Straight Hair

How to Create a Double Textured Hairstyle
Trend Alert

Trend Alert: Two-Textured Hair

If you're constantly trying to decide between wavy or straight hair, you're in luck.
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If you're constantly trying to decide between wavy or straight hair, you're in luck. Lately, scores of famous faces have been stepping out with hair that straddles the texture line: straight, sleek hair on top slowly meandering into soft waves. Mindy Kaling, Keke Palmer, and Sophia Bush are all fans of this hybrid style. It's great for everyday wear, but can also be amped up for a glamorous, formal event.

To get this easy, texture-heavy look, mist your hair with a thermal spray such as Dove Thermal Replenishment Spray ($5) and then dry it with a round brush. Take a flat iron and smooth it over the top portion of your hair, from about your roots to the bottom of your ears. To achieve the waves, you can either curl your hair with your flat iron or use a 1.5-inch curling iron on just the ends. Keep the look in place with a good holding hair spray, and you'll never have to choose between two textures again.

Would You Try the Brazilian Blowout Despite Health Risks?
Hair

Would You Get a Brazilian Blowout?

Curly-haired women who prefer straight and sleek styles will often go the distance to extend the life of their flat-ironed hair.
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Curly-haired women who prefer straight and sleek styles will often go the distance to extend the life of their flat-ironed hair. Chemical straightening, a more permanent option, can help with the convenience of maintaining the sleek look — but at what price? Despite Oregon's Occupational Safety and Health Administration's recent report that the popular Brazilian Blowout contains 10.6 percent formaldehyde, some women are still opting for this straightening method. And heavy exposure to formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, could harm the health of salon workers. Knowing that even the "formaldehyde-free" formulas have more of the ingredient than is considered safe, would you still take the risk for straight hair? (For the record, we wouldn't.)

New Ways to Wear a Blunt Hairstyle 2010-08-12 07:00:00
Hair

Be Blunt: 5 Easy Ways to Wear the Runway Trend

Naomi Watts recently set off a mini-furor with her new blunt haircut.
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New Ways to Wear a Blunt Hairstyle 2010-08-12 07:00:00

Naomi Watts recently set off a mini-furor with her new blunt haircut. And if the looks on the runway are to be believed, they'll be one of the big hair trends for the upcoming season. But going blunt can be scary — especially if you have traumatic memories of grungy, stringy styles from the early '90s. So how can you wear the trend and look both pretty and modern? We pulled five of the most flattering interpretations of the look, using the runway for inspiration.

Short but Sweet at Yigal Azrouël The Edgy Blunt Bob at Anna Sui Pretty Mid-Length at Anna Sui The Faux Blunt at Tibi The Long Blunt at Naomi Campbell's Fashion For Relief
View 5 Photos
Pictures of Naomi Watts's Hair
Red Carpet

What's Your Favorite Hairstyle on Naomi Watts?

Naomi Watts proves that a shoulder-length bob is one of the most versatile hairstyles around.
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Naomi Watts proves that a shoulder-length bob is one of the most versatile hairstyles around. Whether it's sophisticated like the sleek and straight look she wore at New York Fashion Week; effortlessly waved like she wore at a recent Target event; or pulled back in a half-up, half-down style, like she wore at last night's Mother and Child premiere in NYC, Naomi always looks like one hot mama. But if you had to pick your favorite hairstyle, which one stands out most on the blond actress?

Taylor Swift With Straight Hair
Poll

Do You Prefer Taylor Swift's Hair Curly or Straight?

While we're accustomed to seeing Taylor Swift with her signature curly hair, she showed off a completely different style last night — almost to the point where she looks like someone else.
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While we're accustomed to seeing Taylor Swift with her signature curly hair, she showed off a completely different style last night — almost to the point where she looks like someone else. Actually, her hair was styled this way for a photo shoot, and she just happened to stick with it for the evening. We're used to seeing Taylor with perfectly formed spiral ringlets, and there's no doubt she looks gorgeous with these pin-straight locks, but do you prefer the country crooner with curly or straight strands?

What Makes Hair Curly or Straight?
Hair

What Makes Curly Hair Curly and Straight Hair Straight?

And wavy hair wavy?
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And wavy hair wavy? Well, as you may have suspected, it does have to do with genetics, but other factors influence hair growth as well. According to Proctor and Gamble, researchers do not completely understand why some hair twists and turns and some lays flat, but here are the most commonly accepted theories. Some are a little more scientific and others more commonsense.
Check them out when you read more

The Best Hairbrush for Blowouts
blowout

Last Night a Hairbrush Saved My Life

Readers, I have fallen off the wagon.
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Readers, I have fallen off the wagon. I have a strange desire (during this particularly humid week) to blow-dry my hair straight. I know it's not the best thing for my hair, but this time I got a reinforcement: I bought Conair’s Infiniti Tourmaline Brush ($12.99) after realizing I no longer even owned a round-barrel brush.

I've had blowouts in swank salons where they hold a round brush upright at the end and pull it straight down to create a perfect wave at the bottom of your hair. The spiral openings in this Tourmaline-infused brush some how make it possible to do that yourself, without getting one strand of hair caught on the bristles (OK, or handle. I have a lot of hair). Do you guys have a Holy Grail hair brush?

Products to Perfect Your Blowout
blowout

Products to Perfect Your Blowout

I am all about embracing natural beauty, but sometimes it's fun to change up our everyday look, especially for a special occasion.
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I am all about embracing natural beauty, but sometimes it's fun to change up our everyday look, especially for a special occasion. If you happen to have wavy or curly hair, getting a sleek blowout is a surefire way to feel fancy. To help you get this look at home, I've put together a list of must-have products that will help eliminate the damage to your hair while achieving the look.

Frederic Fekkai Technician Mask ($35) is the most moisturizing mask I've ever put on my hair. It protects against damage by closing and sealing the hair shaft. I won't let a blow-dryer near my hair without using this first.

Dove Advanced Care Heat Shield Styling Spray ($5) is a heat-protecting leave-in, and products like this are essential for a silky blow-dry. This thermal protecting spray will coat your strands and absorb the heat from your styling tools so that your hair follicles don't.

For two more hair helpers, read more

Why Different Hair Textures Tangle (Or Don't)
Hair

Why Different Hair Textures Tangle (Or Don't)

Oof. I just looked in the mirror and wondered how sitting at a desk all day manages to turn my hair into a rat's nest.
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Oof. I just looked in the mirror and wondered how sitting at a desk all day manages to turn my hair into a rat's nest. And now I know! Jean-Baptiste Masson, a French researcher, has found that straight hair tangles more than curly hair does. As it turns out, it's a matter of physics.

After observing a group of 212 people over the course of three weeks, Masson created a mathematical model to explain the phenomenon. As News in Science reports:

Although curly hairs are more likely to come into contact with other hairs, he says straight hairs tend to have bigger angles between them when they connect. This second factor turns out to be the most important when it comes to tangles, Masson reported. It's the angle at which hair meets that most determines its likelihood of tangling.

You may wonder why a physicist would be studying hair. Masson's work was inspired by a field of science called polymer dynamics, and his findings may help other scientists develop Velcro-like products—and more likely than not, some new hair products, too.

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