FASHION Magazine

As the weather turns warmer and muggy temperatures make us want to spend as little time playing with blowdryers and heat tools as possible, it’s no surprise that summer is so synonymous with letting your hair do its own thing. Loose curls, natural textures and beach-inspired styles are all popular during summer months—but for those of us with straight hair a little bit of extra effort is required. So before you put away that curling iron, read on. Because if there’s one new summer style technique you’ll want to learn, it’s how to get wavy hair.

Showing us how to get wavy hair is Moroccanoil artistic director Antonio Corral Calero. I met up with Antonio at the Quartz Crystal Spa at Toronto’s Trump International Hotel to talk about summer hair trends and it was his recent work at New York Fashion Week during the Spring 2013 season that inspired this wavy hair look. Without a doubt the biggest style for this summer is the loose, broken wave.

Structured curls—the kind that have been so popular with the Hollywood set on award show red carpets—will always be a go-to style, but soft, wavy hair is definitely the look to try this summer. From Veronica Lake to Lana Del Rey, soft waves have both retro appeal and a modern, cool girl aesthetic. It’s a trend that fits in with the move to make everything as minimal as possible, like the dropped out curls Tanya Taylor did for Fall 2013. But knowing how to make hair wavy can be a bit of a trick to master. Irons are designed with perfectly round corkscrew curls in mind and the longer your hair, the harder it becomes to get a curl to hold.

So how do you make hair wavy? We asked Toronto-based hair stylist Margot Keith to show us in this step-by-step tutorial. While everyone has a different technique for curling hair, there are two main tricks to note when creating loose waves. First, you want to make sure every curl is done in the same direction. So if you hold the curling iron in front of the section of hair you’re about to curl and then wrap the hair around in a forward motion, you’ll want to make sure you repeat this with every curl.

How do you curl your hair? From hot rollers to sock buns tricks, there’s a seemingly endless number of ways to make straight hair curly—and as someone with bone-straight hair, it feels like I’ve tried them all. After much trial and error, I’ve discovered that the technique with the most promise comes courtesy of a curling wand, that is, a curling iron without the clamp. However, one problem remains the same: the curls on one side of my head never seem to match the curls on the other. One side looks flawless and red carpet-ready while the other flips out awkwardly, falls in the wrong direction or just looks… bad.

In order to get to the bottom of my hair curling problems, I met up with Morgan Roy, creative director at the Aveda Institute Toronto. It turns out this hair curling issue comes down to dominant hand dexterity and the tendency to do what’s “more comfortable” first.

See all our New Year’s Eve beauty essentials! »

Three, two, one, Happy New Year! 2013 is almost here and we’re asking: What are you doing on New Year’s Eve? Whether you consider it a night to go all out or prefer to keep celebrations more low key, it’s a holiday that deserves a little extra prep and primping. In order to help you look your best while counting down the final minutes of 2012 we’ve rounded up ten hair and makeup products that are essentials for New Year’s Eve—a roadmap for looking your best, if you will.

We have the best new glitter nail polish, a last-all-night lipstick and a curling iron that will keep your hair styled well into the beginning of 2013. Our beauty picks also include the best products to keep tucked in your purse, from a pocket-sized concealer to a makeup artist-approved method for refreshing your look between parties. (And if you’re looking for further inspiration for New Year’s Eve, may we suggest our holiday hair and makeup tutorials?) Even better, our beauty essentials are also helpful once the party has ended: from the absolute best way to remove your makeup while you’re crawling into bed to a next-day face mask you’ll love, we have you covered. The countdown to midnight is on: read on and get ready to start primping for 2013!