bubble braids, Gigi Hadid
Gigi Hadid and her bubble braids, courtesy of celebrity hairstylist Laura Polko

I am one of the millions of fans who are still obsessing over Gigi Hadid’s 26th birthday beauty look, debuted by her glam squad via Instagram on Friday, April 23. Her colorful nails! Her winged eyeliner! And that hair. Los Angeles-based hairstylist Laura Polko was the expert behind the early aughts-inspired hairdo, which she’s dubbed “bubble braids” for the way they resemble a braid, minus the fuss. The Y2K hairstyle is super easy to recreate and perfect for a night out in the city, à la Hadid. GRAZIA reached out to Hadid’s hairstylist, who kindly walked us through the steps in detail and shared some product recs for those with a similar hair texture to the model.

How to recreate the “bubble braids” look, according to polko:

STEP 1: Blow hair dry with a round brush, using a bit of NatureLab. Tokyo Perfect Volume Texture Mist for effortless texture.

STEP 2: Part hair down the middle and section off two small sections. These should be the full length of your hair (you can add a one-clip extension if you have shorter face-framing pieces).

STEP 3: Smooth out these two sections using a small amount of pomade like NatureLab. Tokyo Perfect Volume Blowout Jelly and work through to the ends with your fingertips.

STEP 4: Use small elastics in even sections down the length of your hair. You don’t need to be perfect. You can even each bubble out after you’ve added all of your elastics.

STEP 5: Rough up each bubble with your fingertips to create volume.

Gigi Hadid, bubble braids,
Gigi Hadid and her bubble braids, courtesy of celebrity hairstylist Laura Polko

shop the look:

NatureLab, bubble braids, Gigi Hadid
NATURELAB. TOKYO PERFECT VOLUME TEXTURE MIST, $13 VIA ULTA BEAUTY. SHOP NOW
bubble braids, Gigi Hadid
NATURELAB. TOKYO PERFECT VOLUME BLOWOUT JELLY, $13 VIA ULTA BEAUTY. SHOP NOW
Kitsch, Gigi Hadid, bubble braids
NO-SNAG ELASTIC 100PC IN CLEAR, $6 VIA KITSCH. SHOP NOW

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