We caught up with one of the Strictly Come Dancing Hair Stylists, Georgia Woodland. Georgia is renowned for her amazing hairstyles on dancing professionals; Janette Manrara, Dianne Buswell, Katya Jones, Amy Dowden and many other Strictly stars.
Come behind the scenes for all the Strictly hair hacks...
My favourite hair products have to be the Unite Texturiza Texturising Spray and the ghd Classic Curl Tong.
Style-wise, Margot Robbie always nails the ‘no effort’ look. Hairstylist-wise, Chris Appleton. The Strictly team are forever creating amazing things out of nothing with no time and I forever learn from them!
I love a textured ponytail. A soft wave or bend in the hair with some volume, simply tied up.
If you can have a wig still in place and intact after a Strictly pro has danced with it, live on television, you should be proud! The team will agree with me- you don’t breathe until that dance is finished and off air.
Preparation is key! If you want a style to last it needs to be well prepped. To create a simple blow dry, the hair needs to be healthy and well maintained to achieve such simplicity. A red carpet up-do needs to be approached in steps to ensure it lasts the evening and stays in place; it is all in the scaffolding!
I like using extensions simply to take hair to the next level. I always like cheating very short hair into super long hair with a quad set and levelling off the ends with clippers to achieve a blunt, sharp edge to straight hair; this look always works well for a Paso Doble dance.
Curls can vary depending on the clients hair, sometimes too many products can work against you. I have always used, and still love, Loreal Techni Art Pli to prep the hair, this protects from heat whilst also helping the curls last longer. Extensions always help a style last too, even just a few wefts tonged together with sections of the clients hair can encourage the natural hair to hold.
I’ll always use a little volume powder and back comb the roots slightly to give the hair a little grit for the clip-ins to lock in place, this is especially essential for the strictly dancers! For the more extreme cases for movements, upside down for example, I would band tiny sections of the extensions with the real hair so you know no matter what they are linked together and can’t come undone!
The crazy hairstyles and themes we get to work with. Every year, it gets taken up a level, we are forever challenged to produce new styles- it never gets boring. Secondly, the teamwork, you can’t do it alone, we all constantly learn from each other. Everyone has different skills and techniques, so we always help eachother and collaborate to achieve the end goal; this is especially important when you have a two minute quick change during a live show.
