A chat with Nicole’s on-set hairstylist

Kerry Warn has been tending Nicole Kidman’s tresses for years. His brush has taken her from the carefree curls in Eyes Wide Shut to the pixie crop in Birth and the faultlessly bouncy blow-dry of The Stepford Wives. If anyone knows her styling secrets, it’s Warn. So while he was on a break from filming Nic’s latest flick, Australia, I asked…

How do you de-frizz such curly hair?
A good serum is the secret to controlling frizz. I use John Frieda Frizz Ease all the time, whether I’m doing curls or waves or very straight hair. It’s my favourite styling product, actually. I guess that would be the secret.

To achieve such a poker straight effect, would you need to chemically straighten curly hair?
Oh lord no! Never! I call that ‘the murderer’. As a stylist, chemically straightened hair is a nightmare to work with. Your hair doesn’t necessarily look damaged, but I think it’s ruined for styling. Just try to get a lasting bend in it…

So it’s just the blow-dry and the hot iron?
Usually just a good round brush and the drier. Even for a completely poker straight effect. The trick is to use a really good quality brush with natural bristles. Nylon and synthetic bristles create static, especially when heated up. I use Mason Pearson brushes, but lots of companies make less expensive natural bristle brushes. Everyone should have one because they give your hair such a smooth, glossy finish.

What’s your technique for keeping curly styles smooth and shiny despite soupy summer conditions?
The mistake people make is putting in too much product and ending up ‘crunchy’. In humid weather, you need a spot of serum as a moisture barrier, but don’t put volumisers and mousses in before using a curling iron. That makes hair stiff and when you try to work the stiffness out, you lose the curl or bend. So just keep the product light, introduce the curl and then add a little finishing product to help hold it.

I’d encourage everyone to have fun with waves and curls and more adventurous shapes. You just need to know the tricks. Everyone is so caught up with straighteners now and I think they really need to stop it. Not because of damage or anything, but because poker straight is getting boring. Hair should be more fun.

How do you keep constantly style-stressed hair healthy?
You need to avoid product overload. It’s like make-up and the skin – you need to know how much your hair can take and give it a rest at times. And remember to give something back. I always use a thermal protectant because it helps prevent the damage that everyday styling can do.

And Nicole is really a low maintenance ponytail girl off set. She gives her hair a break from styling whenever she can.

What’s been your biggest challenge on the Australia set?
It’s not so tough now that we’re back in the studio, but when we were filming on location in Darwin it was a real challenge to maintain the polished, proper look of a lady of society in that climate. The film’s set in a period [World War II], when women of that class structure had to have everything just so. But the dust got everywhere and we had to try to stop it sticking in the styling products.

I’ve needed all my styling weapons with me on this film. Climate has so much to do with how your hair will behave. In a drier climate, you need the conditioning products; in more humid parts of Australia, you need serum. You need to think about climate as well as hair type.

Your top styling tip of all time:
Less product is almost always best. So begin at the back – add a little on the under layers to see how much you actually need before touching the top. Try testing product quantities on dry hair before you wash it too. These simple tricks save you ever going too far and having to wash and start all over again.

I also asked Kerry about his quirkiest hairstyling obsession, but you’ll have to tune in this week’s The Secret Life of Us story to discover that little gem. And a load of other expert beauty secrets…