Mandy Moore's Ponytail for the 2019 SAG Awards Had the Prettiest Little Detail You Might Have Missed
Mandy Moore has great hair. There's no denying it. (Although, she'll be the first to remind you that it wasn't always the case with throwback pictures from her teen pop star days). Part of Moore's secret comes down to genetics, but part of it is also thanks to her longtime friend and hairstylist Ashley Streicher. Case in point: the simple-yet-beautiful low ponytail that Streicher created for the This Is Us star at the 2019 SAG Awards. And lucky for us, Streicher, who owns STRIIIKE salon in Los Angeles with her sisters Jenn and Kristie, offered to give us a behind-the-scenes glimpse at how the hairstyle came together.
"Mandy wore a custom Jason Wu that was black and off the shoulder," Streicher told Allure, just minutes after Moore got into the car to head to the event. "It's a gown, it has a long train, but it reminds me a bit of a tuxedo, so that was my inspiration. Then between all of us — Jason, her stylist Christina, makeup artist Kindra Mann, and I — we decided that Mandy's hair should be sleek and the top should be open, so I gave her a strong side part and pulled her hair back tightly into a really low, sleek ponytail to give it a bit of an androgynous feel."
"I started Mandy with clean, wet hair fresh from being shampooed," said Streicher. She spritzed the Garnier Pure Clean Detangler throughout Moore's hair and brushed it through with the Tangle Teezer Ultimate Detangler to keep the hair smooth and soft. "Then, I applied a bit of blow-dry balm to her ends and also brushed that through with the Tangle Teezer."
Next, Streicher began blow-drying Moore's damp hair with the T3 Cura Luxe Hair Dryer.
"Once Mandy's hair was 80 percent dry, I gave her a clean side part with a rat-tail comb and began taking sections to smooth out with the blow dryer and the large round brush," Streicher said.
"Next, I took my T3 SinglePass Luxe flat iron and ironed out her front hairline to ensure I got the smoothest, cleanest front of her hair and side part as possible. I sprayed this front section with Garnier Flexible Control Hairspray and brushed it out with a soft, full-bristled brush to keep the hair back and smooth behind her ears and off the face. Then, I created a small, low ponytail right at the nape of her neck and tied it tight with a small, clear elastic. This is the section I added hair extensions to."
Streicher wrapped hair extensions around the base of the small ponytail to add length to Moore's ends.
Streicher then brushed the rest of Mandy's hair into a low tight ponytail over the existing pony (the one the extensions were wrapped around).
To hide the elastics as well as any trace of the extensions, Streicher wrapped a piece of hair around the base of the ponytail
"I put a little bit of texture in the ponytail itself," said Streicher. To achieve movement in the hair, she alternated between using the flatiron, to add subtle bends, and the T3 Single Pass Curl (shown above), around which she wrapped medium-size sections of hair.
"Because the hair was so simple in the front and she was so bare at her shoulders — she didn't even wear a necklace — it was nice to add something more with the extensions — more length, more volume — at the back," she said." Then I cut the ends really blunt so it felt really clean and modern and hung right over the collar of the dress."
Streicher added the tiniest bit of pizzazz to the ponytail in the form of a pearl bobby pin, which she slid right under the section of hair that was wrapped around the elastic. "It's a little secret hidden pearl to make it interesting," she said. "Jennifer Behr had sent me these little pearl bobby pins and I just thought it would be a fun embellishment that was simple and cool and not too gaudy."
"[Mandy's] hair can tend to be a bit frizzy, so to keep it clean against her scalp I applied a dab of serum and brushed it through the ponytail. Then, I sprayed in layers of flexible-hold hairspray and just kept brushing it in."
"Getting ready [with Mandy] is always a good time," said Streicher. "Kindra, who did her makeup today, actually said to me, 'It's always the most fun getting ready with you guys.' We always get ready at STRIIIKE. It's nice not to be in her home or in a hotel room, so she can just focus on getting ready. We get the whole space and we play music and Kindra brought snacks (she baked some lemon bars for us with lemons she picked from her yard), and it's just a nice, cozy experience. We always make sure we give ourselves plenty of time so it's not stressful and it's just...easy."
"When she was done getting ready we FaceTimed Jason Wu so he could see the finished product, which was very sweet."
For more beauty news from the 2019 SAG Awards, keep reading:
See How All Your Favorite Celebrities Are Getting Glamorous for the SAG Awards 2019
Lady Gaga Slayed the 2019 SAG Awards Red Carpet With Matching Oxblood Lips and Nails
Here are some of our favorite looks from SAG Awards past:
