"How do you get such glossy hair?" My aunt asked me this over the holidays.
Frankly, it is a new question because she has always known me with curly, decidedly unshiny hair all my life.
I attribute it to two things: Perhaps this new nuNaat conditioner I've been using lately – it leaves my hair so soft I want to touch it all the time.
Probably the primary reason though: the ghd Gold Series flat iron styler.
Curly girl Barbara Grufferman, in her book The Best of Everything Over 50, advises midlife lasses to toss the blow dryer and go au natural going forward. And I certainly agree with her that ditching the blow dryer is a freedom for many. Plus, she looks great with her curly hair which is enviably consistent and always looks good.
But I rarely used a blow dryer anyway so it was no big change. What was a big change was having smooth shiny hair — I often call it commercial hair — where the girls tossing their tresses around have high-shine hair that seems impossible for any mortal.
But the new place where I started getting my hair colored would sometimes flat iron my hair, not stick straight, but with a little movement — and it looks like the commercials! Of course, by the next day it's gone like a dream. But I found myself secretly wishing I could have that more often or could do it myself.
So, yes, the ghd kit — Gold Collection 1" Styler and a brush, has thrilled me. Truthfully, I don't use the brush because I'm a klutz with hair tools but for some reason, I can do this flat iron! I can make it smooth and slightly straight with a wave at the end, very much like Julianne Moore's hair here (at left). It's not quite as good as the hairdresser does it, but maybe with practice...
And I got to thinking, maybe midlife is about doing the opposite of what you've done in your 20s and 30s. If you were the straight-hair office type — go wild and curly. If you were the wild and curly girl... well, I feel the need, and desire to be smooth, and polished, and even glossy now.
They call it static-free shine. Oh, and another great feature — it heats up in seconds, literally seconds. And if you wander off, as I am prone to do, it cools down but the minute you come back and pick it up, it gets hot again — pretty brilliant.
The ghd Gold Series Professional 1" styler, styler heat cover, natural bristle brush, and satin brush pouch are $225. It's an investment in having more control and making midlife different.
More hairstyle tips:
- Hair Tools: Holster Your Hot Irons
- Curly Girls with Straight Hair
- Modern Hairstyles for Over 50: Straight Bangs
- Hairstyles in a Bun the Easy Way for Holidays
- How to Get Shiny Hair Again
