Timothée Chalamet is reinventing the wheel. Or, at least, spinning it back to the days when Kurt Cobain was your style icon. For on the campaign trail of The King, a style prince once known for out-of-this-world tailoring got a bit grungier. And that's because he's abandoned his hairbrush entirely.
Or at least that was the appearance. After what seems like a millennia of classic short-back-and-sides (a style now co-opted by Essex nightclubs, and the reality TV stars that fill them), Chalamet has cut the ribbon on a new season entirely: natural man, with his very natural hair.
This was not a 30-minutes-in-front-of-the-mirror-each-morning job. It channels neither Bradley Cooper's visit to the hairdressers of Brideshead, nor the gilded cage of a slick back. Instead, the 23-year-old eschewed the barber's chair entirely for something that looks a lot like bedhead (well, bedhead if you doze off in one of Frank Lloyd-Wright's Los Feliz mansions). The curls were big. The impact bigger still.
And he's not alone. Jake Gyllenhaal, a man who could once have been a silent partner in Dries Van Noten, has gone natural, too. His hair was longer. Even more unkempt. His wild style year has come to a close, the 38-year-old transforming into the kind of man who spends his summers with Simone de Beauvoir (and Simone de Beauvoir only) in a cabin somewhere in the Pyrenees.
Ruffians Styling Cream, ruffians.co.uk
Of course, looking like you've made minimal effort is an illusion, not the reality. Some work is needed. "I’ve definitely noticed that low-effort looks are very popular with some of my clients lately," says Naomi Richardson, of award-winning barbers Ruffians. "It's important to choose products that don't weigh down longer hair. Opt or something low-hold and smoothing, to help control the hair and enhance the body. Then, use a hairdryer on a high heat after washing, and go for low speed to allow it to dry in a more natural state. Use your fingers, rather than a brush, to encourage natural movement, and once dried, a pea-size amount of product is enough."
We can't all be mountain men, though. First, you need a lid that lends itself to an au naturel aesthetic. If you've the poker-straight locks of a head girl, you're out. If your hair is so fine it feels more like fog than keratin, you're also out. But if you're blessed with a barnet thick enough to hold a comb unsupported, you too can leave your hair well alone. It's what Chalamet would've wanted.
This story originally appeared on Esquire.co.uk. Minor edits have been made by the Esquiremag.ph editors.
