Eurovision Hair Secrets: The Styling Team Answers Your Biggest Questions

Backstage Access: What’s In Your Kit?, Hair Trends & Styling Tips 

The Eurovision International Song Contest 2023 was recently hosted by Liverpool, UK on behalf of Ukraine (last year’s winner.) Beyond the UK, 162 MILLION viewers worldwide tuned in for the world’s biggest live music event. So, why did BTC spend a week backstage at the Olympics of song and lyrics? Short answer: The hair, of course. 

We had exclusive access to follow Eurovision’s presenting sponsor Moroccanoil®’s incredibly skilled and collaborative global team of world-class hair professionals behind the show’s hair looks. From backstage to the front row, we interviewed some of the key stylists to get answers to the hairdressing community’s burning questions. 

Pop Culture Debrief: Eurovision 2023 

The songs. The performances. The energy! The Eurovision Village invited 25,000 visitors to come together and celebrate this edition’s theme: “United by Music”—in the very birthplace of “The Beatles.” The three live shows (two semi-finals and the grand final) featured celebrity hosts Hannah Waddingham—our favorite “Ted Lasso” star—Alesha Dixon, Julia Sanina and Graham Norton.

Delegates from 37 countries competed for the coveted title. Sweden’s Loreen returned as Eurovision’s winner for the second time with her powerful song “Tattoo.” In the contest’s 64-year run, some of the world’s biggest musical artists made their name on the Eurovision stage; Abba, Celine Dion and Olivia Newton-John to name a few. 

Photo courtesy Moroccanoil®

Moroccanoil VP of Global Education @roberthamstylist with BTC's @haleygable, @yourgirlsteph & BTC Team Member @hair_by_oana

Photo courtesy Moroccanoil®

Photo courtesy Moroccanoil®

Photo courtesy Moroccanoil®

Photo courtesy Moroccanoil®

Photo courtesy Moroccanoil®

Eurovision 2023 Hair Trend Forecast

With hundreds of millions of viewers, the backstage hair requests are sure to translate directly to the salons. Here are the biggest stand-out trends among the delegates and dancers onstage to the global influencers who flew in to see Eurovision front row.

• Wet hair styling 
• Extra long braids 
• Men’s perms, natural-looking curls
• Men’s haircuts: Longer on top with shorter on the sides
• Slicked back hairstyles 
• Finger waves 
• Half-up, half-down styles 
• Snatched buns, braids and ponytails 

Photo courtesy Moroccanoil®

Photo courtesy Moroccanoil®

Photo courtesy Moroccanoil®

Photo courtesy Moroccanoil®

Photo courtesy Moroccanoil®

Discover Moroccanoil® haircolor, education + The Collective show coming to Las Vegas in 2023—click here!

Speed “Station” Dating: Hair Secrets From The Styling Team 

Live from the “Moroccanoil® bubble”—the luxe salon destination where all of the hair happened backstage—BTC interviewed some key names from the global styling team to spill the secrets on what it’s really like to work backstage at Eurovision. 

Global Creative Director Antonio Corral Calero (@antonioccalero) — Spain

The Creative Process: “We go back to basics. We really use the hairdresser’s skills: We create a great analysis and we customize the [hairstyle] that we’re going to be doing for the performance. We need to make sure we know the exact outfit they are going to be wearing, we create a look that will be comfortable [while they dance and move] and most importantly we give them greater stage presence and confidence.” 

Essentials at Antonio’s station: Moroccanoil® Treatment, Moroccanoil® Luminous Hairspray and Moroccanoil® Dry Texture Spray 

Best Advice: “You need to bring passion into what you do. This is a place where you become secondary—it’s not about you, where you come from, years of experience, how good you are, but how good you can make those artists feel.

It’s a place where you are a giver. You spend the two weeks working at Eurovision giving yourself away. Bring your best attitude, skills, make sure you can work well with everybody. No matter what you do, smile, because a smile can take you quite far.” 

Click here to watch 5 questions backstage at Eurovision with Antonio x BTC.

Artistic Director Kevin Hughes (@hairbyeleven) — USA

Best Advice: “Educate yourself, assist people doing photo shoots and red carpets [that] will prepare you for dealing with artists that are very creative and their entire teams. That education is what gives you the confidence to do it.” 

Creative Process: “Part of the team arrives a week before rehearsals start and meet every single delegation. We find out what their desired look is and we help them create the most successful hairstyle to get them through rehearsals. Then, we create a lookbook and take pictures of every dancer, background singer and artist as the hair bible.” 

Essentials at Kevin’s station: Moroccanoil® Luminous Hairspray Strong, Moroccanoil® Mending Infusion and Moroccanoil® Flat Iron 

Something Unexpected in Your Kit: Hair nets! Why? When you want to achieve something super sleek like an intricate bun, but the client has layers in their haircut—this is the trick to pop the ponytail into the hair net to keep the hair silky smooth while you mold it however you want, says Kevin. 

