Here's How The Pros Made Kaia Gerber's Hair So Freaking Huge On The Valentino Runway
If you follow a ton of fashion influencers, professionals, or magazines on Instagram, then you've probably seen a few glimpses from the front row of this past Couture Fashion Week in Paris. And if you have, then you couldn't possibly have missed Kaia Gerber's huge hair on the Valentino runway. When I first spotted the image of Cindy Crawford's daughter from the Valentino Couture Show, I was shook. The first thought that came to mind was that ol' saying, "The bigger the hair, the closer to God." Well, Guido Palau, the legendary hairstylist behind the massive hair, must have really wanted Gerber and the other models rocking the same mane on the runway to be super closer to whatever higher powers they believe in, because let me just say, their hair was enormous.
Palau, the Global Creative Director for Redken, worked alongside Redken colorist Josh Wood to create the sky-high, extra-voluminous, '60s-inspired hair on the Valentino runway, and both stylists shared a behind-the-scenes look at the entire process on their Instagram stories. According to the stylists, it took 50 wigs (that were dyed to color match the model's own hair), a trip from the Big Apple to France's capital, over 200 color jobs, over 10 team members and over six whole days of preparation to style and apply the extensions on the seven models.
As far as the inspiration for the style goes, there was only one person in that category: "The big hair was inspired by Pierpaolo Piccioli" said Palau. Piccioli, Valentino's Creative Director, "wanted to have some extravagance in the hair and we were looking at old '60s Diana Vreeland Harper's Bazaar and Avedon shoots," according to Palau.
To prep the hair, Palau used Redken Guts Volumizing Spray Foam ($19.50, ulta.com) on the roots, and then, he fastened six hair pieces on each model. However, a lesser-known secret, according to Allure, is that Palau hid foam padding within the hair to create this wild level of volume. Then, after a little backcombing and then some smoothing with Redken Shine Flash 02 Glistening Spray ($19.50, ulta.com), he held the major volume with Redken Forceful 23 Super Strength Hairspray ($19, ulta.com) and called it a day.
Gerber's major mane was paired with a seriously major ~lewk~ as well. In fact, her massive, feathery, soft pink gown was perhaps the one thing that may have been larger than her hair that day. The 16-year-old model took to her own Instagram stories to thank the mane masters for the major hair moment: "This hair moment was everything and more," she said.
Gerber wasn't the only one to take to social media about the sizable hair. The huge hair moment caused a stir all across the internet, with some people expressing their love for the hair, others voicing their dislike, and even more cracking a joke about just how extra the entire look is. "Me being discreet," commented one follower on Kaia's post. "Whoa, what shampoo does she use?" commented another. And of course, you can't have a big hair moment without a Mean Girls reference: “That's why her hair is so big, it's full of secrets.”
I, personally, am all the way here for Kaia's nearly-deafening volume level on the Parisian runway. As someone who is constantly looking for volumizing mousses, root sprays, and hairsprays to make my hair bigger than the state of Texas, Palau and Woods' work for the Valentino haute couture show was like a feast for my eyes, and their creations were certainly large enough to make Dolly Parton jealous. Now, thanks to the Redken ambassador's guidance, I know that I can cool it with the teasing comb and start layering on six different hair extensions, some foaming mousse, volumizing hairspray, and maybe even some secret foam padding to give my strands major volume, lift, and (even more) length.
