Five TV Hair Heroines

Life is unpredictable and as far as my life goes, no two days are ever the same, but there is always one constant element: TV shows. I am totally not ashamed to admit I am a terrible TV addict. Mind you I am a discerning one: I don’t actually have “TV”, I only watch my favourite shows on Netflix, Amazon Prime or via iTunes. Before streaming services were a thing, I had to buy boxsets, which doesn’t really agree with the space available in London apartments, so hurray for streaming TV. As I write this on my laptop, I am also watching Pretty Little Liars on my iPad at the same time – I recently picked it up again, having formerly stopped watching at the end of the second season.

As I already professed my love for TV and sung the praises of my favourite TV shows on here before, I thought I would share with you some of my TV beauty heroines, more specifically my five TV hair heroines.

While I wouldn’t wear my hair like Olivia Pope’s – I don’t think I can pull off that level of high-gloss – I absolutely ADORE her hair cut and all the hairstyles she sports during the show. She is a great advocate of the low-pony and minimalist up-dos. The stylist behind Olivia Pope / Kerry Washington’s naturally groomed mane is Takisha Sturdivant-Drew, who explained in an interview with US Magazine that “Kerry uses product in her hair all week long, so I use Neutrogena Anti-Residue Shampoo, and then the Triple Moisture Deep Recovery Hair Mask. The shampoo cleanses the scalp, but it doesn’t leave the hair feeling stringy. Just soft to the touch and healthy” .

Rayna James perfectly tousled locks are 100% relevant to my interests and also the topic of a Whatsapp group between Emily, Ella and I. I may be exaggerating a little and the Whatsapp group isn’t only about Rayna’s locks and more generally about the show, but her hair is basically the star of the show. I posted a tutorial on YouTube a few years ago about how to get the perfect beachy waves, so you could use it as a base to recreate Rayna’s look. And this is what Connie Britton said to Refinery 29 about her hair care regimen: “I don’t wash my hair very often. Maybe once or twice a week. But, I don’t have very oily hair, so I’m fortunate to not have to wash it very often. I do think the natural oils really contribute to making it shiny and manageable. If you over wash your hair — or if I over wash my hair — I can’t do anything with it.” I definitely share her hair philosophy – one step closer to hair Heaven for me.

Did someone call for the high-priestess of bangs? Yes, for this particular hair heroine, I jumped back to my blissful teens spent watching 90120 and called on my former hair spirit animal, Brenda Walsh. Her long, silky black mane was the perfect companion to her sassy one-liners and on days I feel particularly feisty I like to channel Brenda’s particular brand of hair-flickerie. Brenda’s dark hair, full fringe and pale skin are forever the emblem of 90’s beauty to me.

I already dedicated a full post to the glory that is Karen from Californication, but here we are again, going on and on about her perfect hair. Hers is an offshoot of the super glossy Rayna mane. The kind of offshoot that is results from hours spent walking along Abbott Kinney, cycling the Venice boardwalk, salty wind whipping her hair. It is California hair perfection. Natascha McElhone’s hair, much like Connie Britton’s is pretty luscious and bodylicious in real life, so it translates wonderfully on camera. If your hair is finer, then you want to texturise it using a little bit of salt spray and dry wax at the roots for volume.

Cameron Howe, the Mutiny coding prodigy sports the ultimate cool-girl hair, all bleached blonde, roots-a-plenty, messy growing-out pixie cut… The kind of hairstyle I always wished I could pull off but know full well isn’t for me. I love how her hair evolved with the show too, always really lived in, messy and perfect at the same time. In an interview with VOGUE, Mackenzie Davis reveals how this hair happened: “Mara Roszak in L.A. first cut it into the longish bowl cut and then on set, it was cut by Vanessa Davis. Now, I’m growing it into a bob—but sometimes, I’ll touch the back and think ‘it’s a mullet!’ so I’ll grab a chunk, and cut off whatever feels a bit too long”. As someone who cut their hair themselves for a while, I can certainly vouch for the fact that sometimes the random cutting of pieces of hair leads to super cool results, but be warned: most of the time, it doesn’t. So instead I suggest heading to your favourite hairdresser with a photo of Cameron Howe, explaining you would like a bleached bowl cut with a lot of texture.

If there is one hairstyle you need to emulate this season, it is Beverley Goldberg’s… ONLY JOKING! Step away from the Elnett this instant! Although nobody in their right mind would do their hair like this now, this was pretty much the height of sophistication in 1980-something AND The Goldbergs is one of my favourite shows at the moment, so I couldn’t leave old Bev’ out of the loop!