The Weird Product That Made Hailee Steinfeld’s Hair So Sleek and Shiny

In case you missed it, the Billboard Music Awards were last night. Though, honestly, how could you have missed it, when Celine Dion sang “My Heart Will Go On” and the entire world dissolved into a puddle of tears and nostalgia? But aside from the heart-melting performances, there was also an insanely good lineup of hair and makeup looks, like Vanessa Hudgens’ blunt, piece-y lob, Miley Cyrus’ no-makeup makeup, and, our favorite of all, Hailee Steinfeld’s sleek, slicked-back hair. And lucky for you, we got the exact breakdown on how to do Steinfeld’s hair, so you, too, can feel like a super-cool celebrity, minus the money, fame, etc.

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The singer’s long, wavy hair was the work of hairstylist Gregory Russell, whose clients include Lily Collins, Lucy Hale, Nicole Richie, and all of the other celebrities ever. Russell, who worked with Matrix last night (thus, he only used Matrix products on Steinfeld’s hair), first sprayed Matrix Style Link Volume Builder Mousse throughout Steinfeld’s damp hair, then blew it out with a large round brush, before curling one-inch sections of hair with a one-and-a-half-inch curling iron.

Photo: Getty Images

Once the curls cooled, Russell smoothed a dollop of Matrix Over Achiever Hair 3-in-1 Cream (it’s like a cream, paste, and wax all together) to the ends of her waves for that piece-y finish plus a little shine, and then—here’s the weird, magical part—he combed a few dabs of gel, YES, GEL (the Matrix Style Link Super Fixer, to be specific) through her roots for the wet, slicked-back look, then diffused the gel with a blow-dryer to “set” it without a crunchy, flaky finish. And voila, Steinfeld’s insanely pretty hair was born. Yes, he used the same product you mishandled in middle school before realizing that crunchy hair was not, in fact, a good look, but now you know it *is* possible to use gel without looking like a hot mess. Too bad we didn’t have this info 10 years ago, right?

Photo: Getty Images

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