June 14, 2021: It’s no secret that Jen Atkin is a hair genius, evidenced by a video shared to her client Hailey Bieber‘s YouTube channel. During the six-minute clip, which has amassed over one million views, the Ouai shared a DIY concoction that she loves to use on the supermodel’s strands for extra-special events like the Met Gala. The secret ingredient? Sugar.
The video featured Bieber and Atkin and fashion stylist Maeve Reilly and make-up artist Denika Bedrossian. They’re filmed getting ready for an event in record time. Despite the rush, the glam squad offers their best tips and tricks to prepare for a fancy event, including Atkin’s brilliant-yet-weird-sounding trick to keeping Bieber’s hair set and polished.
Leave it to the founder of a haircare company to reveal she creates her own DIY formula for professional work. Before styling the model’s hair, Atkin mists it with a sugar-water hairspray she made herself. “I’m actually doing an old 1950s hairdresser trick, and I put a little bit of sugar in with my water so that it helps to set the water as I’m blowing it out,” she shares in the video. The result? A gorgeous wavy hairstyle that’s shiny, and frizz-free, and, according to Atkin, long-lasting.
Sugar sprays may sound odd, but they actually make a lot of sense as a theory. As you might already know, sea salt sprays give you texture like you’re a mermaid on the beach with a cocktail in a pineapple. As pretty as they make the hair, they’re known for being mega-drying because water molecules are attracted to salt, so using sea salt sprays can possibly pull the moisture out of the hair. Meanwhile, sugar is a humectant, so it absorbs the water in the surrounding environment—likely resulting in soft, moisturized hair. If you’re worried that your hair will feel sticky, like a Sour Patch Kid, or harden on contact like a Jolly Rancher—don’t be. You’re not making simple syrup; you don’t need a lot of sugar to get the desired effect.
