When it comes to trends, it seems as though a lot of the hair "trends" stem from styles that black women have been wearing for years — such as cornrows and box braids. However, the latest "trend" happens to be "glass hair." According to Refinery29 and Yahoo News, glass hair "is silky smooth with sharp edges."
Like many other hairstyle trends, this pin-straight style made waves shortly after celebrities like Hailey Baldwin, Olivia Culpo, Lucy Hale, Jenna Dewan and a few Kardashians were spotted with their short, shiny, blunt cuts. Clearly no coincidence on who has gotten the spotlight for the trend. However, in a recent interview with Yahoo, Dove’s multicultural hairstylist and stylist to the stars — Cynthia Alvarez — set the record straight:
"The 'glass hair' trend is not new to the beauty industry," she stated. "It’s actually referred to as 'silk press' by beauty professionals and has been around for many years."
Alvarez also mentioned that she loved the moment that the hairstyle is having right now because it works on so many hair textures, without it needing chemical straighteners.
"Instead of using a traditional hot comb to straighten natural hair, a silk press is achieved by using a flatiron," she shared with Yahoo about the hairstyle. "Using a flatiron allows natural hair to be very straight, shiny, silky, soft, and most importantly, gives the hair tons of body and movement."
While the Baldwins, Culpos and Kardashians of the world are being credited for the trend, Alvarez made sure to spill the tea on the real trendsetters who have been donning this look for years — Rihanna, Dascha Polanco, Jourdan Dunn, Naomi Harris and Zoe Saldana are just a few.
Alvarez also told Yahoo how to achieve the look without taking a trip to the salon and if you need some hairspo to get you flat-ironing those silky strands — we’ve got you covered. Continue scrolling to see some of our favorite queens slaying the silk press:
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