Italian playboy hair is having a moment and who better to share secrets on achieving the in-demand style—which is all about texture, messiness and a ton of height at the top—than the man behind Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson’s throwback ‘dos on stage, off-duty and at the VMAs tonight: Jason Schneidman, a celebrity hairstylist and ambassador for Dove Men+Care. His biggest piece of advice? Stop washing your damn hair already.
Here, Schneidman shares his three rules for achieving this old-school look without landing on the wrong side of retro—curlers not required.
Know how to work with your hair’s natural texture."Bruno and Mark have different hair textures, so the process to achieve that volume is unique to each of them. For Mark, I use a combination of mouse, styling paste, wax and dry shampoo all at one time. I use a hair-dryer to help sculpt and finish his look. For Bruno, I wait until his hair is completely dry and then I add natural oil to separate the curls or, if his hair is clean, curl cream to add grip. Sometimes I’ll use a paper towel to dry Bruno’s hair, which helps take the moisture out of the curls without messing with the texture like a towel would.”
Then add more texture on top of that.“The biggest thing guys should NOT do if they want this look is shampoo their hair. Men shouldn’t be washing their hair every day because it flattens the hair and takes the life out of it. It’s very difficult to achieve volume when your hair is clean. Depending on your texture, I think hair looks best when styled two days after shampooing. If you are a guy who needs to shampoo every day and like your hair clean, then it’s all about layering in a lot of product—mousse, paste, wax, dry shampoo—until you get the style you want.”
Make sure you have the right cut in the first place.“A haircut with anywhere from one to three inches on the top will help you achieve this look. Men can do a lot more with their hair when they have some length on the top. Whether it’s slicked back and styled or messy and falling all over the place, it looks good. I like more length on the sides but you can do what you want there—shaved sides look good too.”
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