Celeb stylist David Babaii helps you fake third-day hair

Hairstylist David Babaii is a man of his word. Even though he called me two hours late, I wasn’t ruffled in the least. In fact, I was amazed he called at all, what with all his jetsetting to tend to the coifs of Kate Hudson, Angelina Jolie (he did her hair for the Oscars), Gwyneth Paltrow and others. But he apologizes nonetheless, explaining that he’s on set with Scarlett Johansson and has the “worst cell reception” but that it’s still no excuse. Such courtesy and respect for an editor—no wonder the A-listers keep him around. Oh right, lest we forget the amazing manes he crafts, especially for Kate, who I assume is his number one girl—they created a hair line, David Babaii for Wildaid together, after all.

Because he frequently tags along with Hudson on press junkets, I wanted to grill him about their process, such as the approach to deciding her look: “Sometimes, I’ll just get there and her hair will look amazing and I’ll say, “I think we’re done!’” But before you dismiss Babaii for being lazy, casually rumpled hair is just part of his less-is-more philosophy. “Undone hair is just so much better,” he says. Yet, as it is with makeup, it takes a bit of calculated effort to look like you just woke up with sexy bedhead.

The Babaii formula goes a little something like this: He blows the hair out smooth with a round brush—using a hairdryer ($120, db4wildaid.com) from his own line, of course. “It’s the lightest one in the world. Tools are the most important things.” Then he spritzes a little bit of his Bohemian Beach Spray all over, adds some Hair Polish (both $13) to the ends and then literally crumples a section in his fist, blows a shot of air on it and lets it go.

Of course, being such an enthusiast of natural dishevelment, Babaii is currently developing additions to his line that will help you mimic the “Oh, I had a blow out yesterday and then slept on it” look. One is similar to a deodorant, an idea he tested by using Kate’s own natural pit stick on her ’do. “It kind of loosened it up.” A little weird, maybe, but like so many other beauty items out there, “it’s through those kinds of stupid things that you find a cool, new product.”

P.S. His Amplifying Shampoo is the bomb. And sadly, I just ran out.

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