How to Get Runway-Worthy Hair

Ning Chao signs up for backstage beauty school at NY fashion week and learns how to do the best hair trends at home.

Backstage at DKNY, Bumble and Bumble's Jimmy Paul describes the look as "a cool girl with soft, romantic waves, very Charlotte Gainsbourg." Perfect. This is the hair I've always wanted: polished but touchable, like those Breck Girl ads. First, Paul asks me to soak the models' manes from root to tip with a thickening spray. After blow-drying, he hands me a curling iron. He's trusting me with hot tools? Fake it till you make it, right?
"We want the hair flat on the top and wavy on the bottom," explains Paul, who also teaches me to open and close the clamp every few seconds so the hair doesn't get too hot. In total, it takes only eight seconds until the hair's set, but it feels like an eternity to my already sore arms. After each ringlet is released from the iron, I'm instructed to pin up the curl so it will cool but retain its shape. Then I brush out the curls, rub styling cream on my hands, and finger-comb the ends "to get rid of the Miss-America-pageant waves." A cloud of hairspray all over is the final touch. One girl done ... 50 to go.

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Style Stopwatch: 45 minutes from start to finish
1. Coat hair with thickening spray and blow-dry.
2. For a Kate Moss-ish bend, curl hair away from the face.
3. After curling, wind hair up into pin curls and let cool.
4. Brush waves. Apply styling cream to ends; set with hairspray.

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FOR WAVES, MC RECOMMENDS: 1. Bumble and Bumble Curl Conscious Defining Creme 2. Matrix Vavoom Shape Maker Shaping Spray 3. Nioxin Thickening Spray

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HOT TOOL GUIDE: WAVES
The Power IQ 1¼-inch Spring Curling Iron has a smaller barrel for more control at home.

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WAVES on the DKNY runway.

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WAVES on the runway at Gucci.

WAVES on the runway at Diana Von Furstenburg.

WAVES on the runway at Chanel.

WAVES on the runway at DKNY

"When you wear a hat, you want a style that still looks good when the hat comes off," says T3 stylist Orlando Pita, who created a sleek, half-up, half-down look to complement the dozens of hats at the Carolina Herrera show. A twist on the classic schoolgirl 'do I wore every day in eighth grade (before I discovered the bun), Pita's creation looks more polished, thanks to his expert blow-out. He starts with a thickening spray and reveals that most issues (thinness, dry ends, a tendency to frizz) can be remedied with the right product. The problem is, most women don't use enough. He suggests dividing the hair into quadrants: Create a middle part, then split the two halves from ear to ear so you have four sections so you can really spritz the crown, where you want the most volume. Pita meticulously combs through each section to get rid of tangles, then smooths the strands around a round bristle brush. "Hanging your head upside down and letting the blow-dryer blast your hair gives a rougher finish, like air-drying it," he explains. "If you want a salon finish, you need to use a brush and product to smooth the cuticle." A dab of styling balm on the ends to camouflage split ends, and my model's ready for the runway.
When Pita steps away from our station to check the other stylists' work, model Erin Heatherton comes by and asks me, "Can you put something on this?" She points to a bit of frizz around her hairline. Extremely flattered that she thinks I'm a pro stylist, I instinctively grab the grooming cream (a pea-size dollop rubbed between the fingers) and reassure her that the feathered hat she'll be sporting will cover the flyaways.