“Lady Godiva—without a horse, on an imaginary horse,” is how Natasha Lyonne describes the look that hairstylist Ted Gibson is creating for her. And if that’s not evocative enough, consider it Stevie Nicks meets Bernadette Peters—if they “took a bunch of LSD, had a baby, and then went down the rabbit hole into wherever Alice in Wonderland lives.”
In practice, this look means one thing: extensions. “What I love about Natasha's hair in particular is that she has many different textures, and what I love to do is add texture. I love to give volume,” Gibson says. To start, he curls Lyonne’s hair to soften her natural curl patten so it will seamlessly blend with the clip-in hair he’s adding to give her new length and movement.
Gibson and Lyonne met on set with makeup artist Molly R. Stern and became fast friends. “After that day, I tried to have Ted come with me everywhere, all the time,” Lyonne says, turning to Gibson. “And luckily you would say yes, even though you’re one of the busiest men in showbiz.”
Lyonne reflects on the shag-cut red hair that has become her calling card, most recently in the Netflix drama Russian Doll (streaming now). “Male rockstars in the 70s always used to have that shag, sunglasses, and then you don’t even notice what the person looks like,” she says. “And that’s what I like.” Today, that rock star effect is about to be further activated.
When it comes to selecting hair extensions, Gibson notes that the color match doesn’t have to be exact to work. “Because if you know if you have hair color or color your hair, you know that as it’s on your head and it grows out, it gets a little bit lighter at the ends. So it's very important to know that you don't have to have specifically the exact same color—you can tweak it just a little bit for yourself,” he explains. Gibson continues blending Lyonne’s hair with the extensions by gently maneuvering hair around the curling iron. “I make sure that I keep that frizziness. I don't want it to be that curly. The sexiness of it is the frizz…and how it feels and moves,” he notes. Onto product, he relies on a detangling spray and a texture meringue mousse from his hair-care line for control and shine.