Asian Hair Styles in Spotlight

Medium length hairstyles are the cut of the season. Where longer, classically glamorous styles used to rule, now the more practical, low-maintenance looks are taking over. From Alexa Chung’s grown-out bob to Kate Moss' mussed-up bedhead, these are the top hairstyles for SS14.

Ngoc Huynh is a Vietnamese hair stylist who describes Asian hair as "hard" compared to other hair types because it is heavy, straight and quite resistant to curling and coloring. These styles are always in the spotlight with many Asian and Asian-American celebrities gracing the covers of fashion and film magazines.

But Huynh says that curly and wavy styles are also starting to take over from the long, straight look. Since beginning of 2007 many salons in Vietnam started to use "digital hot perm" machines from China to meet the growing demand among Asian women for wavy or curly hair, in keeping with the American and European trend towards long, romantic locks.

Digital perm machines are reportedly very popular in Hong Kong but have also shown up in a few salons in major US cities. They can be programmed to deliver the precise amount of heat and chemical solution to suit each type of hair... even the most stubbornly straight hair. Based on these demands for more soft wavy hair, Huynh also started to use and experiment with waving solution introduced by Jesse Briggs. According to Huynh, S Wave Thermal Set is much faster than other hot perm solutions she experienced and finishing wave is much more soft and natural.