Wild Style

 By LiLi Tan

Wild behavior can get a girl into trouble. Wild hair can get a girl noticed in the crowds. Extravagant and bold, wild hair pushes boundaries into big, glamorous looks. If big hair isn't your thing, why not try a shock of color you didn't know you'd look so fantastic wearing? "Wild hair is sexy," says Samuel Shriqui, owner of Samuel Shriqui Salon in New York City.  "It's great now because the fashion for this year is a very natural and very clean look." Paired with wild hair? Definitely.

Take-Me-To-Bed Head
To create a look that's a stylishly studied mussy, use a heat-friendly volumizing spray and blow-dry. "Just spritz it all around -- any gel or styling lotion. If you need it as wild as possible, apply the setting lotion as close to the roots as you can," Shriqui says. "Scrub it at the same time as you use the hair dryer. It will get bigger and curlier. You just have to mess it up!" 

Be careful not to overheat the hair. When you overheat, your hair will only look volumized for about ten minutes, but then drop and look flat.

Wild Pony
Work out then work it out? All good up 'dos start with a ponytail, and dirtier hair behaves better. With your pony positioned a little higher, twist it like you're creating a French twist, then pin it with bobby pins with the tips of hair sticking out and camouflaging the ponytail holder. "It's a twist underneath and the tips come over it so it fans out," Shriqui recommends.

Crunk It Up
Colorful extensions are perfect because they're commitment-free. "There are some extensions that are just temporary, so women can wear it for the same evening and when they come back home they can just take them out," Shriqui says. "You just clip it to the root."  You can try a shade that's lighter than your natural hair color to add highlights for a night, or a florescent streak for a punk-rock look. Hot.

Riding the Crimp Wave
Remember your crimping iron from elementary school? Bust it out. For an I-slept-with-my-hair-in-braids look, start crimping about four inches down from the root all the way to the tips. For a funky yet schoolgirl-ish look, crimp just the front section of your hair and pin it straight back, creating a skunk section of crimped hair running from the front of your head to the back. Hit it with a firm holding hairspray.

Your Total Look
When the hair is wild, the makeup is mild. "Your makeup should be toned down, a little bit more of a natural look," Shriqui recommends. Let your wild hair be the centerpiece of your total look.