Angelo Fraccica (@fraccicaangelo) — Germany & Italy

Best Advice: “Be creative—but it’s not only [about] doing hair, it’s to be human, humble, care about the artists and I think the most important thing is to work as a team. The team makes everything stronger.” 

Essentials at Angelo’s station: Moroccanoil® Smoothing Lotion, Moroccanoil® Root Boost and Moroccanoil® Glimmer Shine 

Pro Tip: Angelo swears by Curl Control Mousse for hold, Smoothing Lotion for shape and Luminous Hairspray Extra Strong to perfect the wet look requests.  

Nneka Tull (@nneka_taughtme) — USA

Creative Process: “The Artistic Team sets the tone for us. They created a lookbook with tools and products we needed and we mimicked the styles they discussed in their consultation and the look that they were going for—we just went for it.” 

Best Advice: “Be prepared. I think that every hairstylist should experience this at least once. You’re going to be working hard and long, but it’s really invigorating and inspiring to see all of the people from different countries.” 

Essentials at Nneka’s station: Moroccanoil® Treatment, Moroccanoil® Perfect Defense Spray and Moroccanoil® Luminous Hairspray Medium, Strong and Extra Strong 

Pro Tip: With an influx in heat styling requests, Nneka’s go-to for is the Perfect Defense Spray to prep and protect the hair. 

Behind The Look: Czechia’s Extra Long Braids 

The extra long braids worn by Vesna were a crowd-favorite by the styling team. The long braid with synthetic hair requires you to seal it, so one of the finishing touches is dipping it in boiling hot water, Nneka said. It must be a boiling setting to seal and create shine for the perfect finish. The delegates dance with their braids and use it as an accessory, so it needs to be very secure and tight while they spin around the stage, Kevin added.

Click here to watch the how-to on BTC’s Instagram!

Grethe Sagmoen (@grethesagmoen) — Norway

Creative Process: “We’ve been here a week before rehearsals, so we have a good team working on a lookbook for all of the artists. Sometimes, the artists come in and want to do something else, but we have a clue of what they already have done and can work around it.” 

Essentials at Grethe’s station: Moroccanoil® Curl Control Mousse, Moroccanoil® Volumizing Mousse and Moroccanoil® Glimmer Shine Spray

Pro Tip: For slicked ponytails—once the hair is dry, apply Volumizing Mousse on top and when it dries it will fix flyaways for a glass-like effect. 

Riccardo Boscolo (@riccardobhair_ibiza) — Italy & Spain

Experience as a Show Us Your Style Competition winner: “I only had 700 followers on Instagram, I [thought] they were never going to take my video. I did it by myself with my phone and threw it out there as an excuse for very good experience. It just happened! It has been so far an amazing experience. Eurovision is so much bigger than I expected. The point is to unite what we have in Europe with so many different cultures and people and share something beautiful.” 

The Show Us Your Style Competition Winners Ricardo, Narcisa Miron (@hairbynarcisa) from Romania and Krystyna Panasiuk (@k_mua_oxford) from Ukraine—click here to meet the winners!

Best Advice: “Believe that you can do something beautiful. Just keep believing in what you can do and put it out there. I heard on [BTC University] even if you have only 100 followers, the followers and likes don’t really matter as long as from those followers, you get one new person in your chair. Put [yourself] out there and sometimes you will be surprised by the results.” 

Essentials at Riccardo’s station: Moroccanoil® Curl Defining Cream, Moroccanoil® Volumizing Mousse and Moroccanoil® Glimmer Shine Spray 

Lisa Eccles (@lisa_zinc) — Ireland

Prepping for Eurovision: “The [team] provided us with an amazing lookbook; [what’s going to work] with the outfits, what kind of movements they are doing onstage—some of them are doing intense dancing, so we need to make sure the hairstyle is going to complement every element of the performance.” The team of 28 stylists worked on 10 to 15 people per day (delegates, artists, management) making sure everyone has that beautiful Moroccanoil® experience, says Lisa.  

Best Advice: “Every year, Moroccanoil® has an amazing competition where you can win the chance to be a stylist backstage and a VIP at the show. Enter that competition and make your salon owner aware this is the type of work you’re interested in and get your portfolio together [as stepping stones] to work backstage.” 

Essentials at Lisa’s station: Moroccanoil® Treatment, Moroccanoil® Luminous Hairspray Extra Strong and Moroccanoil® Curl Defining Cream 

Ioana Todoran (@ioanatodorann) — Romania

Creative Process: “We [arrive early] to do the consultations with everyone; the contestants, stylists and makeup artists. When they get to our chair, everything will be [prepared] as it should be.” 

Best Advice: “Be very focused and confident.” 

Essentials at Ioana’s station: Moroccanoil® Treatment, Moroccanoil® Perfect Defense Spray and Moroccanoil® Dry Texture Spray  

Pro Tip: Moroccanoil® Treatment is the foundation to prep and achieve any hairstyle created backstage, says Ioana. 

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