Regardless of which team you were rooting for, it was clear at the Super Bowl in Houston on Sunday night that Lady Gaga had a feel-good message. To prepare, she studied past Halftime Show performers, but, says her longtime hairstylist and master wigmaker Frederic Aspiras, she also reviewed her own past performances to come up with her look. The final result? "Timeless," he says — and surprisingly natural.
Aspiras tells THR, "We wanted to make sure every detail was thought out — the color, the texture, the way it moved and danced onstage. We wanted to make sure when she took it down it fell perfectly and didn’t obstruct the makeup. We rehearsed every hairstyle you could think of." In the end, what won out was a classic pulled-back 'do for her opening renditions of "This Land Is Your Land" and "God Bless America," that she let loose for an energetic journey through her hits. Aspiras wanted it to feel soft and have movement, but still be sexy and sophisticated.
Gaga was adorned with plenty of sparkle — not only were her Versace ensembles glitzy, but her crystal eye mask and shimmery eyes created by Sarah Tanno for Marc Jacobs Beauty made a bold effervescent statement — but she went au natural, in a sense, when it came to her hair. Aspiras, who touched up the singer’s platinum locks earlier in the week using Matrix SoColor mixed with Matrix BOND Ultim8, says what sets this hairstyle apart from all her hundreds of others over the years is that "it’s all her own hair. Usually we use a lace-front wig. But this was all her onstage." One addition: a subtle wash of pale pink on the ends of her hair.
Aspiras' trick to giving Gaga's locks the perfect amount of volume and control? A perfect blowout.
He began with Matrix Style Link Mineral Airy Builder Dry Texture Foam ($18) from her roots to her tips, then sectioned and dried her hair spraying Matrix Style Link Heat Buffer ($18) on each piece as he went. Further hold and smoothness came from Matrix Style Link Smooth Setter ($18). He also curled the top and sides of Gaga’s hair with a medium barrel iron, and the back with a large barrel, pinning so they could set. To keep it from being too perfect, Aspiras added Matrix Style Link Texture Builder Messy Finish Spray ($18) and then pieced out the curls and "styled away." Says Aspiras, "It was the most amazing experience of my life." Cue the mic drop.
