How to Get Jessica Alba's Hairstyle

With her perfectly subtle highlights and sexy curls, Jessica Alba’s hairstyle is a lesson in how to wear great hair. Here we’ll let you in on how to get her golden highlights and create sexy waves of your own.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

The Highlights

1. Remember that brunettes have it the hardest when it comes to keeping their highlights subtle—go too light and you look like a skunk. The key is to keep your highlights thin and only lighten the strands one or two level lighter than your natural color.

2. Have your hair styled as you would normally wear it. This will give you a better idea of where to place the highlights for the best effect.

3. Paint the highlights on in thin sections (the size of a piece of angel-hair pasta is a good example), when creating your highlights at home with a kit.

4. Place highlights approximately a quarter-inch to half-inch apart from one another for the most natural look.

5. Highlight strands around the face for the best effect. This is where the sun would normally lighten your hair first, so this highlight placement will look the most natural.

6. Continue to place highlights toward the back of your hair. Be sure you’re spacing them evenly and taking small sections to avoid a striped look.

7. Strive for balance. If you place a highlight on one side, it should have a “partner” on the other. They don’t have to match up perfectly (natural highlights don’t), but this will ensure you don’t have a lopsided effect with too many highlights on one side.

8. Follow the kit’s directions for timing and rinse your hair thoroughly when the processing time has elapsed.

The Cut and Style

9. Use layering to allow sections of your hair to bounce up and create more volume and movement. Jessica Alba’s bouncy waves are created on long hair that is slightly layered at the ends. Layers around the front help to frame the face—and show off your highlights even more.

10. Style your hair like Jessica Alba’s by first misting your damp hair with a root-boosting volumizing spray.

11. Flip your head upside-down while blow drying and use your hands to massage the roots of your hair for volume.

12. Use your hands to scrunch curls into the length of your hair when your roots are dry. Using a diffuser attachment for this stage can help eliminate frizz.

13. Use a medium-barreled curling iron to touch up curls and create waves. Take a 1-inch section and close the iron’s barrel around the ends of the section. Now twist the hair in a spiral pattern 3 to 4 inches up the hair's shaft. You don’t want to curl your hair all the way to the roots—this will create a poufy mess. Instead, just curl the last few inches to create soft waves at the ends.

14. Continue to curl 1-inch sections of your hair until the desired effect is created. You’re looking for soft curls and waves, but not every strand of hair has to be perfect. Let it look a little tousled.

15. Use your hands to gently shake out your curls to make them look more natural when you are done curling your hair.

16. Use a tiny dab of styling wax to tame any frizz and further define your curls. Just remember to use this product sparingly or your curls won’t look natural.

17. Finish off with a light misting of finishing spray and there you have it—your own version of Jessica Alba’s hairstyle.

Tips & Warnings

• If you have fine hair, use a volumizing shampoo to wash your hair and a body-boosting mousse for styling. These will help plump up your thin locks.
• When painting on your own highlights, keep the color at least a half-inch from your scalp. Hair color tends to swell as it’s processing, and the heat from your scalp can make color process faster than the color on your strands. You could end up with large blobs of much lighter hair if it gets too close to your roots, so leave some space between the color and your scalp.

[anticelebrity]

on 10/18/2009 Great article- Thank you
More at http://www.anticelebrity.net