Partnership

Cute, cool, and authentically au naturel – hair this simply stunning requires a magic mix of craftsmanship and product performance… and we’ve brought it! 

For this Creative HEAD shoot in partnership with Authentic Beauty Concept, we tasked two hair artists to craft six looks – all with ‘natural’ in their DNA, whipped up using their favourite products and showcasing their unique styling moves. A loose bun, a little kick, a textured braid – this is elevated ‘everyday’ hair with a modern play, exquisitely styled to look perfectly effortless.

This menu is a natural selection that clients will covet, offering gorgeously beautiful hair that looks oh-so real and authentic, always. 

Danielle Vinson, Louise Nimmick, Victoria Rowland and Jo Eykyn

Say hello to this cadre of Authentic Beauty Concept brand guardians, gathered to enjoy an incredible community opportunity. On hand to help ensure the finished looks serve that natural aesthetic, they’ve also had the chance to soak up the atmosphere of an editorial shoot and learn those inside hair hacks from Melissa and Anthony’s tool kit!

The wave in this finish is the merest hint of pattern, an apparition that’s soft and subtle and always high on shine. Clever use of an S-shaped waver on some pulled out pieces – around the cheekbones, for example – enhance the finish, bending some ends in different ways to create a slightly more polished look.

Crafted using: Authentic Beauty Concept Replenish Spray Conditioner, Hand & Hair Light Cream

The hero here doesn’t wear a cape – it comes in a tube! “The Hand & Hair Light Cream is my favorite. We use it a lot at Fashion Weeks,” says Melissa. “It can just be popped in your handbag, and it’s great for sealing in any ends and also adding definition to your ghost waves.”

Think ‘blowouts’ and you’ll be forgiven for picturing a gravity-defying bouffant, but that’s not what this is about. Yes, you want a little grit, a little memory, but most of all, this laid-back blow dry is about accentuating the glow of a beautiful colour as well as building in a little shape. This is loose, languid, laissez faire – never over styled, never overdone.

Crafted using: Authentic Beauty Concept Glow Cleanser and Conditioner, Glow Spray Serum, Amplify Mousse, Airy Texture Spray

Anthony used two different brush sizes, so that the curls didn’t look too samey or uniform. “Some of the curls are a little bit more formed, and some of the sections are a little bit looser and just a little bit flicked,” he explains. “And we really concentrated on that mid-level body, so not too much body in the hair, but not too flat. It really doesn’t feel over styled; it’s semi-polished, not too raw.”

Think nature, think rugged beauty – you can’t spell ‘wilderness’ without ‘wild’, and the idea of this fuller curl is to wholly embrace the natural texture and even amp it up just that little bit in places you feel it needs it. Some sections will be straighter, and that’s a-okay. This finish is one to ride into the sunset with…

Crafted using: Authentic Beauty Concept Hydrate Curl Enhancer, Working Hairspray, Airy Texture Spray, Hydrate Smoothing Serum

To prep, Melissa used the Hydrate Curl Enhancer on wet hair, “squidging until you hear a squelch!” and then twisting each section depending on which way the root falls. “Spray on wet hair, it’s a really great trick for curly hair,” she says. “It acts as an anti-humectant to stop the curls going frizzy as you touch them” Want another great trick? When combing through and dressing out the curls, use the Airy Texture Spray… but then wait a little bit (“like when you put deodorant on,” grins Melissa). “Don’t touch the hair straight away, allow it to cool on the head, and then you can go through. What that means is the heat from your hands isn’t moving the product into parts that you don’t want.”

For a while the top knot replaced the ponytail as the cool girl’s go-to off duty. Then suddenly those knots morphed into ever-increasing buns that looked precisely like the effort they took. Nope, not with this knot – it’s a return to that DIY, on-the-down-low vibe that looks achingly cool without even trying. Two simple sections tie above and below, a little pull in a places, and you’re good to go. 

Crafted using: Authentic Beauty Concept Amplify Mousse, Nymph Salt Spray, Airy Texture Spray, Dry Shampoo

Use Dry Shampoo to soak up any excess moisture in the hair before taking two pieces from the nape and almost draping the hair over. You then use those two pieces as almost the elastic for the ponytail. “So, twisting them, bringing them up and over the hair around in your knot, and securing them back underneath,” explains Anthony. “No bands or anything – it’s all done just with the hair, in that kind of effortless, undone manner.”

An extra tip from Anthony? “Pop a little bit of Amplify Mousse on the back of your hand, and with a make-up brush or a soft tint brush, just brush the mousse lightly in on any flyaways around the nape. It’ll dry and hold it in shape as well without being crunchy.”

Tinkerbell has flown the coop – these barely there braids are your hairline’s new must have accessory. Teeny, tiny, delicate plaits with the ends left with their natural texture… oh, and a knotted braided twist at the back that acts as the ideal counterweight to your itsy-bitsy face framers. No wings, no wands, just a whimsical touch that’s playfully perfect.

Crafted using: Authentic Beauty Concept Hydrate Curl Enhancer, Nude Powder Spray, Working Hairspray

Perfect with day two texture, for the main knotted braid at the back, Melissa took two sections of hair, applied a bobble, and then flipped the bobble through the middle. “Then take your next ones, apply it over the top, and you keep going down,” she says. “What’s great about this is it keeps the length of the plait. When you do a normal braid, it shrinks the hair up. By doing it this way, you get to keep all the length.

But you want a bobble free zone with your delicate fairy braids – Melissa’s tip? “Apply the bobbles or ties through the ends. Take Nude Powder Spray and apply it while the bobble’s on. Then take slip the elastic out and just backcomb the edges slightly – that will give you a much cooler vibe than having an elastic at the end, and the Nude Powder will really grip that into place.”

Think dewy mornings and you’re along the right lines for this finish. Yes, it’s a wet look, but not as you know it. This is softer, more lived-in, a subtle slip rather than a slick to land on a result that’s wearable yet firmly editorial too. No crunch, all creativity – and that essential natural dose of chic.

Crafted using: Authentic Beauty Concept Enhancing Water, Cosmic Blow Dry Jelly, Glow Spray Serum

Anthony turned to a clever “make-up blender on a stick” that was dampened down with a little bit of Enhancing Water first and then applied the Cosmic Blow Dry Jelly to the back of his hand. “Just taking up a tiny piece at a time, we smoothed that through section by section, really applying it heavier at the roots and letting it fade out towards those mid-lengths, working all the way up the head shape,” he explains. “We get this tighter feel, that everything at the root is really saturated and styled. And then using the Glow Spray Serum in the mid-section gives a nice transition from ‘super wet’ into ‘almost wet’ then into that ‘barely there’ texture towards the end.

A Creative HEAD shoot in partnership with Authentic Beauty Concept 

Photography Lily Craigen  

Hair Melissa Timperley and Anthony McMeiken, assisted by Jo Eykyn, Louise Nimmick, Victoria Rowland and Danielle Vinson, all for Authentic Beauty Concept  

Fashion Morgan Elizabeth Hall, assisted by Anna Milnes  

Make-up Roseanna Hackett using Saie Beauty, assisted by Sophie McGowan  

Models Lerissa Pillay (Zone) and Olivia Shelton (Milk)  

Editorial Amanda Nottage, Creative HEAD 

Digital, social media and BTS photography Haydn Hubert-Squibb and Zuri Mullings, for Creative HEAD 

Creative direction and production Joanna Kidd, Creative HEAD 

Shot at and around Street Studios in London