I tried the ‘Kate Moss twist’ for heat-free supermodel waves

Like any self-respecting woman in her 40s, I’m completely fascinated, nay fixated on Kate Moss.

This decades-long admiration extends to the way she dresses, of course, but also, her ‘never complain, never explain’ policy, and, since listening to her dulcet tones on Desert Island Discs, the fact she’s a member of her local garden centre (me too, babe)

In beauty, we get little snippets like her favourite summer perfume or the sunscreen she’s been using for years, but there’s still so much we don’t know. It all adds to the enigmatic appeal, but still… annoying! How am I going to copy that perfectly imperfect wave if she won’t give up her best curler for fine hair? Luckily, her method – dubbed the Kate Moss twist – has emerged, and it’s been hiding in plain sight all along.

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The Kate Moss twist is the damage-free way to add waves to fine hair

As Moss is such a woman of mystery, it’s handy when her expert collaborators spill even the tiniest amount of tea on how she operates. So imagine my delight when Nicola Clarke, A-List colourist and director of Nicola Clarke Salon, revealed the low-fi way Kate styles those signature waves.

“What Kate’s been doing is twisting her hair and piling it on her head, a bit like Heidi,” explained Clarke. “She’ll put a grip in either side, then let her hair dry completely naturally. Then, when she lets it down, it has this really lovely movement.” And that’s it! Simple, damage-free supermodel hair.

Boots

Blonde Hair Grips 30s

You can’t go wrong with a classic Boots kirby to hold those twists in style while they dry. Slide them in with the bumpy side downward for the best grip.

Hair by Sam Mcknight

Cool Girl Barely There Texture Hair Mist

Kate Moss is the ultimate cool girl, and this aptly-named spray adds just the right amount of grit and hold to those twisted-in waves without weighing them down.

The method has been dubbed the ‘Kate Moss twist’ and if it’s good enough for Mossy… well, you can fill in the blank there. I’d say we have pretty similar hair types – fine, naturally straight and prone to dryness from decades of bleached highlights and heat styling.

I also experienced pretty significant postpartum hair loss a couple of years ago, which I’ve been plugging away at growing back, but my ‘do is still thinner and more fragile than before, so I prefer to avoid heat styling too often.

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I’ve tried countless tools and tricks to recreate those lived-in waves, and tend to flip between JVN Air Dry Cream and a bit of scrunching on no-heat days (I have a lot of those), then my ghd Wave when the urge to style strikes. But nothing had quite hit the right balance of wavy but not-too-uniform until…

(Image credit: Future / Fiona McKim)

Kate Moss twist for the win! The twirling and pinning part took me a minute, tops. I kept them in for a couple of hours on a working-from-home day, shook it all loose at lunch and finished with a mist of texture spray. The resulting chilled-out, heat-free wave is exactly the kind of thing that looks and feels good on fine, fragile strands.

Thank you, Kate Moss, or I should say Nicola Clarke, for this act of public service. If you wouldn’t mind telling us how we can achieve that perfectly honeyed shade of blonde next, I’d be much obliged, ta.