Riding Hollywood’s Hottest Waves
Anh’s iron styling technique includes working with a variety of section sizes and omitting the ends for a modern result.
By Heather Haemker
Those easy, breezy, effortless waves. The “It” celebs are wearing them, and your clients want them. The Ramirez | Tran Salon in Beverly Hills is THE destination for lazy waves, where creator Anh Co Tran creates those go-to styles all day long. He cites Anne Hathaway as a muse, because she’s open and gives him artistic freedom; he has also created his signature looks for Emily Ratajkowski and Ginnifer Goodwin. If you detect a wide range of hair lengths among that group of girls, good for you.
“The great thing about lived-in hair is it looks great on all lengths,” agrees Anh. “As long as you start with the proper cut.”
Anh reveals that his cuts contain “a lot of undercutting—even on long hair—and deep point cutting. The purpose is to support the longer hair with shorter hair, which creates texture and movement while removing the proper amount of weight.” The proportion of what is removed, of course, changes from client to client.
Anh cites actress Anne Hathaway as his muse because she gives him complete artistic freedom over her look.
While Anh’s technique can be done on all hair types, certain types may require a different approach to styling to achieve the desired look. “To accommodate extremely fine hair,” he explains, “I might use a smaller iron—maybe a 1-inch Marcel.
Hairspray and volumizing spray also help me maintain the look. Thick and coarse hair needs to be carefully blow-dried and smoothed before styling with an iron. But be careful not to over-dry or overheat the hair or it won’t hold the style!”
Finishing is, of course, critical as well and Anh takes a very artful approach. For most hair types, he uses a 1¼-inch Marcel iron, alternating the direction of the wave on each section and omitting the ends. “Some subsections will be an inch, some 1½ inches and some smaller,” he notes. “I like to mix it up to look more natural and not uniform or perfect.” After the hair has been waved, he breaks it up with serum on the midshafts and ends (Anh loves Leonor Greyl’s éclat naturel). Then, depending on the hair texture, he applies Oribe Dry Texturizing Spray or R+Co Death Valley Dry Shampoo at the roots for volume, body and texture.
“Anh and I complement each other very well,” reflects Johnny. “His hair looks effortless, with a lived-in texture that’s perfect with my lived-in color. Our work goes hand-in-hand, and we each have a very similar eye.”
