Slicked Hair Is Taking Over London Fashion Week

As the saying goes, three's a trend. But four? Well, that makes it legit. We're talking about the expert-approved hair trend that's currently taking London Fashion Week SS19 by storm – greasy, sweaty, wet-look lengths – and this time around, it seems more wearable than ever before.

At Richard Malone, hairstylist Gareth Bromell was asked to create a look that complemented the sweaty, gym skin by makeup artist Pablo Rodriguez, and he sure delivered. Models had individual strands of hair adhered to their faces using Illamasqua's Hydra Veil, £34, with the rest pretty much glued to the crown and soaked to the ends using mousse, gel and shine spray among other products. Talking to Refinery29 backstage, Bromell called the look "sweaty, greasy and a little bit dirty," pinpointing a London girl who's just been for a run in the height of summer as his muse. Instead of water, he saturated hair in evo's Day Of Grace Pre-Style Primer, £21, to achieve the wet look before slathering the lengths with the Whip It Good Styling Mousse, £21, to give the impression of an oil slick.

At Preen, hairstylist Eugene Souleiman worked with ghd and Wella to make the hair look like the models had been wandering the sweltering hot desert in a beanie hat and just taken it off. After fashioning a single "Gypsy-like" braid at the side, Souleiman blanketed hair at the crown with hairspray, then covered it with a hairnet and spritzed another couple of layers of hairspray over that. When he peeled away the hairnet, hair underneath was stuck to the head, as though fixed with sweat. Pinches of hair were picked out of the ponytail and adhered to the side of the face to emphasise the damp look.

Hair at Ashish was just as sweaty and dishevelled but this time, the theme was a 24-hour rave, complemented by the neon, slightly melted-off makeup. Hairstylist Sam McKnight told R29: "It's nightclub hair. I used a combination of L'Oréal Professionnel's Tecni Art A-Head Glue, £15, as well as mousse and lots of oil and applied them all with my hands." He initially sprayed hair with lashings of water to give it that post-shower look and employed the rest of the products to completely saturate hair and to stop it from drying into frizz.

In a move away from the messy, dishevelled finish at Ashish and Preen, hairstylist Syd Hayes created this almost polished look at House of Holland. While it was more or less soaking, the severe side parting gave the hair a slightly more uniform, put-together feel. "The Henry Holland girl is about oomph and glamour but lots of cool, too," Hayes told R29, pinpointing Kate Moss as his muse. "She's just come out of the water and combed her hair back with her hands, looking really hot. We also carved out a deep side parting from left to right, spraying the hair with water and gel to keep it shiny." The rest of the lengths were a little more styled. "We used the BaByliss Pro Titanium Expression Curling Tong (25mm), £65 [to create a] wave [which] floated off of the face."

According to hairstylist Tina Outen for L'Oréal Professionnel, the muse at Markus Lupfer was cool, modern and a little bit quirky. Oh, and she’s been to the beach. "It's a beachy texture that looks like it’s wet but it’s dry," said Outen. "It’s all about business on the top and party on the ends." Outen started with a strict centre parting, drenching hair with L’Oréal Professionnel's Tecni ART Hollywood Waves Siren Waves Defining Elasto Cream, £15, and then moulded the hair to the head using paper. Instead of mousse, Tina applied a gel-cream, L'Oréal Professionnel's Tecni ART Bouncy & Tender, £15, to the ends and diffused with a hairdryer, squashing the hair as she went to create a natural movement that looked "sea-dipped".

The hair at Victoria Beckham, complete with comb marks, is arguably the easiest to create and wear. Hairstylist Guido Palau raked Redken's Fashion Work 12, £13.50, and Foreful 23 (which is currently out of stock everywhere, so try Pure Force 20, £13.50, instead) through the roots, slicking hair right back and choosing not to smooth out the stripes that the combs left behind. To finish, he applied Redken's Diamond Oil Glow Dry, £33.50, and Shine Flash 02, £16.50, through the ends.

The trick to nailing it at home is to start on hair that's two or three days unwashed, as it's much more likely to retain the style. And if you're using mousse or hairspray to create the 'slick', don't make the mistake of using a hair oil or a serum, as experts argue that they'll soften any structure given to the hair.