Embrace the La Niña wet look with the 'hair enameling' trend
La Niña is a chaos machine like no other.
However, the one thing we didn’t expect was for the undeniably wet and torrential rains synonymous with the tropical maelstrom to eventuate in some unpredictable parallels with a current hair trend.
Introducing: hair enameling. The pervasive hair styling trend that’s been seen on the catwalks of London and New York Fashion Week in equal measure.
The poignancy of this particular trend is that wet-look hair allows us to lean into the constant drenching we’re enduring here in Australia, as La Niña rains down on our proverbial parade every day.
Styling the hair enameling trend
The good news is we’re spoiled for choice when it comes to styling the hair enameling trend, so you’ll have options for every rainy day of the week.
Paloma Elsesser walked the runway at the Nensi Dojaka show during London Fashion Week with her strands slicked back in a glossy stream that ran down her back.
Meanwhile, models at Carolina Herrera sported a glaze of wet updos, and Altuzarra’s runway was filled with windswept motifs, finished with wispy sections of hair sticking to the forrids of their fast-walking models.
Carolina Herrera RTW F/W 22 New York Fashion Week
Carolina Herrera RTW F/W 22 New York Fashion Week
Altuzarra RTW F/W 22 New York Fashion Week
Mithridate’s wet-look was decidedly silky and had an otherworldly glow thanks to the moodily lit runway. While TRESemme, on the other hand, collaborated with 11 Honore to create a textured, brushed-back grunge look.
And lastly, Tory Burch took the name ‘enamel’ quite literally, plastering a thick, smooth swathe of hair to the temples to create what can only be described as a hair helmet.
Mithridate F/W 22 London Fashion Week
TRESemme x 11 Honore F/W 22 New York Fashion Wee
Tory Burch RTW F/W 22 New York Fashion Week
Tips for nailing the look
While you may be under the impression that hair enameling is as simple as wandering out into the rain – it’s a little more involved than that.
You don’t want to look like a drowned rat; the idea is that hair enameling looks intentional.
The key to achieving this is to use styling products that embrace a glossy, shiny finish.
Think: lightweight, slick hair gels, mousse minus the crunch factor, sheen-enhancing hair oils, and leave-in treatments for a lil bit of hydrating gloss.
We recommend:
Kérastase Elixir Ultime Beautifying Hair Oil ($64 at Adore Beauty); weDo Natural Oil For Hair & Body ($59.95 at Look Fantastic); and ColorWow Pop & Lock High Gloss Serum ($42 at Adore Beauty).
Kérastase Elixir Ultime Beautifying Hair Oil
weDo Natural Oil For Hair & Body
ColorWow Pop & Lock High Gloss Serum
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Main image credit: Getty
Briar Clark got her start in the media industry in 2017, as an intern for Marie Claire and InStyle. Since then, her keen interest in fashion and beauty has landed her gigs as a Digital Content Producer and Beauty Editor with titles like Girlfriend, Refinery29, BEAUTYcrew and beautyheaven. She loves the way seemingly innocuous topics like skin care and style have the ability to put a smile on people’s faces or make them think about themselves a little differently. A big believer in self love and experimentation, Briar has made a point of becoming the Australian beauty industry’s unofficial guinea pig for unusual treatments and daring hair trends. When she’s not testing out the latest beauty launches, Briar is big on broadening her horizons, mostly in the form of food but she’s also partial to travelling to new destinations both near and far (and of course, allocating an extra bag to bring their best beauty offerings home with her).
