Or you can just blow-dry your hair. While Capri prefers her air-drying technique, she does have some great tips for re-creating her texture with heat tools. “With this style, the most important part is the hair around your face. That’s what everyone is going to see. You can scrunch product in the back and mess it up, but the front requires some work. Using a round brush, blow-dry the front and the sides of your hair forward, toward your face, and add a bit of bend at the very ends. Then put the top of your hair in a roller while you do your makeup and scrunch some beach spray into the back of your hair, letting it air-dry that way.” So why not take a round brush to your whole head? “Short hair is not meant to be blown out,” says Capri. “Otherwise, you walk out with Barbara Bush hair. You could rough-dry, but even then, you still can’t quite get the same texture as air-drying.”
Break out the curling iron. If you have great texture, you may just need to spray some more beach spray in your hair to touch it up throughout the day. For those of us with super straight, fine, or really healthy hair, get out a curling iron (a one-inch barrel is best). “I like to break the top layer of my hair into six sections,” says Capri. “You don’t want to curl the underlayers of your hair because it will get too poufy. Then, holding the iron parallel to my head, I grab a big-ass section of hair, wrap it around the barrel, and keep it there for no more than two seconds. The longer you hold it there, the tighter the curl will be.” Capri also alternates the directions of her sections, wrapping the very front pieces of hair away from her face, then wrapping the next section toward her face, and so on and so on. “Sometimes I even leave a section or two straight because it looks more fucked up that way.” Once you’re done, shake your hair out and spray in some beach spray to rough it up even more.
Switch your part throughout the day. ”I’m always flipping my hair back and forth throughout the day, switching the part. It keeps messing it up throughout the day, which keeps it looking better and better.”
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photo: Courtesy of Riawna Capri
