V A is a long standing and recognised digital creative; her voice resonates with many. In the last ten years, the site has developed into an online destination for fashion, beauty and lifestyle advice. Her sense of style, editorial flair and practical counsel offers an inspired and graceful approach to living.

V A is a long standing and recognised digital creative; her voice resonates with many. In the last ten years, the site has developed into an online destination for fashion, beauty and lifestyle advice. Her sense of style, editorial flair and practical counsel offers an inspired and graceful approach to living.

Edit by: Vicki
Sep 27, 2011

Gwyneth Paltrow: Poker Straight

gwyneth paltrow and her poker straight hair, vickiarcher.com

And I don’t mean ‘four of a kind’ or ‘straight flush’ poker straight. I am thinking about the hair kind that seems to be in all the magazines this season…… The very straight, no kinks, waves or curls, kind of hair that hangs curtain-like without movement or volume. Think Gwyneth Paltrow style locks.


I did love this style of ‘hair’ and the truth is I have spent my life straightening, binding, pulling, ironing, ghd-ing my naturally wavy locks into submission….I have lived in ‘hair prison’ for as long as I care to remember and will no doubt continue to do so….I like groomed hair and I don’t feel ‘dressed’ without it… A professional blow-dry is the best value of all for me… forget that it takes an hour out of the day or that it costs… it is worth every penny to have my locks tamed and looking reasonable. If the hair is looking good then all is well with the world.


That’s my mantra.


But I have noticed a little bend, a little volume, a little movement has found it’s way back into my hair. Age has dealt me a cruel blow….poker straight doesn’t work for me anymore…. poker straight makes me look like a drowned rat, a sad sack, a horror….I need the softness and the luxury of hair around my not-30-something-year-old face….. I still wear it straight but it can’t be so straight that I look like I am wearing some kind of swimming cap with hair extensions… I have become one of those women who seek ‘volume’…. just writing it gives me a fright, puts me in a veritable crise.


How did this happen?

My mother and her pals were the ‘volume’ seekers… the added roller here and there to up the ante….. a big night out meant an extra lift, a round of teasing….. Hair nets were the hair saviours of their generation….Have I become my mother? I guess so….we all do…and I am happy about that…but it just seems to have happened without me realising….Maybe there is such a thing as the law of hair physics….a proportional relationship…..as the face descends the hair rises….Heaven help me in ten years.


What do you wear? Can you play that poker straight hair? xv





image of gwyneth paltrow from the huffington post

Edit by: Vicki
In This Post: Lifestyle